How good a grappler was Genki Sudo?

[EatMyShorts]

 

[EatMyShorts]

Or maybe he was just grappling white belt cans right there....

 

[mataleaos]

He was awesome. This is one of my favorite videos ever.

 

[DatCutman]

He was a great grappler for MMA; for pure grappling, he was good, but not high level. He had solid wrestling fundamentals that he knew he could rely on if shit went south, so he was able to go forth fearlessly after subs in MMA as he pleased, from top or bottom. He had godlike timing and athleticism, and combined with his personality, he made for a fantastic grappler.

I love Genki Sudo; I watch his documentary once very few years when I get down to rev myself back up for grappling. With that said, he had a very, very risky style. It worked better in MMA than in pure grappling. He competed in the ADCC and lost in both his weight class and absolute to rodrigo gracie and vitor belfort. With rodrigo he tried to play his loose acrobatic game, but got smash passed, and then smashed in side control. Rodrigo went on to get 4th in the weight class. Vitor did nothing until the points period, then hit a takedown, and smashed down in guard for the win on points. Vitor went on to get 3rd in the absolute. Compare this to Royler Gracie, who did win his weight class in ADCC 2001, who lost to Sudo in MMA in 2004. I know this runs dangerously close to MMAth, but Sudo's grappling style just did better in MMA.

I'm not as well versed in today's MMA tactics, but the MMA grappling game in 2001 was fast and loose. You wanted space to strike people, so that led to more scrambles. Especially for Sudo, who wanted to throw some kind of flashy shit at you. It's hard to hit flash moves when you're being snuggled. Sudo wasn't really prepared for the grappling-only focus of being glued together, and the level of skill his opponents had at executing this gameplan. But he did do two cartwheels in his match with Rodrigo, so it's kind of a moral victory.

Genki Sudo exemplifies the "trick" style of grappling; I don't mean trick to denote cheap tactics, but more so like how there are flashy moves in snowboarding or whatever. The whole point of Genki Sudo's proverbial snowboard run isn't to get down the mountain as fast or as safe as he could, but to pull off as many fucking cool tricks as possible on the way down. Naturally it's why he was so interested in dancing and capoeira. His grappling promotion ikkiuchi has how exciting the competitor was as a judging factor. He is just a dude who exudes coolness.

 

[dsdoubled]

He was a great grappler for MMA; for pure grappling, he was good, but not high level. He had solid wrestling fundamentals that he knew he could rely on if shit went south, so he was able to go forth fearlessly after subs in MMA as he pleased, from top or bottom. He had godlike timing and athleticism, and combined with his personality, he made for a fantastic grappler.

I love Genki Sudo; I watch his documentary once very few years when I get down to rev myself back up for grappling. With that said, he had a very, very risky style. It worked better in MMA than in pure grappling. He competed in the ADCC and lost in both his weight class and absolute to rodrigo gracie and vitor belfort. With rodrigo he tried to play his loose acrobatic game, but got smash passed, and then smashed in side control. Rodrigo went on to get 4th in the weight class. Vitor did nothing until the points period, then hit a takedown, and smashed down in guard for the win on points. Vitor went on to get 3rd in the absolute. Compare this to Royler Gracie, who did win his weight class in ADCC 2001, who lost to Sudo in MMA in 2004. I know this runs dangerously close to MMAth, but Sudo's grappling style just did better in MMA.

I'm not as well versed in today's MMA tactics, but the MMA grappling game in 2001 was fast and loose. You wanted space to strike people, so that led to more scrambles. Especially for Sudo, who wanted to throw some kind of flashy shit at you. It's hard to hit flash moves when you're being snuggled. Sudo wasn't really prepared for the grappling-only focus of being glued together, and the level of skill his opponents had at executing this gameplan. But he did do two cartwheels in his match with Rodrigo, so it's kind of a moral victory.

Genki Sudo exemplifies the "trick" style of grappling; I don't mean trick to denote cheap tactics, but more so like how there are flashy moves in snowboarding or whatever. The whole point of Genki Sudo's proverbial snowboard run isn't to get down the mountain as fast or as safe as he could, but to pull off as many fucking cool tricks as possible on the way down. Naturally it's why he was so interested in dancing and capoeira. His grappling promotion ikkiuchi has how exciting the competitor was as a judging factor. He is just a dude who exudes coolness.

Fantastic post. I came in to say something similar about his style and the time period in which he was at his best but you already said it all. I will say, Genki Sudo is a prime example of why MMA and grappling were SO much fun in the early to mid 2000s. Guys like him who were in great shape, athletic, strong, creative, and/or had strong backgrounds in other martial arts were able to really distinguish themselves from their peers and look great in competition.

 

[georgegreece]

Bas Rutten shared an album.

January 21, 2013 ·
"We are all one", my old student Genki Sudo started this (Many don't know that Genki came to America to train with me and arrived one month after I did, trained with me for three years, I put him in his first fights and got him into Pancrase, the rest is history) Now my cousin Hein is making Genki's message much bigger. If you are a fighter, teacher, school owner, anything in MMA, please get a piece of paper and write "We are all one" on it, make a picture of you holding it and post it on his Facebook page so it's gonna be huge!

 

[tekkenfan]

Fantastic post. I came in to say something similar about his style and the time period in which he was at his best but you already said it all. I will say, Genki Sudo is a prime example of why MMA and grappling were SO much fun in the early to mid 2000s. Guys like him who were in great shape, athletic, strong, creative, and/or had strong backgrounds in other martial arts were able to really distinguish themselves from their peers and look great in competition.

mma is most fun to watch t the lower competitive level because guys open up more at higher levels it can become more boring to the casuals especially due to being safer not committing to certain attacks in fear of losing position

 

[Calibur]

I love this time period in MMA/NHB/Grappling.

Not one rashguard in sight.

 

[horc00]

Fantastic post. I came in to say something similar about his style and the time period in which he was at his best but you already said it all. I will say, Genki Sudo is a prime example of why MMA and grappling were SO much fun in the early to mid 2000s. Guys like him who were in great shape, athletic, strong, creative, and/or had strong backgrounds in other martial arts were able to really distinguish themselves from their peers and look great in competition.

And it's great how those guys were often fighting at their natural weight classes and had no issues fighting heavier dudes and didn't bitch about the opponent being larger after a loss.

 

[horc00]

He was a great grappler for MMA; for pure grappling, he was good, but not high level. He had solid wrestling fundamentals that he knew he could rely on if shit went south, so he was able to go forth fearlessly after subs in MMA as he pleased, from top or bottom. He had godlike timing and athleticism, and combined with his personality, he made for a fantastic grappler.

I love Genki Sudo; I watch his documentary once very few years when I get down to rev myself back up for grappling. With that said, he had a very, very risky style. It worked better in MMA than in pure grappling. He competed in the ADCC and lost in both his weight class and absolute to rodrigo gracie and vitor belfort. With rodrigo he tried to play his loose acrobatic game, but got smash passed, and then smashed in side control. Rodrigo went on to get 4th in the weight class. Vitor did nothing until the points period, then hit a takedown, and smashed down in guard for the win on points. Vitor went on to get 3rd in the absolute. Compare this to Royler Gracie, who did win his weight class in ADCC 2001, who lost to Sudo in MMA in 2004. I know this runs dangerously close to MMAth, but Sudo's grappling style just did better in MMA.

I'm not as well versed in today's MMA tactics, but the MMA grappling game in 2001 was fast and loose. You wanted space to strike people, so that led to more scrambles. Especially for Sudo, who wanted to throw some kind of flashy shit at you. It's hard to hit flash moves when you're being snuggled. Sudo wasn't really prepared for the grappling-only focus of being glued together, and the level of skill his opponents had at executing this gameplan. But he did do two cartwheels in his match with Rodrigo, so it's kind of a moral victory.

Genki Sudo exemplifies the "trick" style of grappling; I don't mean trick to denote cheap tactics, but more so like how there are flashy moves in snowboarding or whatever. The whole point of Genki Sudo's proverbial snowboard run isn't to get down the mountain as fast or as safe as he could, but to pull off as many fucking cool tricks as possible on the way down. Naturally it's why he was so interested in dancing and capoeira. His grappling promotion ikkiuchi has how exciting the competitor was as a judging factor. He is just a dude who exudes coolness.

Awesome post.

Genki Sudo was always more of a performance artist than an athlete.

He was skilled, fun, humble, respectful, a risk-taker and never one to turn down a challenge, overall a class act.

A stark contrast to the MMA environment of today.

 

[dsdoubled]

Awesome post.

Genki Sudo was always more of a performance artist than an athlete.

He was skilled, fun, humble, respectful, a risk-taker and never one to turn down a challenge, overall a class act.

A stark contrast to the MMA environment of today.

Fun fact, in the mid 90s Genki was the #1 ranked greco wrestler in Japan's junior (18-20) age group.

 

[mattemate]

He was fantastic, and super fun to watch. Between him and Sakuraba Japan had the light hearted side of MMA on lock.

Watch his fight with Butterbean.

Also he was a great sport. He had a fight with Kid, Kid got the tko but it was a questionable stoppage. Genki didn't say shit, just accepted it and gave Kid the warmest, most heart warming congratulations.

He was such an ambassador. I think of Ken and Royce and what petulant children they are on an emotional level. A guy like Genki is a highly evolved individual.

 

[mataleaos]

Awesome post.

Genki Sudo was always more of a performance artist than an athlete.

He was skilled, fun, humble, respectful, a risk-taker and never one to turn down a challenge, overall a class act.

A stark contrast to the MMA environment of today.

Great way to put it.

I like posting this back take in every Genki Sudo thread I see

time coded for 3:34

 

[BJJ_Rage]

He was a great grappler for MMA; for pure grappling, he was good, but not high level. He had solid wrestling fundamentals that he knew he could rely on if shit went south, so he was able to go forth fearlessly after subs in MMA as he pleased, from top or bottom. He had godlike timing and athleticism, and combined with his personality, he made for a fantastic grappler.

I love Genki Sudo; I watch his documentary once very few years when I get down to rev myself back up for grappling. With that said, he had a very, very risky style. It worked better in MMA than in pure grappling. He competed in the ADCC and lost in both his weight class and absolute to rodrigo gracie and vitor belfort. With rodrigo he tried to play his loose acrobatic game, but got smash passed, and then smashed in side control. Rodrigo went on to get 4th in the weight class. Vitor did nothing until the points period, then hit a takedown, and smashed down in guard for the win on points. Vitor went on to get 3rd in the absolute. Compare this to Royler Gracie, who did win his weight class in ADCC 2001, who lost to Sudo in MMA in 2004. I know this runs dangerously close to MMAth, but Sudo's grappling style just did better in MMA.

I'm not as well versed in today's MMA tactics, but the MMA grappling game in 2001 was fast and loose. You wanted space to strike people, so that led to more scrambles. Especially for Sudo, who wanted to throw some kind of flashy shit at you. It's hard to hit flash moves when you're being snuggled. Sudo wasn't really prepared for the grappling-only focus of being glued together, and the level of skill his opponents had at executing this gameplan. But he did do two cartwheels in his match with Rodrigo, so it's kind of a moral victory.

Genki Sudo exemplifies the "trick" style of grappling; I don't mean trick to denote cheap tactics, but more so like how there are flashy moves in snowboarding or whatever. The whole point of Genki Sudo's proverbial snowboard run isn't to get down the mountain as fast or as safe as he could, but to pull off as many fucking cool tricks as possible on the way down. Naturally it's why he was so interested in dancing and capoeira. His grappling promotion ikkiuchi has how exciting the competitor was as a judging factor. He is just a dude who exudes coolness.

Great post, just one things, your bar is too high, ihe was very high level, he may no be part of the elite of the elite losing roto Rodrigo and vítor is no shame, he was extremely high level all around grappler.

True inspiration for any grappler.

 

[KenkaBancho]

He was a great grappler for MMA; for pure grappling, he was good, but not high level. He had solid wrestling fundamentals that he knew he could rely on if shit went south, so he was able to go forth fearlessly after subs in MMA as he pleased, from top or bottom. He had godlike timing and athleticism, and combined with his personality, he made for a fantastic grappler.

I love Genki Sudo; I watch his documentary once very few years when I get down to rev myself back up for grappling. With that said, he had a very, very risky style. It worked better in MMA than in pure grappling. He competed in the ADCC and lost in both his weight class and absolute to rodrigo gracie and vitor belfort. With rodrigo he tried to play his loose acrobatic game, but got smash passed, and then smashed in side control. Rodrigo went on to get 4th in the weight class. Vitor did nothing until the points period, then hit a takedown, and smashed down in guard for the win on points. Vitor went on to get 3rd in the absolute. Compare this to Royler Gracie, who did win his weight class in ADCC 2001, who lost to Sudo in MMA in 2004. I know this runs dangerously close to MMAth, but Sudo's grappling style just did better in MMA.

I'm not as well versed in today's MMA tactics, but the MMA grappling game in 2001 was fast and loose. You wanted space to strike people, so that led to more scrambles. Especially for Sudo, who wanted to throw some kind of flashy shit at you. It's hard to hit flash moves when you're being snuggled. Sudo wasn't really prepared for the grappling-only focus of being glued together, and the level of skill his opponents had at executing this gameplan. But he did do two cartwheels in his match with Rodrigo, so it's kind of a moral victory.

Genki Sudo exemplifies the "trick" style of grappling; I don't mean trick to denote cheap tactics, but more so like how there are flashy moves in snowboarding or whatever. The whole point of Genki Sudo's proverbial snowboard run isn't to get down the mountain as fast or as safe as he could, but to pull off as many fucking cool tricks as possible on the way down. Naturally it's why he was so interested in dancing and capoeira. His grappling promotion ikkiuchi has how exciting the competitor was as a judging factor. He is just a dude who exudes coolness.

It'll be cool to see him compete again but I think he's too busy with non-martial art related work

He actually only got his black belt AFTER retiring so he might be even better at BJJ now than when he was a pro

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Similar to someone like Rumina Sato - we may never know how "great" of a grappler he was, because part of why we love him, is because he never seemed to fight that seriously. He looked like he wanted to have fun and take lots of chances.

 

[Balto]

I agree with Calibur that it was a cool era to be part of. And Genki Sudo really did exemplify a lot of that era.

Rose colored glasses I guess but it does seem like things were a little bit more fun back then compared to now.

 

[dsdoubled]

Similar to someone like Rumina Sato - we may never know how "great" of a grappler he was, because part of why we love him, is because he never seemed to fight that seriously. He looked like he wanted to have fun and take lots of chances.

Watching Sato in those combat wrestling matches is a ton of fun for fans of grappling. Like Genki he is equally adept at takedowns, scrambling, submissions, escapes, etc. All executed with polish, aggression, technical proficiency, and flavor.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Watching Sato in those combat wrestling matches is a ton of fun for fans of grappling. Like Genki he is equally adept at takedowns, scrambling, submissions, escapes, etc. All executed with polish, aggression, technical proficiency, and flavor.

I don't think I could disagree with that.