Trevor Berbick was the previous WBC Heavyweight boxing champion and fought big names like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Larry Holmes. In 1991 he agreed to a ‘pro wrestling’ type match against Japanese pro wrestling and MMA star Nobuhiko Takada.

That’s not how things went down however. Berbick expected it to be a ‘worked’ pro wrestling type bout with kickboxing rules. He didn’t think it was going to be a real fight.

The match starts and instantly you could tell Berbick didn’t know what he was getting himself into. The first leg kick landed resulted in Berbick complaining to the referee. He then explains to his opponent that kicks had to be above the waist, clearly irate.

The match resumes and Takada lands another low kick which according to Berbick was not what was agreed upon. He complains again and looks to his corner. The match resumes once again and Takada lands yet another low kick, this one pretty hard. Another low kick lands from Takada, and another. Berbick is doing nothing to defend against them. He is not moving away or checking them or even attempting to land any strikes of his own. He is clearly out of his element and not prepared.

Takada sees his opportunity and starts pouring on more leg kicks, and Berbick keeps eating them. Takada finally goes high and delivers a solid head kick before going back to the low kicks. Berbick just has no answer here. Eventually Berbick has enough and exits the ring, awarding Takada the victory by forfeit.

Nobuhiko Takada is a Japanese pro wrestler and mixed martial artists. He is one of the pioneers of the sport, especially in Japan. He fought in the very first Pride FC against legend Rickson Gracie. However, many of his fights often toed the line between pro wrestling and MMA and he was allegedly involved in many ‘worked’ or fixed fights like the one you see here was originally planned to be.