In sports like basketball, boxing, football, etc., sports that fall under these categories require youth, strength, stamina and others..you can be doing it for decades but eventually your game will fall due to age..when people hear about martial arts, theres always the master and that master is always considered the 'invincible' or the 'great'..you take a look at judo mifune, he was in his 70's and still impossible to take down in judo competition. In BJJ, theres a lot of new guys coming in with phenomenal skills. I've never seen Rickson Gracie, Rigan Machado, Rorion Gracie, and other 45+ years old BJJ masters compete at that age. How do you think the legends would do in a BJJ match with guys like Marcelo, Roger, Jacare, Xande Ribiero, Moraes, etc?
i dunno. im not a grappling expert but i would say they would do ok. those guys have been in the game so long, they pay attention when there is a buzz about a new technique. they might be old school, but im sure they've seen it all
Marc Laimon thinks that the old guys like Royce would be destroyed by the "wizards" of today. He went on to say that Royce would be equivalent to a blue belt. I don't agree with that comment but I think BJJ has evolved enough to have the new guys beat the prime old guys
Marc Kaimon does look pretty bad ass on those old UFC videos trying to explain basic BJJ moves "it is called a Kimura, because Kimura broke Helio Gracie's arm with it, in Brazil, many years ago"
I think strength might be the deciding factor and you would have to assume the legends would gas faster. Anyway the wizards wouldn't know jack without the legends teaching them so hopefully they are respectful to who are passing knowledge.
Paulo Filho trained with Rickson somewhat recently and said that he has never felt such incredible technique and guys at Renzo's academy in NY have incredible respect for his technique so I be there would be some competitive match ups
It depends if they've been keeping up with their craft. It doesn't seem like Royce kept learning BJJ since he started fighting MMA. He taught but didn't practice enough himself. That's one of the problems with teaching though. If you look at the instructions they were giving out on TUF1 it was all very basic...stuff that you should have learned on the first day of BJJ and Muay Thai class. The two styles are still taught the same, but guys like Laimon, Bravo, and Paulson have added little things here and there and changed or use different methods in other places. Most of it doesn't really work for most people, but it works for them. I think the best guys out there are those who are technical, strong, and fast. Guys who have superior top games, such as Jacare and Penn. When I see Ricksons students pulling guard over and over I can't help but wonder wtf he's teaching them. That certainly wasn't his style.
Laimon is a badass, but he seems to despise every single member of the Gracie family. He started with them, and I guess they used to beat up on him pretty bad from what I heard, so there's contempt there. As for his comment regarding Royce, he's definitely not top tier anymore, but to say he's just a blue belt is inaccurate. Royce is still good, but he would get smashed against the best BJJ guys now.
Laimon is a badass, but he seems to despise every single member of the Gracie family. He started with them, and I guess they used to beat up on him pretty bad from what I heard, so there's contempt there. As for his comment regarding Royce, he's definitely not top tier anymore, but to say he's just a blue belt is inaccurate. Royce is still good, but he would get smashed against the best BJJ guys now.
I actually just had a seminar tonight with Royler Gracie. He certainly brings us moves every year from Brazil since BJJ evolves, but I think the comparison is unfair. BJJ is like science. Copernicus was obviously a genius in his day, but his knowledge doesn't compare to Stephen Hawking because Hawking's knowledge is basically an improvement on Copernicus'. Same with Marcelo Garcia. He is likely better than Royce in Royce's prime, but there'd be no Marcelo w/out Royce (just like Laimon would have no career sans the Gracies).
I would have to go with the newer generation. They have the benefit of learning from the legends AND more modern competition oriented BJJ. Add the extreme conditioning and you have a recipe for disaster. No disrespect to the legends, but hopefully they live by the principal that a teacher has only done his job when the students surpass them.
