Rickson Gracie vs Francis Ngannou prime for prime

[OZ!]

Yeah but did he cut weight? Pretty sure he walked around at ~180-183 so he easily could have cut water to Welterweight. But I'm unsure if he cut or not. For that documentary tournament he obviously didn't cut weight. I don't think he ever did

Oh yeah, for sure. I am so used to people's fight weights being cut I forgot he never cut weight. So yeah, probably a safe welterweight then.

 

[OZ!]

and he beat Funaki who was a HW.

Funaki was not a HW in todays terms. Funaki weighed 185. Which may actually be your point. Not sure if I understand.

 

[moonwolf]

Funaki was not a HW in todays terms. Funaki weighed 185. Which may actually be your point. Not sure if I understand.

i thought funaki was around 210, which is technically hw as it exceeds the 205 lb lhw threshhold

 

[OZ!]

i thought funaki was around 210, which is technically hw as it exceeds the 205 lb lhw threshhold

He ballooned up to that for pro wrestling, but he was consistently below that when fighting in R̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ Pancrase etc

 

[moonwolf]

He ballooned up to that for pro wrestling, but he was consistently below that when fighting in Rings etc

i don't recall Funaki ever fighting in RINGS...

 

[OZ!]

i thought funaki was around 210, which is technically hw as it exceeds the 205 lb lhw threshhold

I may be wrong though. I didn't realize Rickson fought him so late in his career. He may have still had that weight on as he had already transitioned at that point. I'll have to check and see.

 

[OZ!]

i don't recall Funaki ever fighting in RINGS...

Pancrase. My bad. My brain interchanges them these days.

 

[Deleted member 466273]

It could certainly happen, but I seriously seriously doubt Rickson could last 10 minutes until Ngannou was tired.

Exactly. He would get brutalized in a clinch that leads nowhere

 

[Reffson]

It could certainly happen, but I seriously seriously doubt Rickson could last 10 minutes until Ngannou was tired.

Rickson, in his prime, wasn't just a supreme grappler, he had extreme fitness and could fight for hours. Renzo said he could barely make it through his warm-up routines. He'd have Ngannou reaching and chasing him. Rickson would be kicking at his knees effectively. Just a matter of time.

 

[TheMessiah]

Don't say Rickson by arm bar