Satake made his
kickboxing debut against
WKA US Cruiserweight Champion
Don Nakaya Nielsen. Nielsen placed his opponent on the defensive in the opening moments, but Satake fought back with repeated headbutts that led to a
foul being ruled. Nielsen subsequently dropped his guard, allowing Satake to land a left hook too strong for Nielsen to recover from. Despite taking a two-year break from kickboxing afterwards to focus on
karate, Satake followed his initial victory up with an undefeated streak that included draws against world champions
Rob Kaman and
Peter Aerts - establishing himself as a
Japanese powerhouse who could hold his own against the best of international competition.
K-1 Based on his initial
kickboxing record, his status as one of
Japan's top karate competitors, and his affiliation with
K-1 founder
Kazuyoshi Ishii's
Seidokaikan group, Satake was invited to participate in the first K-1 event -
K-1 Sanctuary I. Following a victory over
American Chris Blanner, he was invited to the company's first-ever world tournament, the
K-1 Grand Prix '93. He bested future
Olympic bobsledder Todd Hays in the quarterfinals before suffering his first defeat (and
knockout) to
Branko Cikatić, who would go on to win the tournament. Despite this loss, Satake rebounded by winning his first world title – the vacant UKF World Heavyweight Championship – from his old rival
Don Nakaya Nielsen. He next defeated
Stan Longinidis in a title-versus-title match, but Longinidis retained his
WKA World Super Heavyweight Championship after arguing that the match was not conducted under WKA rules. Satake made up for this denial by winning the
KICK World Super Heavyweight and
ISKA World Heavyweight Championships in a match against
American Jeff Hollins at the
K-2 Grand Prix '93. Despite suffering a loss to future K-1 megastar
Ernesto Hoost at
K-1 Challenge, Satake was invited to the second world tournament, the
K-1 Grand Prix '94. After defeating karate champ
Michael Thompson in the quarterfinals, he avenged his previous year's loss to Branko Cikatić with a decision victory over the
Croatian Tiger. Satake moved on to arguably the most important match of his career: the World Grand Prix final against
Peter Aerts. Despite throwing no shortage of powerful strikes at the
Dutchman, Satake was unable to land many significant blows while enduring several from Aerts, and lost by
unanimous decision. It was the last time Satake reached the finals of a WGP tournament. Again, Satake rebounded from his grand prix loss with a world title win, this time securing the WKA World
Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Championship in a match with Dennis Lane at
K-1 Revenge. However, he lost it less than three months later to
Sam Greco. It was the last world title he ever held. He entered and won two Japanese qualifying tournaments – the
K-1 Dream '97 Japan Grand Prix and the
K-1 Japan Grand Prix '98 – and though these accomplishments helped lead him to the WGP three more times, he did not advance beyond the semifinals. Though his wins always outnumbered his defeats, his achievements over world champion-level opponents dwindled, as he achieved little more than a 1997 decision victory over WKA World Muay Thai Champion Kirkwood Walker and a draw with hall-of-famer
Maurice Smith. On October 3, 1999, Satake attempted to qualify for the WGP one more time in a match against
Musashi. Musashi defeated him by unanimous decision. Satake, who later described his opponent as "shameful" and a "bad student," disagreed with the outcome. In addition to this, his ongoing disenchantment with Kazuyoshi Ishii moved him to retire from K-1 and kickboxing in general. At the time of his retirement, Satake was the most successful Japanese fighter active in the heavyweight division. He was a four-time world champion, a winner of two regional tournaments, and is one of only 18 competitors to have reached the WGP finals. ==Professional wrestling==