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I was on Instagram and looking at the legendary Maurilo Bustamanche's profile and saw this pic and it got me thinking what a badass fucking Kemp these guys had 20+ years ago.
Mario Sperry was half fighter half coach. He was an ADCC gold medalist and as a fighter he had a record of 13-4 and beat guys like Igor Vovchanchyn, Vernon White who fought Liddell for a UFC title, Andrei Kopylov from Fedors camp at RTT, Lee Hasdell who fought Fedor and had a career record of 43-16. Sperry ended up being a great coach and valuable asset to this team.
Then you have Lil Nog who is a black belt in BJJ under the legendary De La Riva and won a bronze medal at the Pan Am International Boxing tournament. He beat Hendo like he stole something. Threw down with Shogun in one of the most epic fights ever and kicked ass in the UFC many years later on a respectable level and didn't embarrass himself against next generation fighters. Finished his career with a record of 23-10. Legend.
Next is Maurilo Bustamanche. BJJ World Champion. BJJ Champion of Brasil. UFC champion. Wins over all sorts of legendary fighters. Arguably beat Hendo and submitted Matt Lindland and had a very close fight with Rampage. Most definitely a great training partner to have with lots of experience and things he can teach you.
Also you have Big Nog. Minotauro. Pride HW champion. UFC HW champion. The second greatest HW to ever live. One of the toughest men who ever lived. Won a gold medal at the Mundials as a brown belt. Slick boxer and black belt under the legend De la Riva. Minotauro took down everyone he ever fought in Pride, including Fedor.
Big Nog beat prime Mirko, prime Barnett, prime Werdum who was ranked #6 in the world when they fought, prime Sergei, prime Herring and fought 375lb juiced up Bonb Sapp to the death in front of 60k fans in Japan. Even after all the wars, all the damage and all mileage Nog took in Pride he came to the UFC when he was well past his prime and still managed to become the UFC HW champion.
Nog was half blind in one eye, had hip surgery and probably had CTE but still managed to beat guys like Randy and Sylvia who were UFC champions during that generation and he also beat Schaub who was a much younger and more athletic fighter who came up training in the next generation with modern camps. Nog is GOATed. Legendary fighter and treasure of MMA history.
If not for Fedor, Nogs record in his first 32 fights would be like 32-0 if you take away the robbery loss he had to Hendo in RINGS which he later avenged via armbar. Its a privilege to have a fighter and training partner of this caliber in your gym who can teach you and help you prepare for fights.
Can't forget Paulo Filho who was probably the weakest link in this group which is crazy. He was juiced to the gills and had D1 style power double and was a gold medalist at the mundials as a purple belch. He had a career record of 23-6 with wins over prime Ninja Rua 2x, Misaki who beat Hendo but was robbed, Chael Sonnen and Ryo Chonan who beat Anderson Silva. His career ended in an unfortunate way as he got into trouble with drugs and alcohol but at his peak he was an pitbull and absolute animal to have on your team.
Lastly Hicardo Arona. 3x ADCC gold medalist in BJJ. Silver medalist at the Mundials in BJJ. A career record of 14-5 with wins over high level fighters such as Dan Henderson, prime Wanderlei Silva, Alistair Overeem, Jeremy Horn 2x who fought for a UFC title, Ninja Rua, Sakuraba, Dean Lister and Guy Mezger. Arona gave young Fedor all he could handle and many think he won. Truly a champion level fighter and an insanely valuable asset to any camp. I think his grappling would have translated to the cage very well too.
One thing I want to add is that the boxing coach at BTT was Luis Dorea who went 9-2 as a professional boxer and was Anderson Silvas and Big Nogs boxing coach. He was also Lil Nog's boxing coach when Lil Nog won a bronze medal at Pan Ams and last but not least, Luis Dorea was Junior Dos Santos' boxing coach when he was splitting wigs on his way to becoming a UFC HW champion and when he knocked out a prime, Sea Level Cain in one minute. He's a great asset to any camp today and he was a great asset to BTT in those days over 20 years ago and his presence really completed their team.
This leads me to my next point: There's all this talk and BS about evolution of training/fighting/ modern day fight camps but when you really break it down there few fight camps/ gyms today which could provide a fighter with this much access and exposure to such talent, experience, high level sparring and highly effective preparation for a championship fight.
All these guys had insane skill and toughness in their own and unique way and all of them could fight in a 10 minute round setting, hard as fuck without getting tired.
This means that they were well prepared. Imagine Poatan training with these animals and how good he'd be. I dont think he would be at a disadvantage against someone from the modern camps of today.
All this talk of evolution nonsense. These guys would be kicking ass today just like they were in those days and performing on a very high level as a TEAM.
BRACILLIAN CHOP CHEAM BRATHERS. Show some hespect and obrigado for reading this thread.
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