Who is your favourite throwing artist and why?

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Mine is two times olympic medalist Georgian judoka Lasha Shavdatuashvili (HL below) and here is why:
- I think he is literally the most spectacular thrower in the world.
- I love his ura nage specialty and the height at which he can bring his apanyent.
- He is very versatile and displays a wide arsenal of techniques, including foot techniques
- He usually goes for unorthodox grips (fuck classical sleeve and lapel kumi kata IMO).
- Seems insanely strong and does not refrain from using brute strength, sometimes tackling down / body locking his apanyents
- Insane impact on most of his throws (I think he may have KO'd his apanyent with an osoto gari at 2:38)
- Creative, (WTF is that at 2'13)
- Stellar record
- Unspellable name



Discuss at once.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

And there he is throwing a player who once threw me!

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

And there he is throwing a player who once threw me!

who

 

[sb413197]

Mine is two times olympic medalist Georgian judoka Lasha Shavdatuashvili (HL below) and here is why:
- I think he is literally the most spectacular thrower in the world.
- I love his ura nage specialty and the height at which he can bring his apanyent.
- He is very versatile and displays a wide arsenal of techniques, including foot techniques
- He usually goes for unorthodox grips (fuck classical sleeve and lapel kumi kata IMO).
- Seems insanely strong and does not refrain from using brute strength, sometimes tackling down / body locking his apanyents
- Insane impact on most of his throws (I think he may have KO'd his apanyent with an osoto gari at 2:38)
- Creative, (WTF is that at 2'13)
- Stellar record
- Unspellable name



Discuss at once.

Very exciting and clearly super effective, but seeing highlight reels like this reinforces my decision to become a filthy guard puller ala Bernardo Faria moving into later life (42 y/o), having suffered an elbow dislocation off a takedown attempt awhile back - or at least giving up the takedown very early to fall safely and only sparring takedowns with select people or something (not totally decided yet). Those are Olympic level Judoka with probably some of the best Ukemi in the world, and a lot of them are landing on their heads/arms/shoulders, getting KO'd, etc...admittedly they are fighting the takedown to try to win and if in training they might be landing better, but takedowns ain't for the faint of heart - one bad fall is all it takes for a major injury. Maybe that's one reason Judo makes for good viewing and is popular as a spectator sport - it's exciting because it's scary, at some level.

Some very impressive and powerful chokes and armbars in that HL reel too, good aggressive groundwork

 

[TheFakeMacoy]

I'll jump on the Ono bandwagon. I love how he goes for ippon with big throws:



For a second pick, I'll go with Keiji Suzuki. I'm a fan of ashi-waza and he was very slick with his:

 

[Bluesbreaker]

who

Knoester from Australia.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Iliadis for me.

He certainly isn't the prettiest, but his power and commitment to each throw is otherworldly. He also hits throws that everyone else leaves behind, eg o goshi.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Tim Boetsch

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Tim Boetsch

I remember a really nice hari goshi(?) from him once. Maybe against Nick Ring?

 

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

Ono:


Asashoryu:


Sadulaev:

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Inoue and Saitiev for me. One for gi based, one for no-gi.

 

[Daz2300]

Can't find a decent highlight reel but as a BJJ guy i always thought Soraya Haddad had the perfect game to copy back in the day. Pickups, leg attacks and that Karen Briggs style of drop Tai Otoshi/Seoi Otoshi landing you in side control.

 

[Peteyandjia]

I remember a really nice hari goshi(?) from him once. Maybe against Nick Ring?

 

[Bluesbreaker]

More like an ashi guruma, but still sweet!

 

[Peteyandjia]

More like an ashi guruma, but still sweet!

I think you were right on with the harai goshi, just a nogi version, but what do I know. Either way, yeah that thing was sweet as sugar, & twice as bad for ya

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Some good contributions ITT.

 

[Kforcer]

Inoue and Saitiev for me. One for gi based, one for no-gi.

Saitiev is great. All of them.

 

[CFGroup]

Lot's of great choices, but for me?.....

Gotta be....

Masashi!



Fluid speed to adapt for lightning fast adjustments that baffle judges on how to score.

Matrix, next level strategy that honors the core principle of Judo/Jujutsu, using your opponents movement against them rather than dogged brute strength like some of the names(who are incredible) mentioned above he has "lost" to.

Masasi would be at the top level in whatever ruleset imposed on Judo at any given time because he's so adoptable in the moment.

 

[ArtemV]

Hifumi Abe:

He has some very flexible shoulders and wrist, which allows him to chase the morote-seoi nage. Also, everybody fears his sode-tsurikomi goshi, so he has developed counters to people who fear it. Has a great o-goshi nice counters and just awesome to watch.

 

[ArtemV]

I also like Mikhail Igolnikov, he is the best Russian judoka competing right now imo, he won his second European title last month and it was not close: