Why are there so many dominant and amazing Brazillian fighters compared to most other countries? Obviously no wonder the US is up there due to money and resources but Brazil is a fairly poor country yet it seems to create such a vast amount of quality fighters? Has it something to do with the poor conditions? Is it the lifestyle? What is it that makes Brazil so good at producing quality fighters in all weight classes?
because most of the fighters they're importing (in america , or japan etc..) are generally , top notch in brazilian jiu jitsu...they have the best prospects in that discipline... russians would be way more dominant if a huge majority of elites in sambo would try mma. But they rarely do...and the ones that do are generally mediocre or simply "good"...but nothing special... Fedor happens to be one of the rare ones (combat sambo elite) who's participating in MMA. The same goes for Judokas..(though Judo is more international than both bjj and sambo combined).... but it's ****ing rare to see an elite in judo , participaring in mma.. I mean the best judoka they have in the ufc is Karo... No offense but compared to let's say..Yoshida or Nastula , karo's credentials in judo are a bit ridiculed... Infortunately , both Yoshida and Nastula are not in their prime anymore...and Nastula never had the time to adapt 100% under mma rules. a good prime and top judoka active in mma is Akiyama , but he's fighting in K1's heros. (he's their current champion too). There's fedor too but he mixes a bit of everything he can't be compared to a pure judoka.... there's also sukoudjou..(karo already defeated him in judo though lol)... Sokoudjou is supposed to be a judoka but he KOed his last two opponents lol...He did show a super solid takedown defense against arona though.
Brazil is also a big fukin' country with a ton of people, most poor. Unfortunately poor and disenchanted people usually fight better then rich fat cats that don't "have" too.
It's a cultural thing, or at least was, in that it was accepted much earlier, which allowed for the formation of top teams which allow for great fighters. And I would have to disagree with it about them being poor, most of the fighters from brazil come from a decent to wealthy background, which allows them to train in BJJ and then Vale Tudo. BJJ guys are considered "playboys" in Brazil, there are of course exceptions, but they generally aren't liked much by the poorer people as they are kind of arrogant.
? The Gracies are certainly posh upper class. But the Nogueira brothers are from a poor backround as is A.Silva,W.Silva. I think Arona and the Rua's are middle/upper class.
The poorer people I mix with in Brazil don't seem to give too much of a **** about class. They only get angry if people flaunt wealth in front of them, which I don't think the Gracie's ever have. It's more of a regional thing - some don't like them so much because they are Cariocas (ie from Rio), but Brazilians in general seem to look up to them.
The Nogueira brothers actually had good upbringings because their father ran a business. The Gracies have made millions selling jiu-jitsu; their grandchildrens' grandchildren will never be poor. Brazilian fighters are obviously dominating MMA because they developed the most popular and effective fighting style in the world today. When your country has such a rich background in martial arts, it's easier for many individuals to develop into world-class fighters. UFC and MMA wouldn't even exist in America without the Brazilians (the Japanese and Thais as well). So we have a lot to thank them for.
Bah, thats a load of crap. If you gona start thanking Brazilians, might as well start thanking Japan. Thank your coaches and people who take you under their wing...
In the lighter weights Japan kind of takes over, most of the more amazing lightweights in the last few years like Kid Yamamoto and Genki Sudo have been Japanese. They just stall a bit once they get past the weight classes of Sakurai, Gomi etc because the average Japanese guy is smaller than the average American or Brazilian so it's harder to find elite big fighters.
I dunno if I'd back Diaz against Gomi, Gomi has a lot of power for his size. Diaz Vs Azeredo or something would be interesting to lead up to a Gomi fight if he proves himself on that level.
