Karl Gotch

Karl Istaz (born Karel Alfons Ceclie Istaz; August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007), best known by the ring name Karl Gotch (カール・ゴッチ, Kāru Gotchi), was a competitor and trainer in professional, amateur, and catch wrestling, born in Antwerp, Belgium. Considered one of the most influential wrestlers of his time period, he is best known for training several acclaimed and influential professional wrestlers in Japan, and for becoming a catalyst in the faculty development of Strong style, alongside New Japan Pro-Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki and fellow trainer Billy Robinson.

Born in 1924, he was raised into a Hungarian-Dutch family in Flanders, and was a victim of Holocaust persecutions due to his father's atheism. After 1945, he became involved in Olympic-level wrestling training, culminating in him representing Belgium at the 1948 Summer Olympics in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. He learned catch wrestling, and later professional wrestling, at the Wigan Snake Pit by Billy Riley and Billy Joyce. He was given the ring name "Gotch" by Ohio promoter Al Haft in honor of American wrestler Frank Gotch. In Japan, he became known as a "God of Wrestling" (プロレスの神様, Puroresu no kami-sama) alongside Billy Robinson and Lou Thesz, due to their collective influence on Japanese professional wrestling and Strong style.

Gotch had significantly influenced the development of modern mixed martial arts (MMA), especially in Japan. Several of Gotch's students, which included Satoru Sayama, Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki Akira Maeda, and Nobuhiko Takada, established pioneering MMA promotions and training schools to transmit Gotch's training. These include Sayama's Shooto, regarded as the first modern MMA promotion, and Funaki and Suzuki's Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling, which also predates the UFC, along with Maeda's Fighting Network RINGS, and Takada's Pride Fighting Championships (PRIDE), one of the most popular promotions of all time.