Sakuraba vs Couture - what woudla happened

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Hickson

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not really a dream fight or anything but i saw this fight mentioned in a couple other threads and there seemed to be a lot of disagreement

had they fought in japan under PRIDE rules back in the day, who woulda taken it, obviously both are legends and Couture is the bigger man, Saku does have a lot of wins over bigger guys and Couture has been subbed a buncha times (inoue, overeem etc) -

just curious who people think woulda won
 
Couture was too big and would have likely beat Saku either by TKO or most likely decision

Never count out Saku though
 
Saku could have easily become the ww goat but he had balls of steel and grew in an era where mma was truly brutal. He fought guys way too big for him. Maybe Couture would have been too much for him.... maybe not.... is Saku so anything could happen ... he beat monsters like Randleman, Rampage, Vitor and prime Mezger. You couldn’t count the man out.
 
Randy's only 6 feet tall and as a lhw he was kinda average at best. Yes definitely bigger than sak but not even the biggest guy sak flight at all.
 
yea i dont think Randy's sub defense was that great back then and def think saku coulda caught him in a kimura - would have been an interesting fight though
 
Think Sak might have won honestly, especially in a ring
 
Hickson said:
yea i dont think Randy's sub defense was that great back then and def think saku coulda caught him in a kimura - would have been an interesting fight though
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That's true ... his sub defense wasn't amazing earlier in his career so Saku would have had a chance but I do think Randy was too big while being a wrestler first where size matters more so than Saku's other big opponents.
 
if its in a ring saku wins 100% imo

but in a cage.. not so sure
 
It depends when they fought. When Sak was in his prime and beating the Gracies (1998-99), Randy was still pretty green (besides wrestling/dirty boxing) and his submission defense wasn't very good. By around 2002-3, Randy was better and more well-rounded and Sakuraba had started to take serious beatings/damage from larger fighters. He wasn't the same.

Another factor is that unlike the Gracies, Randy could outwrestle Sak and work his top game. Being a catch wrestler, Sak's submissions were more likely to come from dominant positions (not his back), so he may have a hard time with Randy--styles make fights, after all. That said, I'd still pick Sak until around 2000-2001...especially in a 1 hour fight like he had vs. the Gracies. He'd probably eventually get a kimura or guillotine or something. Randy's chances would be much better with 5 minute rounds in a cage though. By 2000-2001, it becomes more of a toss-up. Any later than that I'd start strongly favoring Randy.
 
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bjpenngoat said:
Randy's only 6 feet tall and as a lhw he was kinda average at best. Yes definitely bigger than sak but not even the biggest guy sak flight at all.
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lol at the LHW champ being “average at best”. What does that make the rest of the roster? Below average? Eat shit
 
gotBooched said:
lol at the LHW champ being “average at best”. What does that make the rest of the roster? Below average? Eat shit
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you took that out of context...read what I wrote. he was AVERAGE FOR A LHW in size. There are a lot of guys WAY bigger than Randy Couture at lhw.
 
Saku had that mysterious aura, one of a few Japanese fighters who embodies the Bushido spirit. The more the Japanese crowd cheer him the more energy he has, it's like Goku's spirit bomb.
 
gotBooched said:
lol at the LHW champ being “average at best”. What does that make the rest of the roster? Below average? Eat shit
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"Average" fighters didn't beat roided 19-year old Vitor...who to this day had some of the fastest hands (maybe the fastest) we've seen for a MW or higher weight class. He also had BJJ skills--probably not the black belt he was advertised as (most likely a ruse)--but enough to keep most fighters (including Randy) from going to the ground with him for any length of time. He was a very hard guy to beat in the late 1990s...that's why only Randy and Sak beat him back then. I really wanted to see him fight Frank Shamrock (also in his prime back then), but it never happened.
 
Heart says Saku, head says Randy, second head says Saku.

My pick is Saku, 29 - 28.
 
ok good, i actually think Saku pulls it out - i dont exactly know how, but he was one of those fighters - i dunno if Pride rules help Randy more though, he probably had a better gas tank though
 
mkt said:
"Average" fighters didn't beat roided 19-year old Vitor...who to this day had some of the fastest hands (maybe the fastest) we've seen for a MW or higher weight class. He also had BJJ skills--probably not the black belt he was advertised as (most likely a ruse)--but enough to keep most fighters (including Randy) from going to the ground with him for any length of time. He was a very hard guy to beat in the late 1990s...that's why only Randy and Sak beat him back then. I really wanted to see him fight Frank Shamrock (also in his prime back then), but it never happened.
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/thread
 
Couture probably would have tooled him, way big and good greco, would have been able to control Saku and avoid the kimura.
 
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