Saku is my hands down favorite of all time and I been watching mma since literally the day UFC started,but lets be real,Maia would smoke him.The transitions would be phenomenal though.
Umm... Sakuraba from LHW and HW Hall of Famers. Saku beat Vitor, Rapamge... and even took prime CroCop down.
Maia couldn't hang at MW so he moved down to WW. How is this even a question?
PS Saku beat the Gracie family... en route to being the first man to beat Royce, who was Maia times 10 for his time.
Sakuraba went to the ground with the Gracies and beat them up. Maia is not better than Prime Undefeated Royce GracieYou got some great points, but Maia lost most fights because he coudnt take it to where he was strong. Recently he was unable to take down Cody and Woodley and was completely shut down. But with a sakuraba willing to engage him on ground fight it becomes a entretaining idea.
Saku did in fact fight in the UFC and has a record of 1 win and 1 no contest both against the same opponent in the same night and the no contest was only because of an incompetency on Big John's part. He won a UFC tournament that night and that was before he had ever stepped foot in Pride.Saku. Never fought in the UFC but Maia can't ever live down the AS fight where he became the MMA version of the Washington Generals. AS treated him like he was a harmless puppy and AS is not the god we thought he was at the time. If Saku is half as good as the Pride people say he is he wins.
Saku did in fact fight in the UFC and has a record of 1 win and 1 no contest both against the same opponent in the same night and the no contest was only because of an incompetency on Big John's part. He won a UFC tournament that night and that was before he had ever stepped foot in Pride.
All good. Not everyone was around back then. He did get inducted in the UFC HOF though and they did mention that accomplishment a few times throughout the night. If memory serves me correctly he had to weigh in with change (or something to that effect) in his pockets in order to make the minimum weight, could be bullshit/urban legend though in order to add to Saku's GOATiness.My bad I stand corrected.