Pretend its 2005 wand and shogun were not teammates

[bjpenngoat]

Would shogun have run thru wand then?

 

[chinarice]

Wand by KO and takes his puppy home.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

I don't think so but I also don't think 2005 is the best Wanderlei. I think he was at his best in 2004. I would probably favor Wanderlei over Shogun cause back then he would mix in takedowns and Shogun has bad TDD.

 

[SpiderCrawl]

Wanderlei by KO and as someone already mentioned he'd take the win and the puppy.

 

[William Huggins]

Can't pretend with this image in my head....



Need boob pics to forget, TS needs to post boob pics.......

 

[mirko>anyone]

Shogun was better by 2005.

 

[TheScorpionDude]

Would shogun have run thru wand then?

Shogun was slightly better but he was slightly fresher as well. He does slightly better in the youtube sparring videos.

BUT, you can't do this fantasy matchup and here's why: both him and Rua grew together as fighters.

So basically neither Wand nor Shogun would be the fighters they were without each others help.

 

[Kingz]

Shogun. That was probably peak level and Wanderlei was already showing cracks. Stylistically a very interesting matchup though but Shogun is technically a better fighter

 

[Quarterback619]

Without a doubt I would go with 2005 Shogun. He stacked up quality wins over the likes of Arona, Overeem, Lil Nog, and Rampage in the same year winning all by stoppages except a decision over Lil Nog.

Wanderlei notable wins leading up to 2005 were against Saku, Kondo, Yoshida, Nakamura, and Rampage. In 2005, he lost to Arona but won a split in his next fight.

Shogun wasn't even on the juice and would have been more lethal than Wandy and gets more credit since he was the leader of Chute Boxe.

 

[manji]

Not sure about the context but Shogun appears to get the better of Wand in this old sparring vid, scoring more shots and landing takedowns at will.

 

[MuayThaiBX]

I'd lean Shogun. Wand was already starting to slightly slip from his apex and Shogun was in absolute peak form. Any years before '05 and I'd say Wand but that's the year I think Shogun passed him by. I don't know if Wand necessarily got much worse by '05 as much as the sport was really starting to evolve in a big way and he just stayed the same. Left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook. He was definitely one of my favorite fighters in Pride (and his UFC run) but his caveman style of fighting lost it's effectiveness, minus the puncher's chance, in a more modern MMA.

 

[Chubi]

The real question is, who wins today ? They both lost to Chael Sonnen, to give you a clue.

 

[Azderiel]

Shogun had potential but was also hyped a bit too much, then of course you add on all his injuries. Wand would have walked through him in my opinion.

That said, Wanderlei was full of roids while I'm not sure there's much evidence Shogun was.

 

[theTKDguy]

Young Shogun

 

[listrahtes]

Shogun was better by 2005.

This, I watched the whole events leading up to the final live back then and it was evident that Wanderlei had lost a step and Shogun was the much more dangerous fighter. By that point Shoguns Stand up > Wanderleis. Equal brutal but more creative, better kicks faster and combined with a deadly clinch and takedown game. Much better ground game than Wanderlei.

This would have been a pretty one sided win for Shogun.

 

[r-harper-1]

50/50 imo