Nah I loved Marco and have always admired him as he was calling out all the Gracies. I do think that Rickson would have beaten him (sub). But MMA has evolved and sure he may beat a guy like Wanderlai who relies on sheer ferocity but hed get killed by A. Silva, Hendo, Vitor, Ortiz in his prime would have pinned him. Cmon think about it, he had a good stand up but not good enough to stand with against Keith HAckney and he certainly is good in the ground but not Mundial level. Hes in the same level as Prime Ken Shamrock for me.
I wish I could have seen him against Severn, or Coleman, to see how he fares against top notch wrestlers. Ruas seemed to have a grasp for stand-up, but couldn't out strike Taktarov. Ruas was too defensive against Oleg in their 1st encounter, and I didn't see the 2nd. I think he is around Tank Abbott's level, as far as achievement is concerned. Too bad we didn't see that fight.
He would have beaten Abbott but what Tank provided us in terms of entertainment beats anything that Ruas could have done. Ruas at times was very boring to watch. His bout with Varelans was legendary but besides that meh..
MMA has gotten a lot better is the main issue; Ruas was an absolute badass and pioneer though, one of the best and most well rounded fighters of his day.
UHh not really, remember there was very little time in between the time of Oleg, Ken, Royce, Marco and the time of Frye, Coleman, Vitor, Randy. He could have made a fight with any of the 2nd wave guys. Those guys would have given him a loss for sure. Look at Vitor, Randy now, they are still legit
He was definitely a part of the first bunch though, also decently smaller than then second group. I would give him a pretty good chance at beating Frye though, right when Frye was getting his start. Ruas though was the first to use the Muay Thai / Luta Livre / BJJ combo well that I can remember though, most guys around that time were combining some sort of submission grappling and takedown grappling, or striking and defensive wrestling at that time.
Right, he was the first one to beat someone by leg kicks (Varelans) and move on to take Hackney down and submit him. So in that sense, that was unheard of at the time. Was there anyone who won in diff ways in the early days?
Some of the very early Vale Tudo guy; like Valdemar Santana who was mostly a Luta Livre guy but could punch.