The Sickness said:
Ok, here's my case. Karo has been met with a good deal of success in the UFC. He has used his judo skills to the fullest and is fast positioning himself as a contender. Pride on the other hand has far more Judoka competing, and far more decorated Judoka at that. Yoshida being the most prominant, with Nastula recently added to that mix. Yet it seems that they have been met with far less success than Karo has here. I know it is a bit unfair to compare one guy with a whole roster in another organization, but let's discuss some of the factors that contribute to Karo's success. I believe that first and foremost the cage allows you to control the hips of an opponent far better than a ring does. With no gi involved, this is very important. Discuss...
Well you've also gotta look at who Karo's training with, and who Pride's judoka are training with.
To anyone who reads my posts, it's no mystery that I'm grossly uninformed when it comes to Pride. I love Pride, but I only have so much money, and so I usually end up buying the UFC PPVs.
But what I know about Karo is that while he's an amazing Judo player, he also trains with some pretty legendary guys. He was training with "Judo" Gene LeBell for a while, who knows quite a bit about Judo without a gi. And, he trains with Gokor Chivichyan, who I believe does SAMBO. Either way, both these guys are legendary grapplers. In Pride, you have these really great Judoka, but who are they training with?
Think of it this way. I'm not sure what degree black belt Chuck Liddell is in Kempo. But we can be rest assured, there are black belts of a much higher level than Chuck in Kempo. However, Chuck does much better in UFC than those guys would. Why? Because Chuck trains in Kickboxing, Wrestling, and BJJ, of course, but also, because he alters Kempo to work for him in MMA.
While Karo is an awesome Judo player to begin with, he also figures out what works for him and what doesn't in a no gi situation, and he alters Judo to work for him. Not saying Yoshida and Nastula don't do that, but it just happens to be Karo's specialty.
Here's another thing, may be less significant, but just another thought. UFC is dominated by Americans, with a few Canadians, and every once in a while, someone from another country comes. While Judo is fairly popular in the USA, it is a hundred times more popular in Japan. Judo is to Japan what wrestling is to America. So the Japanese, I'm assuming, are pretty good at Judo. Not only that, but Judo is a pretty popular international game. Isn't Fedor a Judo player?
While wrestling is really popular in other countries, like Russia and Iran, the United States is still one of the biggest countries for wrestling. So a lot of the MMA fighters in UFC have a wrestling background. In a lot of other countries, where wrestling isn't as popular, and BJJ is still growing, Judo is a viable option. So in Pride, where fighters from all around the world come, there's a greater chance that the fighters have some Judo experience.