How much did Baruto impress you?

[PRIDE_DREAM_RIZIN]

The term heavyweight is used too loosely in MMA. Baruto is a perfect example of a true heavyweight I.E. (Lesnar, Carwin, Hunt, Silva, Ubereem etc) fighters over 265 lb. He showed stamina and superb takedown ability. He even scrambled and reversed positions easily. I think he is the future, he would have easily KO'd Aerts in the corner if it wasn't for the ring ripes protecting Peter. I think he would smother Cain Velsaquez against the Octagon and take him down with ease.

 

[melvinj0]

It was a good MMA debut, Aerts is shot though and took the fight on short notice.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Only a fight with Kole Conrad will determine who the true soft heavyweight champion is.

 

[Andrew784]

Baruto got a pretty good reception from the crowd compared to other foreigner fighters. He could be a player for them, don't yell at me..but he and TK could be a potential fight to make. Yeah it makes absolutely no sense that Baruto became one of the stars from the Rizin show, but I think beating Peter Aerts Japan probably considers it more of a legit win than Fedor beating his opponent to be honest.

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

Yeah it makes absolutely no sense that Baruto became one of the stars from the Rizin show.

It makes perfect sense. He was a big sumo star and sumo is a big deal in Japan.

 

[Andrew784]

It makes perfect sense. He was a big sumo star and sumo is a big deal in Japan.

As some who doesn't follow SUMO and has seen other SUMO fighters in MMA, he exceeded my expectations. Took a punch well.

 

[basedworld]

Him punching under the waterfall was one of the highlights of the night

 

[BisexualMMA]

As some who doesn't follow SUMO and has seen other SUMO fighters in MMA, he exceeded my expectations. Took a punch well.

You can't do this without the ability to shrug off damage to the noggin:

 

[PRIDE_DREAM_RIZIN]

We all can agree Baruto is a star!

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

As some who doesn't follow SUMO and has seen other SUMO fighters in MMA, he exceeded my expectations. Took a punch well.

And he was actually able to use some of his sumo to get the fight where he wanted it unlike guys like Sentoryu.

I think Baruto beats TK with ease. Give him a year and let him fight Fedor.

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

He's been training Judo since he was a kid, won a national tournament in Estonia as a teenager, where he grew up on a farm doing hard labour since he was a child.

Peter Aerts, funnily enough trained Baruto in striking for the event, so Baruto was used to taking his punches.

He's a real quick learner, his rise was the 2nd fastest in Sumo history from rookie to the top division in less than 2 years. He has a ton of potential. Huge, agile, crazy strong, tough, great cardio for someone his size, smart, quick learner. I look forward to seeing more of him

As some who doesn't follow SUMO and has seen other SUMO fighters in MMA, he exceeded my expectations. Took a punch well.

OK, you meant you're surprised he did well since Sumo guys are usually horrible at mma. That is very true. I saw a HL of him and watched some of his sumo fights so I knew what to expect.

 

[Andrew784]

The more I learn about this Baruto character, how do you not root for this guy?

 

[Fork]

The more I learn about this Baruto character, how do you not root for this guy?

yeah, baruto is definitely a great guy.

for more examples, check out his interview after he won his first sumo tournament:

 

[BisexualMMA]

Baruto got a pretty good reception from the crowd compared to other foreigner fighters. He could be a player for them, don't yell at me..but he and TK could be a potential fight to make. Yeah it makes absolutely no sense that Baruto became one of the stars from the Rizin show, but I think beating Peter Aerts Japan probably considers it more of a legit win than Fedor beating his opponent to be honest.

I'm sure they do. I know I would have been a little more interested in Fedor vs Aerts, Schilt or JLB, just for the name value. In all cases, it was probably a foregone conclusion that Fedor would get it to the ground within a few minutes and that would be the end of it. Might as well be a kickboxing legend.

 

[Mike01010101a]

He was suprisely good even he is too big and too heavy to be real HW MMA fighter.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

Is he already the most successful MMA fighter who came from pro sumo? Who are his competitors really? Haha

Sad to see old man aerts get battered but I was impresses by Baruto.

 

[Fork]

Is he already the most successful MMA fighter who came from pro sumo? Who are his competitors really? Haha

i'd actually put two guys ahead of him. i'd say sentoryu's wins over min soo kim and ryuta noji (and maybe junpei hamada) are better than baruto's win over aerts. and i'd put tadao yasuda's win over lebanner in 2001 ahead of baruto's win as well.

a while ago i compiled a list of sumo wrestlers who have competed in mma, so i'll just quote it here:

Sentoryu has certainly been the most successful sumotori in mma.

i've actually been trying to collect a list of guys with sumo experience who have competed in mma. i'll copy and paste from a post i made earlier, and add a bit:

at the moment i have the following, more or less in order of rank achieved in sumo (with their shikona as sumo database links when applicable):

Kosaku "Iro Zeki" Shikimasu (high school sumo champion)
Emmanuel Yarborough (1995 Openweight World Champion amateur sumo)
Robert Paczkow (2001 and 2002 Heavyweight World Champion amateur sumo)
Alan Karaev (2002, 2007 Openweight World Champion, 2012 Heavyweight World Champion amateur sumo)
Kazuki Nojiri (former Jonidan Wakamusashi)
Katsumi Yamada (former Sandanme Wakaarashi)
Katsuhiko Kumago (former Sandanme Kumago)
Teila Tuli (former Makushita Takamishu)
Amaramend Boldo (former Juryo Hoshikaze)
Noriki Miyashita (former Juryo Hidenokuni)
Osamu "Tachihikari" Kawahara (former Maegashira Tachihikari)
Shinichi Suzukawa (former Maegashira Wakakirin)
Seiji Ogura (former Maegashira Daihisho)
Henry Miller (former Maegashira Sentoryu)
Yukio "Tamakairiki" Kawabe (former Maegashira Tamakairiki)
Tadao Yasuda (former Komosubi Takanofuji)
Yoichi Babaguchi (former Sekiwake Wakashoyo)
Koji Kitao (former Yokozuna Futahaguro)
Chad Rowan (former Yokozuna Akebono)

and then these guys, who i don't think have any professional or amateur sumo experience (maybe high school level experience) but are notable fighters with sumo backgrounds...

Mizuto Hirota (not sure, but i believe he has at least some sumo training in his background)
Takenori Sato (5 years of sumo experience, don't know much beyond that)
Lyoto Machida (not sure exactly, but some experience in amateur sumo competition)
Kiyoshi Tamura (again not sure, but he has sumo training in his background)

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

I'd love to see Takenoyama cross over next.

He seems like the kind of guy that could do well in MMA, or at least be very entertaining.

 

[fedorlegenda]

Takanoyama would be perfect for Rizin!

 

[LHWBelt]

I don't think he's very good but with the HW landscape worldwide they can match him up good and make him look semi-legit before getting to the top where he gets crushed. They may as well do it as he seems like he's a draw.