Stories of Rickson

[Ilk]

There is some crossover between the Gracie family and Olympic caliber/world class wrestlers. I thought you and @Uchi Mata might find this interesting with regards to the discussion you were having.

-Ryan Gracie fought and beat Kazuhiro Hamanaka in PRIDE. Hamanaka was a very very good freestyle wrestler. Competed against Cael Sanderson at the 2000 University World Championships and made a Japanese world team.

-Royce Gracie choked out Dan Severn at UFC 4. Severn made the 1985 world team and was very close to making the 84 Olympic freestyle team. Severn was also a world cup champ and won junior worlds.

-Roger Gracie has defeated Trevor Prangley who was close to making the Olympic team in South Africa and was a 2x All American in college here in the USA. He also defeated Kevin Randleman who was an amazing wrestler, 2x NCAA champ 3x NCAA finalist and defeated Olympians and world team guys.

-Kron has already defeated a world level Greco guy in Asen Yamamoto.

-Daniel Gracie submitted Shinsuke Nakamura, a damn good freestyle wrestler who has made a Japanese Jr world team and wrestled Mark Munoz in the Jr world championships. Daniel also defeated Takashi Sugiura who was at one time the top 82 kilo Greco guy in Japan and placed 4th at the Asian Championships.

Additionally, Rener Gracie received an offer to wrestl at Princeton University. Ive heard they offered him scholarship money. And interestingly, Rolles, Gregor, and Igor Gracie all spent time from 2013-2016 wrestling in senior level world freestyle competition. Rolles actually had a really good shot of representing Brazil at the Rio Olympics. He competed in and placed in a few big senior freestyle tournaments during this time. So to sum up, there has actually been a ton of cases were Gracies competed against top notch, legit, world class wrestlers and have done very well.

My problem with all that is that there is not a single world class name. And that it is all in the rules of MMA (I was asking what about rules of wrestling mostly) with no Olympic appearance at all at wrestling and stuff that actually matter in the world of sports. Sorry if I am disrespecting, but the world did not really know about MMA in the early days so BJJ may have dominated, but do we really have a single BJJ champion right now even in MMA? And where are all the Gracies right now, challenging world champs in UFC?

I am not sure how people buy into this, really. It is either pure marketing or is some kind of a fraud. It is like the story of Bruce Lee, apparently the father of MMA who has not a single documented fight

 

[dsdoubled]

My problem with all that is that there is not a single world class name. And that it is all in the rules of MMA (I was asking what about rules of wrestling mostly) with no Olympic appearance at all at wrestling and stuff that actually matter in the world of sports. Sorry if I am disrespecting, but the world did not really know about MMA in the early days so BJJ may have dominated, but do we really have a single BJJ champion right now even in MMA? And where are all the Gracies right now, challenging world champs in UFC?

I am not sure how people buy into this, really. It is either pure marketing or is some kind of a fraud. It is like the story of Bruce Lee, apparently the father of MMA who has not a single documented fight

Im not sure what you are referring to when you say "there is not a single world class name." In the wrestling community if you can win medals in international level tournaments or if you have beaten many guys who have, then you are considered world class. All of these wrestlers I mentioned fit into this criteria comfortably. And just so you are aware I do not have a position in the debate you were having with Uchi mata, I am just a bit of a wrestling trivia nut and could give examples you were looking for.

 

[snowdale]

This is fantastic info my man. Thank you very much! I cant read any of it, would you mind translating as much of it as possible? Especially anything sombo related?

Well, there is not much, really. He literally says only this "By the way, I have won Soviet National guard Sambo Championship". The whole interview is mostly about greco and this was just a short line.

 

[dsdoubled]

Well, there is not much, really. He literally says only this "By the way, I have won Soviet National guard Sambo Championship". The whole interview is mostly about greco and this was just a short line.

Cool. Thanks man.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

No he wasn't, nothing Funaki ever did in MMA is comparable to what Sakuraba did. Sakuraba fought at the highest levels of Pride taking on guys much bigger than him. Funaki`s career is a joke comparatively.

Not to mention he beat a Funaki wasn't allowed to hit Rickson on the ground.

 

[nefti]

saku would beat the crap out of rickson standing. Rickson will make saku look like ali. Rickson wont be able to take down saku .

 

[Scitney]

Brazil literally sent one male wrestler to the Olympics, and that was in Greco. Brazil has terrible freestyle wrestling. Where are you getting that Rolles had a good shot at wrestling in the Olympics?

There is some crossover between the Gracie family and Olympic caliber/world class wrestlers. I thought you and @Uchi Mata might find this interesting with regards to the discussion you were having.

-Ryan Gracie fought and beat Kazuhiro Hamanaka in PRIDE. Hamanaka was a very very good freestyle wrestler. Competed against Cael Sanderson at the 2000 University World Championships and made a Japanese world team.

-Royce Gracie choked out Dan Severn at UFC 4. Severn made the 1985 world team and was very close to making the 84 Olympic freestyle team. Severn was also a world cup champ and won junior worlds.

-Roger Gracie has defeated Trevor Prangley who was close to making the Olympic team in South Africa and was a 2x All American in college here in the USA. He also defeated Kevin Randleman who was an amazing wrestler, 2x NCAA champ 3x NCAA finalist and defeated Olympians and world team guys.

-Kron has already defeated a world level Greco guy in Asen Yamamoto.

-Daniel Gracie submitted Shinsuke Nakamura, a damn good freestyle wrestler who has made a Japanese Jr world team and wrestled Mark Munoz in the Jr world championships. Daniel also defeated Takashi Sugiura who was at one time the top 82 kilo Greco guy in Japan and placed 4th at the Asian Championships.

Additionally, Rener Gracie received an offer to wrestl at Princeton University. Ive heard they offered him scholarship money. And interestingly, Rolles, Gregor, and Igor Gracie all spent time from 2013-2016 wrestling in senior level world freestyle competition. Rolles actually had a really good shot of representing Brazil at the Rio Olympics. He competed in and placed in a few big senior freestyle tournaments during this time. So to sum up, there has actually been a ton of cases were Gracies competed against top notch, legit, world class wrestlers and have done very well.

 

[dsdoubled]

Brazil literally sent one male wrestler to the Olympics, and that was in Greco. Brazil has terrible freestyle wrestling. Where are you getting that Rolles had a good shot at wrestling in the Olympics?

It was kind of a situation of the stars aligning for him. The Canadian, American, and Cuban HWs all had either sat out or already qualified by the time the Pan Am qualifier(s) rolled around so a top 2 finish was well within reach for Rolles. And while he had absolutely no shot at medaling in Rio, he actually wrestled decently well in the tourneys he entered leading up to the games. So in this case coming from a country with pretty weak wrestling actually benefitted Rolles bc he would've been a favorite to win the Brazilian Nationals/trials.

 

[dsdoubled]

It was kind of a situation of the stars aligning for him. The Canadian, American, and Cuban HWs all had either sat out or already qualified by the time the Pan Am qualifier(s) rolled around so a top 2 finish was well within reach for Rolles. And while he had absolutely no shot at medaling in Rio, he actually wrestled decently well in the tourneys he entered leading up to the games. So in this case coming from a country with pretty weak wrestling actually benefitted Rolles bc he would've been a favorite to win the Brazilian Nationals/trials.

I always found it odd that Brazil, a country with such strong judo, their history with luta livre, and obviously Bjj, has horrible wrestling. It just doesn't add up. Grappling is overall at a very high level in brazil.