Had Royce fought Gokor Chivichyan in early UFC...

[ShreddinMMA]

Who knows.

But I bet there are a lot of guys who could have beat Royce. The tournaments were pretty stacked in his favour.

 

[Spoonman7]

while I tend to believe things about gokor are blown up out of proportion, He would have definitely beaten Royce. I am sure of that.

 

[Egnuldt]

I have a list of 30 plus guys that would have given Royce a legitimate challenge.
I will post it when I get a chance.

And yes, Gokor Chivichyan is high on that list.

Im interested in these names. Id imagine Gamzatkhanov (Volk Han) could be on the list. Id wonder if you think some old school shooto guys like Kawaguchi (who was a bit smaller than Royce) or Paulson to be on the list (assuming its a period restricted list of names).

 

[Pretzl]

The dirty secret is the Gracies actually picked their opponents at the beginning of the UFC's.. They were very tricky. Do research and you'll find out that the term, "anyone, anytime, any style" was actually a farce in the beginning. Bas even goes in depth about it regarding Rickson as well..

 

[Givvee]

Gokor would have smashed royce in grappling, to good, to strong, a fantastic combination of wrestling, judo and jiu jitsu

 

[Ogata]

Funaki and Suzuki would have been great match ups.

Right on! I also remember Ron Tripp now who did beat Rickson in a sambo tournament.:icon_twis

 

[14.09]

What about judo Olympic winners of that time like Hidehiko Yoshida and Toshihiko Koga? I know Yoshida and Royce later fought, but what about when Yoshida was in his athletic prime? Could he perhaps have gotten that choke without controversy?

 

[Monacomo]

Funny how everyone's always thougt this guy's the greatest just because of ronda. Idiots.

 

[Ancient Warrior]

Gokor vs Rickson would've been a lot more interesting, if the two were in their primes...

That's likely what would've happened.

Royce was too green for Chivichyan at that point in his career.

 

[Ancient Warrior]

Im interested in these names. Id imagine Gamzatkhanov (Volk Han) could be on the list. Id wonder if you think some old school shooto guys like Kawaguchi (who was a bit smaller than Royce) or Paulson to be on the list (assuming its a period restricted list of names).

The Paulson who was choked out by Renzo?

 

[Benoitthegr8]

Being in my early 20's as MMA first hit the map I remember how much respect I had for the guys in this era, there was no notoriety, no fame, and no contracts.... Most of these guys trained in rat hole gyms and did it for the right reasons, dudes like Gokor remind me of the fact that MMA is littered with mega divas in today's "sport of MMA"

 

[SenorGuillen]

This Chivichyan guy is very overrated. No one was talking about him until Ronda Rousey. While we are at it, it's talk about how prime Royce and Rickson would have do against Sensei Edmond Tarverdyan. I mean y'all were talking about Steven Seagal and the Gracie family back when Anderson ruled middleweight.

 

[eiyuu]

This Chivichyan guy is very overrated. No one was talking about him until Ronda Rousey.

No he's been for a while. If you were longtime a fan of MMA (or NHB as well called it back then) you knew who he was and that he was a pretty badass guy. He even refereed the first Battlecade: Extreme Fighting event.

He and his bud Judo Gene LeBell are some of the best old school grapplers out there.

 

[supra57]

Had Royce fought Marco Ruas in the early UFCs we wouldnt even be talking about Royce now there was a reason Marco wasnt invited to the ones Royce fought in.

 

[Ogata]

Being in my early 20's as MMA first hit the map I remember how much respect I had for the guys in this era, there was no notoriety, no fame, and no contracts.... Most of these guys trained in rat hole gyms and did it for the right reasons, dudes like Gokor remind me of the fact that MMA is littered with mega divas in today's "sport of MMA"

Sorry for the misunderstanding but does your statement mean that a guy like Gokor made todays fighter "mega divas" or the fact that guys like Gokor did it the right way?

 

[bhp02]

Had Royce fought Marco Ruas in the early UFCs we wouldnt even be talking about Royce now there was a reason Marco wasnt invited to the ones Royce fought in.

any top olympic judoka, would have choked royce to sleep if he wore that cute gi

 

[Taric]

Gokor would've schooled Royce np.
Gokor vs Rickson was the match to make.