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There were plans for this fight to happen in the late 90s. Classic BJJ vs wrestler match up - at a time when most fighters were very 1 dimensional.
During this time, Frank Shamrock was considered the proto type of the future MMA fighter. Vitor Belfort was considered an anomaly for having both boxing and BJJ skills.
Rickson had high praise for Rigan and implied he would crush anyone in the UFC.
I trained at Rigan's gym in 2001-2003. Rigan dominates everyone gi and no-gi. But he was not very motivated. He got out of shape by the time I started training there, and didn't seem to care even though he was still relatively young (around 35) by heavyweight standards.
Rigan doesn't have much cross training that I know of. And his game is more top focused. I rarely saw him grapple from guard position.
BJ Penn trained with Rigan one summer and commented that he feels like a white belt again grappling w/ Rigan.
But IMO, Mark Coleman probably would have won. Stylistically a bad match up for Rigan. It would look like Frank Trigg vs. JJ Machado. And it would have hurt the Machado name which has become huge. They have affiliate schools all over the world, including South Korea.
Notable Machado students:
Chuck Norris
Dan Inosanto
Frank Grillo (MCU Crossbones)
John Carmack
Keanu Reeves (for John Wick training)
Vin Diesel
Paul Walker
Ashton Kutcher
Erik Paulsen
Joe Rogan
Eddie Bravo
Kron Gracie (part time, when Rickson was living in Brazil Kron was training part time with multiple cousins and uncles while still teaching at the Rickson Gracie JJ Academy).
Originally they were under Carlos Gracie Jr. in Brazil and later in the US they were with the Gracie Torrance umbrella with Rorian's family (they were training out of Rorian's garage). But once they formed their own school, in a building owned by Chuck Norris, Rorian told them not to use the Gracie name for their schools.
During this time, Frank Shamrock was considered the proto type of the future MMA fighter. Vitor Belfort was considered an anomaly for having both boxing and BJJ skills.
Rickson had high praise for Rigan and implied he would crush anyone in the UFC.
I trained at Rigan's gym in 2001-2003. Rigan dominates everyone gi and no-gi. But he was not very motivated. He got out of shape by the time I started training there, and didn't seem to care even though he was still relatively young (around 35) by heavyweight standards.
Rigan doesn't have much cross training that I know of. And his game is more top focused. I rarely saw him grapple from guard position.
BJ Penn trained with Rigan one summer and commented that he feels like a white belt again grappling w/ Rigan.
But IMO, Mark Coleman probably would have won. Stylistically a bad match up for Rigan. It would look like Frank Trigg vs. JJ Machado. And it would have hurt the Machado name which has become huge. They have affiliate schools all over the world, including South Korea.
Notable Machado students:
Chuck Norris
Dan Inosanto
Frank Grillo (MCU Crossbones)
John Carmack
Keanu Reeves (for John Wick training)
Vin Diesel
Paul Walker
Ashton Kutcher
Erik Paulsen
Joe Rogan
Eddie Bravo
Kron Gracie (part time, when Rickson was living in Brazil Kron was training part time with multiple cousins and uncles while still teaching at the Rickson Gracie JJ Academy).
Originally they were under Carlos Gracie Jr. in Brazil and later in the US they were with the Gracie Torrance umbrella with Rorian's family (they were training out of Rorian's garage). But once they formed their own school, in a building owned by Chuck Norris, Rorian told them not to use the Gracie name for their schools.
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