UFC Fight Pass to Stream Kazushi Sakuraba’s 5-on-5 Team Grappling Event on April 11

Quintet 1, the brainchild of UFC Hall of Famer and Pride Fighting Championships legend Kazushi Sakuraba, will stream live via UFC Fight Pass on April 11.

The five-on-five grappling event takes place at Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan and will be part of the UFC streaming service’s second annual “Pride Never Die” week.

“Last year’s ‘Pride Never Die’ week was a big hit with UFC Fight Pass subscribers,” said UFC Senior Vice President of International and Content David Shaw. “This year, we thought there’s no better way to remember the excitement of Pride than with a live event promoted by and featuring Kazushi Sakuraba, the biggest Pride star of all.”

Quintet 1 will feature four teams of five that will square off against one another in single elimination team vs. team matches. Some of the notable competitors in the inaugural event include Josh Barnett, Daisuke Nakamura, Satoshi Ishii, Craig Jones, Marcos de Souzam, Gregor Gracie and Caol Uno, to name a few.

The teams in the field include Sakuraba’s Haleo Dream Team, a team fielded by U.K.-based grappling promotion Polaris and squads consisting of judo and sambo practitioners.

“One of the things that Pride did best was mix the fun factor of pro wrestling with the reality of competition. I wanted to create an event that I, as a fan, would love to see myself,” Sakuraba said. “There will be a lot of strategy. Each team has bigger fighters and smaller fighters -- but it is up to them which order they fight. One team may decide to start off with a heavyweight, and the opposing team may decide to save their biggest athlete until last, where he could be facing an exhausted and smaller opponent.

“I am very happy to be working with UFC Fight Pass to ensure fight fans around the world get the chance to witness this event which I’ve been working on for so long.”