Rickson vs Sakuraba = Mayweather vs Pacquiao

[SuperHut]

This is my first post in the MMA forum and I'm not sure what the MMA community is like here. Haven't been following MMA as much as I did 12 years ago when Pride was the premier MMA event.

But does anybody see a resemblance between Rickson Gracie and Floyd Mayweather?

Both guys in their primes were undefeated and both guys came up with excuses to duck their rival. Rickson ducked Sakuraba and Mayweather appears to be ducking Pacquiao.

[Stoo]

Saku would have been huge, but Rickson ''ducked'' alot of good fighters from that time period

Im sure they could have done 90 000 in Japan in this one

[SuperHut]

Originally Posted by Stoo

Saku would have been huge, but Rickson ''ducked'' alot of good fighters from that time period

Im sure they could have done 90 000 in Japan in this one

True, but what set Saku apart from everybody else is that he defeated Royler, Royce, Renzo and Ryan and Rickson did nothing to represent that Gracies against Sakuraba.

[RJJFan]

Sakuraba didn't duck anyone. He was calling out Rickson but Rickson contented himself with pro wrestlers.

[SuperHut]

Rickson had some horrible excuses for ducking Sakuraba

[yaca you]

What could have been? In late 2000, Sakuraba had become the biggest star in sougou kakutougi by running off a series of victories over the famed, and previously unbeatable, Gracie clan. Royler, Royce, Renzo, Ryan. He had become the Gracie Hunter.

But there was one name conspicuously left off that list. The Gracie family champion. The man that had beaten Sakuraba's mentor Nobuhiko Takada. The best of not only all the Gracies but also perhaps the best in all sougou kakutougi. Rickson Gracie.

In late 2000, it seemed fairly certain that Rickson Gracie would be facing Nagoya Ogawa at the Coliseum 2001 show at the Tokyo Dome. But Dream Stage Entertainment threw a wrench into these plans by offering not only a fight with Kazushi Sakuraba in their Pride FC promotion but also an unheard of pay day.

"That fight would have been the biggest payout of all times," according to Rickson. "They offered me five million dollars, it would have put me on easy street. He beat a number of Gracies, and it would have been a good fight for me, perhaps the best fight. He really was a thorn in the side of all the Gracies."

DSE had been trying to put the fight together all year, but it was only after Sakuraba had defeated Ryan Gracie at Pride 10, cementing his "Gracie Hunter" title and his place as the biggest star in JMMA, that a contest between the two became the money fight to make.

Disaster put an end to any discussion of a match, when Rickson's son Rockson tragically died in December of 2000. Devastated, a grieving Rickson not only turned down the fight but retired from MMA.

Interest in a Rickson Gracie-Sakuraba fight was briefly resurrected in 2007 when Rickson had made an appearance at a HERO's Yokohohama Arena show. Soon thereafter FEG Event Producer Sadaharu Tanikawa was calling for a Sakuraba versus Rickson Gracie fight in 2008. "I'm up for it," Sakuraba replied when asked about facing the now 49-year-old Rickson. But this proved to be a false alarm and neither the Gracie champion nor the Gracie Hunter ever got the chance to test themselves against the other.

[url]********webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Y6Omg01gcEEJ:***.headkicklegend.com/2012/4/20/2962945/greatest-UFC-MMA-fights-never-happened-Silva-GSP-Shamrock-Gracie-Sakuraba+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us[/url]

Pride offered 5mil to Rickson, which is huge money for mma even today but in 2000 it is amazing how big that fight would have been. I'm not sure it could be said Rickson ducked Sakuraba though.

[Stoo]

Originally Posted by RJJFan

Sakuraba didn't duck anyone. He was calling out Rickson but Rickson contented himself with pro wrestlers.

Saku was/is a Pro-wrestler fella

[Vic-JofreBRASIL]

Rickson also ducked Marco Ruas......as far as I can remember...

[Stoo]

Originally Posted by Vic-JofreBRASIL

Rickson also ducked Marco Ruas......as far as I can remember...

And Bas, and Kerr, and Wanderlei, and...well you get the jist...

[Punisher73]

By the time MMA rolled around in the US, Rickson pretty much only fought for money as he was getting up there (by professional standards). Rickson was 35 when the first UFC happened, so when 2000 rolled around he would have been 42. He had far more to lose than to gain other than money at that time due to his "400-0" record. Of course then there was the lose to Tripp, that didn't REALLY count because he didn't know the rules etc. etc.

[HeGlassedMe]

GSP-Silva = PBF-Pacquiao.

[sugarngold]

Rickson didn't trust fighting for Pride after the dodgy results of the Royler/Sakuraba fight. As big as that fight would have been - the real Mayweather/Pacquiao of MMA was Couture/Fedor in 2007.

[sugarngold]

Originally Posted by Vic-JofreBRASIL

Rickson also ducked Marco Ruas......as far as I can remember...

Vic! You're Brazilian so you should know the story - but Rickson went to Ruas' dojo and challenged him to which Ruas declined - stating that he needed time to properly train for the fight.

[SuperHut]

Dickson ducked Sakuraba. Even before Rockson died, Rickson gave some absurd excuses. "Saku does not have a warrior auraso I won't fight him" etc.

In my opinion, the real Champion of the Gracie family was Royce. That guy was a bad mother ****er in his prime and was the guy the Gracie family used to represent them in the cage when they brought Vale Tudo to America.

[RJJFan]

Originally Posted by SuperHut

Dickson ducked Sakuraba. Even before Rockson died, Rickson gave some absurd excuses. "Saku does not have a warrior auraso I won't fight him" etc.

In my opinion, the real Champion of the Gracie family was Royce. That guy was a bad mother ****er in his prime and was the guy the Gracie family used to represent them in the cage when they brought Vale Tudo to America.

You spelt Renzo wrong.

[IMG]***********.mmabay.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/RenzoGracie01.jpg[/IMG]