I was reading old Finnish article about Karelin which said his reach is 220cm, that's probably like 86 inches. I started thinking about him in MMA, and yes, I know he fought Maeda.
We obviously cannot say anything about his ability/potential in striking since there's no data but everybody, even someone who knows nothing about combat, knows his ability in throwing people on their heads and physically manipulating their whole body the way he wants to. 13 years undefeated against international elite, 3 Olympic golds+1 silver in infamous Gardner match, 9 world championships and 6 years of not giving one single point to his opponent in any match. That's like boxer not losing a round for 6 years (or actually much more since boxers fight 1-4 times a year while wrestlers wrassle much more frequently). Maybe boxer not losing a round in 15 years?
That's some serious shit right there.
Is there a man in combat history who could beat this man without outsriking him?
Anything; judo, freestyle, greco, sambo, bjj, sw,folk style... whatever.
Now, I have tried and tried to find videos of greco roman wrestlers vs freestyle wrestlers in grappling matches but couldn't find any. Could Artur Taymazov (amazing freestyle wrestler) outwrestle him? Or could Karelin stuff his double legs, single legs and trips with his unseen power, balance and reach? We know for sure Artur has nothing in greco clinch against Alex but maybe Alex lacks freestyle skills (though in Europe, or at least in Finland our greco guys start training both since childhood and train freestyle for long time while they might compete only in greco).
What about Fedor? Is his sweeps, guard, submissions and trips able to defeat freak like Karelin? He lost to Bigfoot because of sheer difference in size but Bigfoot is bjj black belt. Could Fedor take advantage of Karelin's lack of submissions or positional wrestling?
Then what about good MMA wrestlers with folk style background+possible grappling skills like Cormier, Velasquez, Jones, Lesnar, Kerr... I think Velasquez and Jones can be counted out because they like to manipulate in the clinch which doesn't work against Karelin, Cormier probably too because he also likes the clinch and is probably just way too small against Karelin. But Lesnar and (IIRC) Kerr are big, strong and explosive guys with good shoots and they don't need to clinch or manipulate to get it to the ground; they can run through your hips!
Then some judokas? I don't know many but someone like Teddy Riner. He's legit ain't he?Or maybe some others, well whoever there is. Judo people, you can name judokas better than me.
BJJ or SW guys are interesting too. Could Monson, Sperry, Werdum, Fernando Boi, Mir, Barnett or anyone else pull submission from bottom or sweep and top submission? Or would the wrestling and athletic ability of Karelin be too much to handle for anyone to submit him with bjj?
I'm more of a striking guy so don't take my word for it but I think nobody could submit Karelin from the bottom, nobody could sweep him and nobody could win him in the clinch. I think that if, IF, somebody can win him by grappling, it's other super heavyweight with legit wrestling skills and explosive lower body takedowns (Lesnar, Taymazov) who can take advantage of Karelin's possibly lacking freestyle skills.
Has Karelin ever done freestyle? Does anyone know?
We obviously cannot say anything about his ability/potential in striking since there's no data but everybody, even someone who knows nothing about combat, knows his ability in throwing people on their heads and physically manipulating their whole body the way he wants to. 13 years undefeated against international elite, 3 Olympic golds+1 silver in infamous Gardner match, 9 world championships and 6 years of not giving one single point to his opponent in any match. That's like boxer not losing a round for 6 years (or actually much more since boxers fight 1-4 times a year while wrestlers wrassle much more frequently). Maybe boxer not losing a round in 15 years?
That's some serious shit right there.
Is there a man in combat history who could beat this man without outsriking him?
Anything; judo, freestyle, greco, sambo, bjj, sw,folk style... whatever.
Now, I have tried and tried to find videos of greco roman wrestlers vs freestyle wrestlers in grappling matches but couldn't find any. Could Artur Taymazov (amazing freestyle wrestler) outwrestle him? Or could Karelin stuff his double legs, single legs and trips with his unseen power, balance and reach? We know for sure Artur has nothing in greco clinch against Alex but maybe Alex lacks freestyle skills (though in Europe, or at least in Finland our greco guys start training both since childhood and train freestyle for long time while they might compete only in greco).
What about Fedor? Is his sweeps, guard, submissions and trips able to defeat freak like Karelin? He lost to Bigfoot because of sheer difference in size but Bigfoot is bjj black belt. Could Fedor take advantage of Karelin's lack of submissions or positional wrestling?
Then what about good MMA wrestlers with folk style background+possible grappling skills like Cormier, Velasquez, Jones, Lesnar, Kerr... I think Velasquez and Jones can be counted out because they like to manipulate in the clinch which doesn't work against Karelin, Cormier probably too because he also likes the clinch and is probably just way too small against Karelin. But Lesnar and (IIRC) Kerr are big, strong and explosive guys with good shoots and they don't need to clinch or manipulate to get it to the ground; they can run through your hips!
Then some judokas? I don't know many but someone like Teddy Riner. He's legit ain't he?Or maybe some others, well whoever there is. Judo people, you can name judokas better than me.
BJJ or SW guys are interesting too. Could Monson, Sperry, Werdum, Fernando Boi, Mir, Barnett or anyone else pull submission from bottom or sweep and top submission? Or would the wrestling and athletic ability of Karelin be too much to handle for anyone to submit him with bjj?
I'm more of a striking guy so don't take my word for it but I think nobody could submit Karelin from the bottom, nobody could sweep him and nobody could win him in the clinch. I think that if, IF, somebody can win him by grappling, it's other super heavyweight with legit wrestling skills and explosive lower body takedowns (Lesnar, Taymazov) who can take advantage of Karelin's possibly lacking freestyle skills.
Has Karelin ever done freestyle? Does anyone know?
