Sakuraba vs Couture - what woudla happened

[BForrester]

Saku's only chance would have probably been pulling off a sub. Randy was too strong for Saku and too good a wrestler; I think it would have looked a lot like the Arona fight under Pride rules.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I'd go with Randy by lopsided unanimous decision or late TKO ground and pound finish

 

[C0NCH3TO]

<Lmaoo>

Yeah the same Mezger who beat Tito, Schilt and Kondo.... all scrubs, right? I guess any welter can beat a lhw like nothing .... just look at..... oh wait.

 

[The Crow]

Randy

 

[applesbananas]

It would have been a good fight. Saku held his own against much larger opponents and his striking is really underrated. I think Couture may have been too large and good at wrestling for him.

 

[LEWIS540]

Yeah the same Mezger who beat Tito, Schilt and Kondo.... all scrubs, right? I guess any welter can beat a lhw like nothing .... just look at..... oh wait.

lol

Watch the fights not just fightfinder kid.

The point is Mezger kicked Saku's ass (fight was not even close), and the Japanese screwed Guy over and tried to change the rules to gave Saku a second chance. When Guy (or Ken Shamrock) refused they gifted Saku the win via forefeit.

Citing that as a legit Saku victory is laughable.

Ooops.


Pride officials then signed Mezger to fight Kazushi Sakuraba, who at the time was considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. The fight took place at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round. Mezger took the fight on two weeks notice and had a broken foot going into the fight. The contract that Mezger signed stipulated that the fight would be one 15-minute round with no overtime. The other fights on the card had the same stipulation. The fight mostly consisted of Mezger controlling the fight by stopping Sakuraba's takedown attempts while landing strikes from the outside. The round ended and Mezger expected the fight to go to the judges, but Pride officials wanted the fight to go to overtime. This resulted in one of the largest and most publicized controversies in MMA history.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

lol

Watch the fights not just fightfinder kid.

The point is Mezger kicked Saku's ass (fight was not even close), and the Japanese screwed Guy over and tried to change the rules to gave Saku a second chance. When Guy (or Ken Shamrock) refused they gifted Saku the win via forefeit.

Citing that as a legit Saku victory is laughable.

Ooops.


Pride officials then signed Mezger to fight Kazushi Sakuraba, who at the time was considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. The fight took place at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round. Mezger took the fight on two weeks notice and had a broken foot going into the fight. The contract that Mezger signed stipulated that the fight would be one 15-minute round with no overtime. The other fights on the card had the same stipulation. The fight mostly consisted of Mezger controlling the fight by stopping Sakuraba's takedown attempts while landing strikes from the outside. The round ended and Mezger expected the fight to go to the judges, but Pride officials wanted the fight to go to overtime. This resulted in one of the largest and most publicized controversies in MMA history.

Oh... ok ... i thought you lol’d because you felt like Mezger was a scrub. He was legit as fuck..... Fair point. Still..... Sakuraba beat light heavyweights and could have had a better record fighting guys his size. That’s all i think.... but hey, to each its own. Nice 2002 acct btw... hard to find one these days.

 

[LEWIS540]

Oh... ok ... i thought you lol because you felt like Mezger was a scrub. He was legit as fuck..... Fair point. Still..... Sakuraba beat light heavyweights and could have had a better record fighting guys his size. That’s all i think.... but hey, to each its own. Nice 2002 acct btw... hard to find one these days.

Yeah, not discrediting Saku at all.....one of my favourites, though I will say he was a product of his time and place. Hard to judge him on all time lists. Shame he never got the Dan Henderson and Frank Shamrock fights that were rumoured back in the day.

As for Mezger, he's really underrated. He had really competitive fights with a lot of the greats of that era including:

Liddell- won first round comfortably only to be KOed in 2nd.
Ortiz- went 1-1
Arona- lost a split decison, which most agreed he should of won
Lil Nog- lost a split dec, which most agreed could have gone either way.
Wand- lost by KO in 4 minutes in a back and forth brawl. Wand clearly cheated and landed a devastating head butt which went unpunished.
Saku- Mezger was cheated of a clear DEC win in one of the clearest robberies in MMA history.


Really fine margins between him being a journeyman and an ATG.

 

[daemusvladornu]

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.

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.

To be fair I thought you meant it in the same way, and was coming for you lol. But after you clarified I agree, he wasn't a monster of a human. But keep in mind, even for his size he was able to pin Lesnar against the cage and tire him out... before the lunch box bounced off his head. He was super strong for his size.

 

[ThunderStruck]

There are videos of fights that give validity to my claims. It aint like Im talking about my local McDojo’s sensei. Saku is legit as fuck and beat fucking light heavyweights. Hughes didnt ... Tito man handled him at adcc. So if you dont think that the man who beat Vitor, Page and Monster could trash a welterweight is possible.... idk what to tell you. You pit any welter against the animals he fought and their record would look shitty as well.

MMATH never works bro. Some fighters do good against bigger guys with no BJJ. Hughes had good BJJ.

 

[Sickbro69420]

I like Sakuraba in this one for his pace and submissions.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

MMATH never works bro. Some fighters do good against bigger guys with no BJJ. Hughes had good BJJ.

ROFLMAO sure Matt “ i got subbed twice by Hallman” Hughes has much better bjj than any Gracie Saku has fought.

 

[bjpenngoat]

To be fair I thought you meant it in the same way, and was coming for you lol. But after you clarified I agree, he wasn't a monster of a human. But keep in mind, even for his size he was able to pin Lesnar against the cage and tire him out... before the lunch box bounced off his head. He was super strong for his size.

Bro hug.

 

[ThunderStruck]

ROFLMAO sure Matt “ i got subbed twice by Hallman” Hughes has much better bjj than any Gracie Saku has fought.

He lost to Nino. He lost to Royce whom Hughes destroyed. Got subbed by Miller. Lost to Ralek Gracie. Hell, he even lost to tiny Aoki.

He fought tons of bigger guys, lost to most of them. Of course with volume he ended up beating a few of them who had no BJJ at all. Great deal.

 

[DespicablePeep]

Let this sink in

 

[KilledByDeath]

Early on i would say Saku by sub easy.

Later in his legal trt years old man randy crushes most humans.
Without he gets subbed again.

 

[Idonotbelieveit]

Saku subs him