Sakus best weight was probs around 185lbs but fought bigger guys. Rutten was a smallish Heavy who intended to make the light heavy limit before injuries forced him to retire. Under Pride rules, who takes it? Does Rutten smash him up, and does his (post Funaki) knowledge of submissions see him manage to ride out Sakus sometimes unorthodox catch werestling techniques? Or can Saku pull something out of the bag? Random this I know
Bas by leeeeever kick ,and Im being serious. Too good of a striker, too big, and well versed not to give up a silly sub. I can see this being a worse beatdown than the Wandy fights, and I love Saku
Not just wrestlers, ground-based submission experts too (God knows why I made it that convoluted) which I think would fall into the category of grappling.
Its difficult to say as Bas's best body of work was in Pancrase which wasn't truly mixed martial arts per se. That said prime Bas with full strikes should win quite easily. Saku was very good on the ground. But so was Bas. Bas would keep it standing and palm strike the **** out of his face.
Bas and Saku are probably the 2 coolest guys in MMA history, I'd have to go with Bas if they had fought.
It was a silly question really. Saku is my alltime favourite fighter (and obviously one of the ATG's of MMA) and Bas is also someone I admire...but, despite holding wins over big strikers (and Heavies) Bas was near to the complete package once he'd burned a few times by submission artists. What about Saku Vs Anderson Silva? More realistic? :yep
Now you just being mean Flea Man! It's a big 'if', but if Saku could get both fighters on the ground I think he'd have much more joy with Anderson
Against Silva I don't see Saku taking a massive shellacking. He has the ability to shoot for single legs here, and whilst Anderson is well-versed in the ground game as well as being a fantastic exponent of Muay Thai, Saku had so many tricks in his bag that, IMO, he'd pull it out...if his grappling prowess could offset Silvas excellent balance.
sakuraba got a sick ground game. One of the best grappling fight i've seen is sakuraba vs goes. That was an awesome fight to watch if you're a fan of the ground game. Sakuraba the gracie hunter
Bas's takedown defence was never really that great so I don't think Saku would have had a great deal of trouble taking the fight to the ground. How things would have progressed from there is hard to say, Bas did have pretty good sub defence latter in his career but I think Saku had a superior sub game to anyone he faced.