Satake made the transition to mixed martial arts with Pride Fighting Championships in 2000. At 34 years old, Satake was considered too old to perform adequately but sought to defy critics by joining the Takada Dojo, training under Kazushi Sakuraba. He was selected to participate in the Pride Grand Prix 2000, for which he tried to set up a match with Naoya Ogawa by trash-talking the world judo champion. Instead, he was instead pitted against UFC veteran and eventual tournament winner Mark Coleman. Masaaki lost the fight, being taken down easily by the American wrestler and submitted via neck crank.