So if you can beat Dan Severn you can beat Randy Couture. They are of the same style, Greco Roman with sporadic punching. Randy is no harder to defeat, even though he wrestled at a higher level. Oleg Taktarov/Fedor Emelianenko, same difference. They're just a couple of Sambo guys.
Now you're just being silly. Dan Severn was an MMA artist of the skillset of RAndy Couture, sure he was atsch Randy competed at the absolute top-level of MMA during the entire period of its evolution from style-vs-style to what it is today. Rickson was a Jiu Jitsu player, thats it - even if you dont care abou the fact that he had 9 recorded fights against mediocre fighters under his own rules, just watch him fight with your own two eyes for Chrissake atsch - if you think that 150 guy standing straight-up with his knees locked like hes never been in a boxing or Muay Thai gym in his life, then shooting takedowns from 10 feet away that 9th grade high school wrestlers could better is 'well-rounded' God I already thought you were crazy. but if you think Rickson Gracie is a complete martial artist like Randy Couture is, I think it might be time to move onto another topic
Any live body of note? The guy fought the top fighters in Brazil. What is so hard to acknowledge about that? He beat the crazy wild man of Borneo or whatever the heck Zulu was called. He defeated the champions of the rival lute livre school in Rio. When he went to Japan - Takada was considered their champion. Masa Funaki was another. Rickson should have fought Sakuraba - but it didn't play out that way due to politics. Rickson was 36 in 1994. For athletes involved in combative sports, this is certainly considered well past their prime. He fought every year except for '96 due to the wait between Japan Vale Tudo and the creation of Pride. He was 40 when he fought Takada in Pride 4. He was 42 for his last fight against Funaki - a very credible opponent to say the least. This is a fairly acitve schedule for a guy past his prime. Lennox Lewis by comparison fought 13 times over the last six years of his career and was only 38 when he retired. Lewis wasn't even running the risk of getting kicked in the face. Rickson fought in the Japanese Vale Tudo and Pride under the Japanese created rules.:huh Props for using the word credulity in proper context.
Randy Couture, the complete martial artist. That is funniest thing I've ever read. Randy is a great wrestler, and great at "dirty boxing." That's all he is good at. He is a great MMA fighter none the less. Would you rather me use Don Frye for a comparison? Use him instead.
In short - Randy Couture was armbarred by Gracie jiujitsu student Enson Inoue. Inoue was a student of Rickson and older brother Relson at the time he submitted Couture. On a related note, Inoue actually ran for his life from an infuriated Rickson Gracie when he filmed a Rickson seminar and allowed the footage to get into the grey market.
I think there is the point of recognizing that Rickson was likely the most skilled BJJ practitioner around for a long time. Being a little better in the Jiu Jitsu game can mean a whole lot technically.. Thing is, he really left himself with no ground to stand on considering his MMA career.. I'm sure he does see loads of holes in a lot of peoples games, the thing is, he may be blind to his own holes, like never having fought anyone of great MMA value in his enire career.. He might be able to beat a great BJJ practitioner who has weak hands, but he has never even faced anyone of note in actual MMA. Seems more like he spent his career in hiding to maintain the family name. He has a lot of nerve to talk **** and not fight.
So was Sakuraba. What's your point? Takada was presented as the Japanese champion at the time. I didn't want to be a part of this thread to begin with and it's really lame having to argue against all the Gracie hate on this board - which I don't understand in the slightest. Do as you will fellas. Pick through last night's posts as you like.
i agree that rickson was a good fighter andhe would have easily won the early ufc however he is not on the level of fedor or some of the other more modern fighters who are far to well rounded. Also fedor is a heavyweight and rickson isn't that alone is to much of a disadvanatge for rickson to overcome.
Rickson is 50. I dare Larry Holmes to challenge Wladimir Klitschko. He would get his ass whipped. That is an idea along the same lines. Some of you guys really need to do some research. Are any of you familiar with Luta Livre? It is a style of fighting that the Gracies have been proving themselves against for years. You may have heard of some of it's practioners; Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio Rua, and Murillo Rua to name a few. Silva and the Ruas are not practioners of some style born out of recent MMA. They are practioners of a style that has been in existence for decades. Now sure, Luta Livre practitioners may have made some adjustments to their game in the evolution of recent MMA events. Everyone that competes in today's mma scene makes adjustments. It is unfair to assume that someone like Rickson could not make adjustments to his game. Everyone keeps bringing up fighters that have changed their style to incorporate BJJ. You guys keep forgetting that a BJJ practitioner may be just as capable of making changes.
i am talking prime for prime, rickson has shown nothing that would make me think he could fight fedor.
Fair enough, Fedor has accomplished more in MMA than arguably anyone. His resume is starting to look like a who's who list amongst MMA's heavyweight division. I'm not going to try to argue that Rickson is the greatest mma fighter of all time. I'm simply stating that some of the criticism I've been reading is a bit unfair and unwarranted.
i agree that rickson is a very talented fighter and for his day he was an mma legend it is just a pity we never got to see him fight the likes of kerr, rutten shamrock etc
yup. i wonder why people place him above royce. royce is numero uno simply cause what he showed the world in ufc.
