Could Sakuraba be conpetitive with modern Welterweights?

ImNotSurpisedDonks! said:
Yah, nice job getting the context.

If a one sport striking specialist like Thompson came around two decades ago, he would have definitely been tapped out and not had the success he has enjoyed today. Rather, what happened is he studied with some of the modern best in the business and developed the defensive wrestling, sub defense and striking adaptations to make his already established skill set successful in MMA. The end result being him outwrestling TWood later in the fight after losing the striking battle to a wrestler.

Guys today are all much more rounded than they were, even the "one trick ponies" like Maia, who had to learn striking to atleast be defended from being KO'd, and chain wrestling to make his BJJ effective. Are you really denying this? Did you see Dillon Danis almost get KO'd by a jobber because he has not had proper time to implement his game yet? You think you could take Royce from UFC 1 and he would be successful in the modern UFC with his bull rushing and push kicks? I don't. Sorry.

The secret of early MMA was BJJ and catch wrestling, but then everybody figured it out and the ceiling was raised to a place where you needed competency in atleast two disciples, and finally now people had to be atleast competent in all disciplines, sound athletically and could no longer just get by with being a sprawl and brawler or ridiculously good with just one discipline and clueless in the other (also see the recent evolutions in WMMA, which is about 1-2 decades behind MMA but mirrors the same course of trajectory),
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Mate, the point you're making is fair.
The point I'm making is that Thompson is as far from a 'well rounded complete mixed martial artist' as you will find lol.
If anything, Thompson strengthens your later argument that someone one dimensional doesn't stand up to questions in modern mma.
He's as one dimensional and as much of an old school mma fighter as you'll get.

Hes a karate fighter. <- this is a full stop.
 
Arm Barbarian said:
He had some of the craziest, acrobatic moves and subs, so I do think prime Sak could easily hang with a good portion of todays WWs.

Never underestimate a dude that goes for broke trying to finish the fight.

Royce was no joke back in the day, and neither was Renzo (who got his arm mangled by Kazushi).

20r8twh.jpg
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Imagine Saku vs let's say Perry. He would PWN him so so bad
 
315MMAFighter said:
You=Keyboard not even warrior<<<<<<<<Sakuraba
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You're a :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:. You actuallt "liked" a post that consisted of, "ok."

Yea Saku is better than me, no argument here. He'd have had his way with me for sure.

Psssst....


Saku>>>>>>>>>you also.
Everry UFC/Pride fighter ever>>>>>>>you & me.

Good observation. Very astute. Moron
 
Of course he would be competitive at WW. Would he champion? That's another question in itself.

The guy was an excellent grappler no doubt about it. Keep in mind he fought some of the biggest, most badass, primed fighters during that time. I mean there's really no shame in losing to Wandy, Crocop, Igor. Do you think those guys at WW could be competitive with prime Crocop? Probably fucking not.
 
MartinGibson86 said:
You're a :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:. You actuallt "liked" a post that consisted of, "ok."

Yea Saku is better than me, no argument here. He'd have had his way with me for sure.

Psssst....


Saku>>>>>>>>>you also.
Everry UFC/Pride fighter ever>>>>>>>you & me.

Good observation. Very astute. Moron
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u´re gettin´quite aggressive dude... chill a lil bit...
 
I honestly think he couldn't hang with today's Bantamweights. Today's WWs would pulverize him Arona style.
 
Theres only 1 reason his fight with Royce went so long, it was to punish Royce and the Gracie clan for there constant special treatment regarding the ruleset and time limits
 
He wouldn't beat one guy in the top 30. At any weight class today. And let me tell you something else, he wouldn't have even beaten any top guys post-Gracies if he wasn't being helped by the Yakuza backstage. The Sakuraba myth is only being held alive by a nostalgic, aging segment of online-MMA.
 
Readybodisready said:
He wouldn't beat one guy in the top 30. At any weight class today. And let me tell you something else, he wouldn't have even beaten any top guys post-Gracies if he wasn't being helped by the Yakuza backstage. The Sakuraba myth is only being held alive by a nostalgic, aging segment of online-MMA.
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ah him again spittin his old yakuza thing...

sleeping snake.gif
 
Big Tuppy Hole said:
Theres only 1 reason his fight with Royce went so long, it was to punish Royce and the Gracie clan for there constant special treatment regarding the ruleset and time limits
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Hoyce was a tough mutha too.
 
Big Tuppy Hole said:
Of course he was he had the shit kicked out of him and if it wasnt for Helio the beating would have continued
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This was a GOAT fight, lets hespect both fighters, both ol´school warriors...

They dedicated 90mns to us when modern "evolved" fighters would cry after 15mns...
 
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gono btw said:
ah him again spittin his old yakuza thing...

View attachment 399719
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I'm not allowed to fully get into it, but it has already been proven that Saku was involved in atleast more than 1 fixed fight. That Pride had many fixed fights. That the Yakuza was involved with the whole organization and that everything was corrupt. Then all of a sudden it makes sense watching Saky's opponents acting strangely and unusual as if they're trying not to hurt him too much. That's all I'm gonna say. You know deep down it's true.
 
Readybodisready said:
I'm not allowed to fully get into it, but it has already been proven that Saku was involved in atleast more than 1 fixed fight. That Pride had many fixed fights. That the Yakuza was involved with the whole organization and that everything was corrupt. Then all of a sudden it makes sense watching Saky's opponents acting strangely and unusual as if they're trying not to hurt him too much. That's all I'm gonna say. You know deep down it's true.
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I know deep down that u know shit.
 
gono btw said:
This was a GOAT fight, lets hespect both fighters, both ol´school warriors...

They dedicated 90mns to us when modern "evolved" fighters would cry after 15mns...
Click to expand...
IMO its the greatest (not the best) fight in MMA history it bridged the forgotten Vale Tudo past to the modern Mma present.
 
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