Antonio Inoki is an unforgettable name in the world of pro wrestling. Millions of his fans across the world were heartbroken as ‘Moeru Toukon’ took his last breath today at 79. Inoki fought the legend, ‘Mohammad Ali’ in an exhibition match in 1976 where the rules were a lot like today’s MMA. Owing to this, many consider him to be a pioneer of what we know today as MMA.

Inoki also founded the famed wrestling promotion ‘New Japan Pro Wrestling’, which is one of the oldest, still-active wrestling promotions. His demise sent his worldwide fanbase into mourning as they took to social media and shared condolences to ‘Moeru Toukon’s’ near and dear ones.

Inoki’s bout with Mohammad Ali

The bout between Ali and Inoki was supposed to take place on June 26, at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. There were some limitations placed on Inoki. He was not permitted to throw Ali, grapple with him, or tackle him, and he was not permitted to kick Ali unless he had one knee on the mat.

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Inoki spent most of the bout on his back, from where he could kick Ali and take no punches because he was only concerned with beating Ali. According to Ali’s promoter Bob Arum, what Ali anticipated would be a fun and rewarding event that resulted in him almost sacrificing his leg due to two blood clots.

Fans flooded social media to bid final goodbye to Antonio Inoki

Quite expectedly, social media got filled with ‘R.I.Ps’ and heartbroken phrases in praise of the legend Inoki. Ric Flair himself mourned the death of a pioneer.

Mark Raimondi, a well-known ESPN combat sports reporter, wrote on his Instagram, “A trailblazer. Every superlative and then some. Inoki’s mixed-rules bout with Ali in 1976 was a direct ancestor to what we know now as MMA. Pour one out tonight for Inoki-San. Kanpai and Rest In Peace to an absolute giant“.

Raimondi received numerous replies to his post. One of the most noted ones to reply to him was the UFC Hall of Fame inductee, ‘Mark Coleman’ who replied, “RIP sir“.

The mourning of Inoki’s demise took over Twitter as well. The most noted pro wrestling franchise, “WWE” took to their Twitter handle and posted, “WWE remembers Antonio Inoki. 1943-2022”. This post received a whopping 30.1k likes and numerous replies. A Twitter page with the name, ‘Wrestle Ops’ replied, “Glad to see this be acknowledged live on the air, all time great.”

ESPN also tweeted about the passing of this legend. They wrote, “Antonio Inoki, a combat sports trailblazer, influential politician and larger-than-life figure in his native Japan, died Friday at the age of 79. He fought Muhammad Ali in perhaps the highest-profile mixed-rules bout ever.”

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A follower named ‘Mike Barry’ replied, “One of the finest and most influential wrestlers of all time, Rest In Peace Mr. Inoki”.

Another fan named ‘Arizona Ice T’ had a really moving reply. He wrote, “He’s gone , Ali is gone , Ric Flair is all we have left”.

‘Arizona Ice T’ also received a reply from another fan named ‘Michael k’ who wrote, “Terry Funk and Abdullah the Butcher”. He added on to ‘Ice T’s’ list of the oldest pro wrestlers who were still breathing.

Undoubtedly, ‘Moeru Toukon’s’ demise has sent the combat sports world into a deep state of mourning. We at EssentiallySports also convey our deepest condolences to all the dear ones of Antonio Inoki.