Rickson vs Sakuraba = Mayweather vs Pacquiao

Rickson would have made short work of Ruas to be honest. His BJJ is way tighter than Marco and we know now that Marco's striking skills weren't really that great.

 

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f44/why-all-fuss-about-rickson-gracie-395145/

 

Haha, I remembered those flame wars on ADCC about Rickson and BJJ invincibility!:rofl

 

:huh
At the time ruas had some of the better striking in mma

 

Yes I remember him outstriking Oleg Taktarovatsch He was getting tooled by Goodrich ffs. He only looked good because at the time no one in the UFC knew how to strike.

 

Renzo is the only Gracie worth a ****. Everyone on Ricksons side of the family had bjj and that was it.Saku spanked that families name and big brother did nothing. Royler and Royce had more balls.

 

Sak definately had the Gracies number when they were still touting the "no Gracie has ever lost" propaganda.

Sak beat Royler, Royce, Renzo and Ryan Gracie before losing the rematch to a roided Royce by decision.

Rickson may have been a BJJ god at one point, but he never looked great in his MMA fights. Guess Sak's "aura" was too strong for Rickson afterall.

 

Ruas was one of the first to use the Thai kick in MMA and foot stomps along the fence. It's easy to look back now and critique Ruas as not that good, but he was also one of the first guys to come into the cage with BJJ and MT together that became they blueprint for many other fighters after that.

 

Bas was in Pancrase by then if I remember correctly, but I wouldnt call that MMA strictly and the UFC was NHB then anyway. But good post. Rua's striking may be poor when you look at it today, but it was still light years ahead of Ricksons. Id say it's a 50/50 Rua by ko, or Rickson by armbar. But we dont know how good Ricksons chin is because he never fought any strikers(Zulu really any good apart from what we hear in the Gracies in Action vids...debatable) , that should be a knock on Gracie not Marco imo

 

Another thing you have to remember is that Rickson is a BJJ practitioner first, and I don't mean sport bjj. Rickson is not trying to win rounds, and he isn't going to be interested in competing in something that would allow for separations due to inactivity. Rickson wants to use his family's art to finish a fight. He doesn't care about winning a decision under today's rules. Watch Rickson's fight with Funaki. Rickson got the clinch on Funaki within seconds, and they remained in the corner jockeying for position for over 8 minutes. They would have been separated in 30 seconds under today's rules. That means Rickson would have to close the distance way more often under the mma rules of today as opposed to the rule that he fought under.

I think Rickson would probably have some ko losses under today's rules. He would be forced to close the distance far more often than he is accustomed to doing, and opens himself up to strikes the more times he has to close the distance. Someone would eventually catch him with a hard shot and finish him.

I still think that Rickson is the most lethal, one on one, fighting machine I've ever seen.

 

Dont get me wrong Rek, I love and respect me some Rickson. But your post is about context, which I dont disagree. I just cant get the image of Rickson stalking wrestlers with his hands down as chin up higher than Dana's TRT levels when thinking about this match up.

That's why I said the fight would be 50/50. Chimba goes on about the Goodridge fight, but Gary had what, at least 40 lbs on Marco at the time. Marco outclasses Gracie as much on the feet as Rickson does anyone (cue the Kimbo jokes..)on the ground

As I said, Rickson stayed well within his comfort zone back in the day, this is a competitive fight imo. Ruas fought a much more varied type of fighter, though arguably equally inactive against the top tier of the day. What Im trying to say, losses and all, Ruas resume is more meaningful, which of course you said so yourself

 

Very strange for a guy who's got Anderson in his avatar. Can someone explain to me why Ruas cant put away Taktarov and why He was getting tooled by a mediocre boxer (I dont know what the **** his style is) Goodrich?

 

Oleg had a great chin and Ruas wasnt tooled on the feet...he was gnp'd a much bigger man, which Marco ****in WON!. Gary kodded Oleg son....

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Rp1r111IQ[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCGWLJ3oO2c[/ame]

 

Love the analogy.

I like Ruas. I even ordered his instructional videos years ago. I wanted him to be the real deal. Someone that gets out struck by Oleg Taktarov is not the fighter I had in mind. Ruas did have good technique, but he could be beaten on the feet by rudimentary strikers. His protege, Pedro Rizzo, gives more meaning to Ruas' teachings than anything I actually say Ruas do on video.

Ruas was so passive, Royce may have a chance against him in a stand-up fight. That's all I'm saying.