Your point was poor. Holmes can say what he wants because he's been there and done it. Rickson hasn't. Rickson has a career based on word of mouth and training stories. Would he have been able to stay sharp enough catch Severn after 15 minutes of combat? Would he have had the resolve to continue after the injury against Kimo? Would he have been able to tap Shamrock inside of a minute? Would he have been able you out fight Kazushi over 45 minutes? Rickson might have the better training stories and might be the apple of his dad's eyes but those who consider him superior to Royce always make me wonder if they keep something I don't.
Could have been capable of beating Severn? Sure, why not? The less skilled and physically talented brother was able to. Could he have kept himself together long enough to get past the Kimo match? Possibly, he did stop a better, more experienced opponent in Funaki after blowing out a knee and having a shattering orbital at 40 yrs old. If he managed to move on in that tourny, he'd of done what Royce couldn't. Could he have been capable of catching an unsuspecting guy in a gi choke who thought it wasn't allowed... This getting pretty tedious..Let's just have it out, you think Rickson is an overrated, worthless sack of crap. I think that he was technically and athletically superior to Royce and thus capable of matching or surpassing his results. Let's just agree to disagree.
What I would prefer is you justifying your stance. There is footage we can show of Royce beating world class MMA fighters and the whole "I think Rickson is better so he could have done the same" doesn't really wash. What's the best footage of Rickson? What are his verifiable victories? What tournaments has he verifiably won and who were the opponents, how good were they?
Not very good tbh Rickson was never an MMA fighter. He was a BJJ guy in No Holds Barred. He is notable for the guys he didnt fight tbh
Completely agree. How much scope is there in the thought that he could have best the guys of yesteryear
I dont doubt he is a BJJ legend...but he didnt fight Sakuraba, Bas, Frank, Ken, Dan Severn...ect ****ing Renzo is a G, best resume of a Gracie ever!
Matt Hughes, Carlos Newton, Oleg Taktarov, BJ Penn, Frank Shamrock, Hendo, Sakuraba...you tell me...did he? I think he did, win or lose, Renzo fought tough mofos
A resume doesn't include fights you lost. Renzo fought the best but he didn't beat the best. I think he's number 2 after Royce though. Royce > Renzo > Rickson
Royce legitimized BJJ on a larger stage, and gave BJJ an international explosion. Renzo fought the better fighters, but you can argue Royce had the better record. Rickson is better at BJJ than both. Renzo has been quoted as saying that he feels like a blue belt when he grapples Rickson. Rickson may never go down as the greatest fighter of all time, but he is The BJJ Legend. No other practitioner has the training stories to pair with the video footage. In real life, Rickson is the closest thing we have to the myth of Bruce Lee.
I don't think anybody disputes Rickson's mastery of BJJ. It's fairly clear from the available footage that Rickson was very comfortable while grappling and if proven guys like the other Gracies support that assessment of his BJJ skills, then I'll buy it. We are, however, entitled to raise doubts regarding his lethality in full contact MMA, given his lack of resume in this field.
