Volk Han vs Rickson Gracie...

[Mbetz1981]

I was pondering recently, and suddenly it hit me.. What if, instead of Yosihisa Yamamoto, Rings sent master samboist Volk Han to represent them at the Vale Tudo Japan 95 event?

I think it would have been a great match up regardless of who won, but I honestly think Volk Han would have ko'd or executed some esoteric victory-roll knee bar variation on Rickson.

Thoughts?

 

[manboy<3]

Well watching Big nog vs Volk Han I think it's safe to say that there is no way that Volk Han would have been submitted by the much smaller Gracie

Gracies were actually not that great grapplers and they prefered to avoid other elite grapplers as much as possible because otherwise their "Magical Gracie Jijitsu" suddenly did not work

I think it's safe to say that Volk Han would have wiped the floor with Gracie

Volk Han is probably the most legit fake fighter in history when it comes to the grappling game

 

[Mbetz1981]

Well watching Big nog vs Volk Han I think it's safe to say that there is no way that Volk Han would have been submitted by the much smaller Gracie

Gracies were actually not that great grapplers and they prefered to avoid other elite grapplers as much as possible because otherwise their "Magical Gracie Jijitsu" suddenly did not work

I think it's safe to say that Volk Han would have wiped the floor with Gracie

Volk Han is probably the most legit fake fighter in history when it comes to the grappling game

I agree that Volk Han was amazing, and probably would have defeated Rickson.

I do think that because of his pedigree, Rickson would have a chance, (especially from the guard), but I suspect that Rickson didn't have much of a chin, and I doubt that Rickson ever faced someone has creative or proficient at leg-locks as han.

A prime Volk Han would be most fearsome in any era of mma.

 

[mraa1]

how many of Volk's fights were even legit?

 

[The Reed]

I love Volk, his worked matches back in RINGS got me into MMA but Rickson would have choked him.

 

[Mbetz1981]

how many of Volk's fights were even legit?

Well.... That's the million dollar question. Rings was a very bizzare promotion to say the least.

From what I can tell... 91-95 the matches were mostly works with the occasional shoot. 95-97ish there seems to be a lot more in the way of shoots, but still some works as well, especially anything involving Akira Maeda.

98/99 onward was all shoot.

So... It's hard to say how many shoots he was in, but what isn't in question is how talented he was.

 

[Zach The Maniac]

Would have been a great match to watch! If only we could turn the clock back 20 years and set it up.

 

[JacJeanFinger]

Well watching Big nog vs Volk Han I think it's safe to say that there is no way that Volk Han would have been submitted by the much smaller Gracie

Gracies were actually not that great grapplers and they prefered to avoid other elite grapplers as much as possible because otherwise their "Magical Gracie Jijitsu" suddenly did not work

I think it's safe to say that Volk Han would have wiped the floor with Gracie

Volk Han is probably the most legit fake fighter in history when it comes to the grappling game

Gracies were absolutely fantastic on the ground, but they do not risk themselves with someone that they know is better.

Volk Han vs Rickson would not have been possible.

 

[Asurah]

Volk is a god among men

RIP Hickson had it happened

 

[Xuh]

One thing I noticed is Fedor, Aleks and Sergei couldn't grapple to save their lives as soon as RTT broke up and they weren't training with the Volkster anymore

they sucked without him

 

[Mbetz1981]

I think this would have been a very interesting match up. Gracie obvisouly would have had a much better understanding of postioning, and I doubt Han was too experinced in passing the guard of a top level Bjj guy, but he was probably a much better wrestler, striker, and obviously super talented with the leg submissions to boot. Too bad it never happened.

 

[Mbetz1981]

 

[Sakuraba7]

Gracies were absolutely fantastic on the ground, but they do not risk themselves with someone that they know is better.

Volk Han vs Rickson would not have been possible.

Rickson would probably had a sudden death in the family or some other excuse and pulled out.

 

[Mixfight]

Would have been interesting to see. Rickson was slicker but Volk was bigger and more brutal. I think it would be like Barnett vs Rener

 

[tinobar]

It will look a lot like toroko vs royce

 

[Mbetz1981]

Come to think of it.... Rickson did beat a bigger opponent in Masakatsu Funaki, (and one well versed in leg locks), but he was pretty beat up by that point.

 

[PancraseForever]

One thing I noticed is Fedor, Aleks and Sergei couldn't grapple to save their lives as soon as RTT broke up and they weren't training with the Volkster anymore

they sucked without him

All of them were DONE without RTT.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

Gracies were absolutely fantastic on the ground, but they do not risk themselves with someone that they know is better.

Volk Han vs Rickson would not have been possible.

Hmmm... "Gracies"... u mean "modern Gracies" ?

 

[The ScorpioN]

Many posts yet not one truthful one.

The result is obvious:

Rickson via armbar

Sambists seems to rely on explosive power based techniques, against a technician like Rickson that just plays into his game.

Maybe at first he'll have trouble, but once the fight goes past 3-4 mins, it's all Rickson.

it'll look like Werdum/Erikson

 

[Mbetz1981]

A good way to asses where the Brazilian skill level was at in 95, (as compared to Japan), would be this fight between Allan Goes vs Frank Shamrock in 95 at Pancrase Eyes of Beast 4.

It's basically catch vs bjj, and you can tell by watching the video that Goes has a better idea of obtaining and keeping superior positioning, but seems fairly clueless on how to deal with leg attacks, and Frank's gonzo, never say die attitude.

Creativeness and athleticism are formidable opponent's to old school bjj.