Sakuraba vs Couture - what woudla happened

No, that doesn't make sense. You judge every fight by the era in which they fought, not 2020 MMA standards. Randy was definitely above average.

no, the ufc's roster was pretty bad. most of the top fighters at 205+ were in pride.
 
no, the ufc's roster was pretty bad. most of the top fighters at 205+ were in pride.

Not in 1998 when Randy was beating Vitor and Saku was beating the Gracies.
 
Wand. Too much power, too good of TDD, too good of sub defence, and too much roids to prevent slowing down. Bad match up for Randy, even if he was infamous for winning those fights he really shouldn't.

Couture vs Shogun though Randy has a much stronger chance of winning.

Nah, Tito beat Wand, and Randy was a smarter version of Tito with better and more technical wrestling. It could go either way but Randy definitely would have a chance. And Wandy's TDD was never that good.
 
Like others have said I think Saku might be able to submit Couture when he was green.

I think the older Couture with better sub defence would be very difficult for Sakuraba to beat just based on his physical advantages.
 
Not in 1998 when Randy was beating Vitor and Saku was beating the Gracies.

wow, before pride existed?

OP's hypothetical was them fighting in pride. now you're changing the timeline. derp.
 
Early in his career I think Randy would have been subbed (again) particularly if the fight happened in the rings organization with no closed fist strikes to the head. Randy learned the game and after a few years in the UFC he would have been to big and strong for Saku like Wandi was.
 
wow, before pride existed?

OP's hypothetical was them fighting in pride. now you're changing the timeline. derp.

Every single Gracie vs. Sak fight was in Pride, oh ye of little grey matter. Pride didn't start the day Fedor left Russia or the day Wand left Brazil like the fangirls think. You and that total idiot/wannabe know-it-all @gono btw can go derp off together. It's hilarious that such an "expert" would "like" your completely uninformed comment!
 
Every single Gracie vs. Sak fight was in Pride, oh ye of little grey matter. You and that total idiot/wannabe know-it-all @gono btw can go derp off together. It's hilarious that such an "expert" would "like" your completely uninformed comment!
Helax, lil mkt. Nobody´s attackin´ya... Take a deep breath. Everythin´s gonna be all right.
 
I’m a ring, saku... very hard to dirtybox in a ring... in a cage, randy, post 2000 I would say
 
Every single Gracie vs. Sak fight was in Pride, oh ye of little grey matter.

...exactly? and every single one of them was nov 1999+, not 1998.


randy/vitor was:

1. not ufc
2. 1997, not 1998.

their ufc "fight" and "rematch" was 2004... which is even further from 1998.

Not in 1998 when Randy was beating Vitor and Saku was beating the Gracies.

you don't know what you're talking about.
 
I feel like Arona/Couture would’ve been more fair.

I think Couture would have the edge over Sak, but odds are Sakuraba gets beaten up a bit to a decision.
 
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.

Good post, but easy throwing that around =/
 
I feel like Arona/Couture would’ve been more fair.

I think Couture would have the edge over Sak, but odds are Sakuraba gets beaten up a bit to a decision.
Arona would have beaten Randy 9 times outta 10.
 
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.
All true. Randy was in top condition when he got older and also became wiser. Combined that with the fact he didn't take a lot of punishment and he likely wins is these later years.
 
this is in a tourney and both had to fight earlier in the night --- its in japan so saku got an easy match vs some one-timer from italy or some shit but randy just had to spend 15 minutes wrasslin' with fujita's thick skull so he's plum tuckered-out. SAKU connects in an exchange and then pounces on a toe hold for the controversial stoppage. rando complains that he didn't tap, but the yakuza judges say he did!
 
If they fought in PRIDE Sakuraba would have submitted him.

He beat a few guys Randy's size: Rampage, Randleman, Belfort.
And he submitted a few guys with better submission skills, obviously.
 
this is in a tourney and both had to fight earlier in the night --- its in japan so saku got an easy match vs some one-timer from italy or some shit but randy just had to spend 15 minutes wrasslin' with fujita's thick skull so he's plum tuckered-out. SAKU connects in an exchange and then pounces on a toe hold for the controversial stoppage. rando complains that he didn't tap, but the yakuza judges say he did!

Reminds me of that time Sakuraba fought 90 minutes in the quarter finals and then had to fight in the semis later that night, when all the other competitors fought only 20 mins
 
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