How did you come to that magical percentage? So lets see. Nog wins the Interim title. Its pretty clear his wars have washed him up. Remember his wars in PRIDE with Fedor? Nah maybe not.. Rampage despite being on the end of career ending losses still wins the UFC title and had a decent run. Silva... well is just Silva. Wandy was shot after devasating losses to CC at the OWGP and Hendo as well as his bout with Hunt that knocked 7 bells out of him. Sokodjou was he ever a stud? Two KO's over top tier opponents and everyone was ready to jump in his jock? Mark Coleman shot to **** for YEARS. CC looked awesome at the OWGP. Came to the UFC took opponents like Gonzaga lightly. Suffered some very awkward injurys from his days in PRIDE and has certainly not translated his talent. Could that be mental? Physical? Who knows. Drugs? Drugs dont turn you into a K1 and MMA ATG and walking highlight reel. Henderson beat former UFC champ Franklin, Palhares, and completely dessimated Bisping but suffered losses to (oops) two ex PRIDE fighters Silva and Rampage. Despite a good run he's now in Strikeforce. Now thats just a few thats come off the top of my head. So your magical 75% has just dwindled to a lascivious zero. As for Gomi dont even go there. You've either been watching MMA for a few days or you deliberatly pick and choose what you think is credible information.
How about looking at the flip side.... Before Pride was evaporated, the UFC fighters, Middleweight and up were: Franklin looked to be unbeatable Liddel looked to be unbeatable Couture was an MMA God Silva and Arlovski were the top of the food chain Franklin loses to: Henderson - Former Pride Champ Silva - Twice, former Pride Fighter Liddel - Gets knocked the **** out by Rampage and Shogun Machida comes from Pride and is now the Best LHW in the world Couture gets dominated by Nog Sylvia gets choked out by Nog and annhialated by Fedor Arlovski gets brutally knocked the **** out and posterized by Fedor
You don't have to label every fighter that has ever fought in Pride as a "Pride fighter"... that has always been silly to me. Anderson Silva was hardly a "pride fighter"... he definitely wasn't a long time staple of that organization. He is much more of a UFC fighter by that logic than he ever was a "Pride fighter". Anyways... my point stands. Cro-Cop was on top of the world... people claiming that he would even beat Fedor if they fought again after the OWGP... he comes into the UFC and what do we hear? "He isn't the same fighter that he was in Pride". Shogun was on top of the World at 205. He couldn't be touched outside of his fight with Coleman. He comes over to the UFC ONLY 7 MONTHS AFTER HE JUST KNOCKED OUT ALISTAIR OVERREEM IN PRIDE!! Loses in embarrassing fashion to Forrest Griffin and what do we hear? "Shogun isn't the same fighter that he was in Pride". Big Nog comes to the UFC just a half a year after beating one of the best Heavyweights in the World in Josh Barnett. He comes over to the UFC and despite having won the "interm" title... has had a VERY rough run... even in his wins. What do we hear? "Big Nog isn't the same fighter that he was in Pride". Heath Herring comes to the UFC. Having been a former successful Pride fighter. Loses in his first fight to an upstart no-name fighter. What do we hear? "Heath Herring isn't the same fighter that he used to be". Wanderlei Silva comes into the UFC. Yes, he had just been knocked out twice in Pride to Hendo and Cro-Cop. However, he also had a big run in Pride and was still a beast in his fights over there directly before those losses. We all know about his wins a couple years before those losses, but even directly before he had beat Arona, and absolutely brutalized Fujita. He has looked very ordinary in the UFC outside of his great KO win over Jardine that was a blast to watch. Let's not forget that DIRECTLY before he was beat twice in pride everyone was talking about how great he was and how excited everyone was for a showdown between him and Couture or him and Liddell. People can lose two fights in a row without being washed up. Especially when they were against a Heavyweight in Cro Cop and Hendo. However... true to form... the first thing that we hear after Silva's first fight and loss in the UFC is "Silva isn't the same fighter that he was in Pride". Yes... I list Gomi the exact same way. I don't give a **** what anyone says. He isn't old... he came in very good physical shape. He is still the same human being who fought in Pride. However, in this case I think everything is very simple. Gomi didn't really have any top level competition in Pride. I don't think Gomi was ever a great fighter. That's just reality. Very tough fighter and clearly better than what they had in his weight class in Pride for the most part. However... he would have never beaten the best guys in the UFC. I remember when Rampage first came into the UFC and had his first fight with Eastman. I remember people coming on here even then and saying that Rampage wasn't the same fighter that he was in Pride. It's just amazing... and it drives me crazy. Rampage obviously went on to have a successful run in the UFC. Sokoudjou was hyped like crazy after knocking out Lil Nog and Arona in Pride. We all know what happened to him afterwards, and I saw you try to sweep that one under the rug real quick. I won't bother trying to look into this any deeper... but you guys get the point.
Anyways, I am not saying that all of the Pride fighters were on every drug imaginable. I was sort of getting a rise out of people with my first post. However, I do know from first hand sources that it was HORRIBLE over there with drugs. To the point where they give you a list of things that they will NOT be testing you for. Which obviously leads to fighters trying to use anything they can to keep up with the rest of the fighters and try to get an edge. I sure as hell can't blame them. I am sure not all of them were on something when they fought... but A LOT were. My point has always been that Pride fighters were really hyped up beyond what they were. I loved Pride, and watched it just as much as I watched the UFC. However, people really went over the top in pretending that these fighters were so much greater than they were, and it showed as soon as these fighters began to mix it up with fighters outside of Pride... outside of Japan.
PRIDE had the most depth in MMA at the time. The hype was legitimate. Anyway if you want to talk drugs look no further than your boy Coleman. Him and Kerr were on everything you can think of. Coleman wasnt as juiced up to the gills as Kerr but he was defintly a long term abuser.
Im not going to get into Gomi possibly doing drugs or not. Ill say this watching his reflexes this guy is past his prime that cant be argued. Very good fighter still and outstanding performence by Kenny Florian he didnt struggle in the slightest in this fight so what could a prime Gomi really do ?
Depends on the rules. BJJ guy, or wrestler goes for a single or double leg and Gomi happens to stuff it. They get knocked out, plain and simple knees to the head. This, is one of the reasons I think there should be more merit to stuffs, in a sense they are just as bad as a full mount.
Its amazing to see Gomi like this. Not one iota of skill. This is the same fighter who defeated Luiz Azeredo (an incredibly technical striker) twice! This is also the same guy who made quick work of Sakurai. Its pretty much a combination of no juice and lack of evolution as a fighter as been written already. Thats a lethal combo.
I don't think that would've made much of a difference... He also lost in japan last year....Against Kitaoka...it only took Kitaoka 1 round to finish him. (in less than 2 minutes).
