Gerard Gordeau

Gerard Gordeau (born March 30, 1959) is a Dutch former savateur, karateka, and mixed martial artist. He is the 1991 World Champion Savate and holder of the Dutch Champion Kyokushin Karate title for 8 consecutive years, but foremost known internationally for his fight against Teila Tuli in the first televised Ultimate Fighting Championship bout on 12 November 1993.

Mixed martial arts career

Gordeau trained in karate for most of his life, but also learned kickboxing and savate.^[1][2] He was a Dutch Karate Champion from 1978 to 1985, an European Savate Champion from 1988 to 1991 and a World Savate Champion in 1992, with an overall competitive record of 27-4 before his MMA debut.^[2] He also had experience as a bodyguard and bouncer.^[2]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In 1993, Gordeau took part in UFC 1, the first event of Ultimate Fighting Championship, being billed as a representative of the art of savate. In his first match, also the first match in the history of UFC, he was pitted against 400 pound sumo wrestler Teila Tuli in a fight which in turn lasted only 26 seconds. With Tuli charging against him with a tsukidashi attack, Gordeau eluded him and allowed him to crash against the cage wall; he then took stance and threw a roundhouse kick to Tuli's face, following with a right uppercut, moment in which the referee intervened to stop the match.^[1][3] Victorious, Gordeau advanced round, but he was left injured, as the kick had knocked out three of Tuli's teeth and two of them had been stuck in Gordeau's foot, while the announcers claimed that the third tooth landed underneath their table. Doctors attended him, but not wanting Gordeau to have an open wound, and having determined that it would get infected if they tried to extract the teeth out, they simply taped his foot.^[4] Gordeau's right hand had also broken with the punch, and he came to the next fight with a noticeably swollen fist.^[5]

Gordeau's debut also caused a minor controversy because he appeared to do a Roman salute before the match, being accused of being a neo-nazi, but it was explained that he was actually doing the traditional savate salute. Gordeau has, in fact, a Jewish ethnic background.^[6][7][8]

His next fight was against kickboxing champion Kevin Rosier, who outweighted Gordeau again by almost 100 pounds and was in better health. Still, Gordeau dominated the fight easily, driving Rosier against the fence with multiple leg kicks and jabs while keeping distance. Eventually, Rosier covered own shielding his face, and Gordeau finished him with elbow strikes to the head and a stomp to the liver.^[1][5] Finally, the Dutchman faced Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist Royce Gracie in the championship bout. During the fight, Gordeau blocked a trip and clamped to the cage to avoid being taken down, but he was eventually grounded. While Gordeau was in Gracie's guard, he allegedly bit Gracie's ear in an intentional foul,^[9] but Gracie still managed to submit Gordeau with a rear naked choke to win the fight and tournament. According to Gordeau, Royce was warned about his injuries and took advantage of them during the match. The Brazilian also held the choke for a long time after Gerard's tap out in retaliation for the foul play.^[5]

In 1994, Gordeau was a cornerman for UFC 2 participants Remco Pardoel and Freek Hamaker.

Vale Tudo Japan

Two years after his UFC, Gordeau applied to the Vale Tudo Japan tournament, held in Japan. He was pitted against the much lighter shoot wrestling exponent Yuki Nakai, and again Gordeau resorted to illegal tactics when he repeteadly eye-gouged when he was trying to take him down.^[10] At the end, Nakai submitted Gordeau with a heel hook, but lost sight in his right eye from the gouge.^[11]

Professional wrestling career

Gordeau had his debut in professional wrestling on August 13, 1988 in shoot style promotion UWF Newborn, losing a special match against Akira Maeda. He also competed in two bouts against Masaaki Satake and Mitsuya Nagai at "free fight" events held under RINGS.^[12]

In 1995, he took part in New Japan Pro Wrestling's four-man Final Countdown BVD Tournament on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome during Battle 7. He lost his only match to eventual winner Antonio Inoki. Gordeau remained with Inoki as a trainer and wrestler for the Universal Fighting-Arts Organization, cornering Naoya Ogawa in several occasions.

He took part in the infamous 1.4 Incident, which occurred on January fourth, 1999 at the Tokyo Dome, where UFO member Naoya Ogawa faced Shinya Hashimoto in a pro wrestling match. Gordeau was in the corner of Ogawa along with Kazunari Murakami and Tiger Mask, and accompanied Ogawa to the ring. However, Naoya turned the bout into a shoot by brutally striking Hashimoto, who had no idea what was going on, and a brawl ensued in the ring, with Gordeau and his colleagues having to protect Ogawa from the NJPW crew.

Through 2001 and 2002, Gordeau participated in various Pro Wrestling Zero1 events, wrestling in singles matches against names like Shinya Hashimoto, Masato Tanaka, Samoa Joe and Steve Corino. He returned to the promotion in 2010 at Zero1's Yasukuni Shrine Festival, where he teamed up with his former student Ryoji Sai to defeat Munenori Sawa and Akebono.^[13]

Kamakura dojo

Gordeau, along with his brothers Al and Nico, owns the Dojo Kamakura in The Hague. He also trains the current Dutch K-1 fighter Mourad Bouzidi, along with Anil Dubar, and sometimes the Romanian champion Daniel Ghiță.

Accomplishments and titles

• Eight time Dutch Champion Kyokushin Karate
• Competed at the World Championships Kyokushin Karate (1979, 1983, 1987)
• Savate World Heavyweight Champion (1991)
• Three time Savate European Heavyweight Champion
• UFC 1 Tournament Runner Up (1993)

Mixed martial arts record

Kickboxing record

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	27-6	Toshiyuki Atokawa	Decision	K-1 Illusion 1993 Karate World Cup	000000001993-10-02-0000October 2, 1993	N/A	N/A	Osaka, Japan
Loss	27-5	Adam Watt	KO	K-1 Illusion	000000001993-09-04-0000September 4, 1993	2	2:07	Tokyo, Japan
Win	27-4	Jokovic	TKO	Savate World Championship	000000001991-05-25-0000May 25, 1991	3	0:01	Paris, France	For Savate World Heavyweight Championship
Win	26-4	Simon Bienvenu	KO	Savate World Championship	000000001991-04-27-0000April 27, 1991	N/A	N/A	Toulouse, France

Karate record

Karate record
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Location	Method	Round	Time	Record
1991-10-10	Win	Masaaki Satake	Karate World Cup '91 - All Japan Karate Championship		Decision (Divided)	3
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

References

External links

• Gerard Gordeau at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Professional MMA record for Gerard Gordeau from Sherdog
  
• "Gerard Gordeau". UFC.com.