Sakuraba vs Penn: Fighting Giants, Who has the more lasting legacy to you?

Two special fighters who fought who ever that was put in front of them regardless of weight class.

Who do you feel like left a lasting legacy for you personally?


Kazushi Sakuraba: (170-265)



Notable Wins:

Quinton Jackson
Vitor Belfort
Royce Gracie
Renzo Gracie
Guy Mezger
Carlos Newton
Kevin Randleman
Masakatsu Funaki
Ikuhisa Minowa

Notable Accomplishments:

UFC HW Japan Tournament Winner
First Japanese UFC Champion
First man to defeat Royce Gracie in MMA
2000 Pride Grand Prix Openweight Semi-finalist
Most Submissions in Pride History (Tied with BigNog)

BJ Penn: (155-220)



Notable Wins:

Matt Hughes x2
Kenny Florian
Diego Sanchez
Caol Uno
Sean Sherk
Jens Pulver
Takanori Gomi
Matt Serra
Renzo Gracie

Notable Accomplishments:

Multi Division UFC Champion (LW, WW)
Only fighter to win both the WW and LW Belts at the same time.
All time leader in LW Defenses (3, Tie with Benson Henderson)
UFC HOF

 

BJ

 

According to Dana White the UFC is as good as ever right now, but on Sherdog we are talking about Sakuraba and Penn

 

BJ is the more succesfull but Saku fought way more dangerous guys

 

BJ Penn for me, the reason being I got to see a lot of it live. Missed out on lots of Sakuraba's earlier fights.

 

At first I thought you were saying Sakurba's record was 170-265 and part of me was still like:

 

Sakuraba. He fought killers.

 

You should put up a list of everybody Sakuraba fought. Penn too. Both guys were amazing in that respect, but Saku sometimes clearly forgot that size matters. Must be an Asian thing.


Yeah, I said it.

 

Saku is more known as a giant killer.

BJ, in most opinions, is the LW GOAT.

 

Two all time greats. Saku had a larger then life impact

 

/thread

 

Ill just chime in and say,

Sakuraba personally had more of an impact for me personally

But I can acknowledge that BJ Penn has had the better career of the two.

Heart says Saku, Mind says Penn

 

Sakuraba-san, he proved the strength of pro-wrestling!

 

Saku for sure

 

saku did amazing stuff. he beat much larger fighters .... i got Saku

 

I would have liked to of seen Sakuraba and Penn fight, 12 years ago.

 

My two all time favorires , they are both true worriors who were always fighting absolute assassins and trying to win with heart and technical superiority. Both an absolute pleasure to watch .
As much as it would tear me to watch them fight each other in their primes I would pay a small fortune to see it .
Personally I could never choose between the two .

 

In the eyes of fans, probably The Prodigy.

Personally, I think Saku aka "The IQ Wrestler" has a more battle tested legacy. The dude got slaughtered by Wandy 3x, but never hid from a challenge. You can't possibly know courage unless you stood across from Wanderlei Silva during the Pride years.

The cherry on top is Saku fighting Mirko, a ridiculous size match-up.

Saku all day.

* Penn is also a favorite of mine and I do remember his vs Machida, but still, Saku was something else.

 

Sakuraba gave the world some great fights. He showed courage by taking on much larger opponents. His run against the gracie's is legendary. The personality I have seen from him he comes across as a really cool guy.

BJ Penn amazing fighter in multiple eras of the sport. Not as extreme as Saku but he did make a career out of fighting larger opponents to a degree. His run at lightweight was great to watch.

Gun to my head I pick BJ but that is probably influenced by seeing some of his bigger moments live whereas I only really saw Saku live at the end of his career. Altough, that sweet kneebar on Zelg Galesic in dream. That was really hype to see.

 

Saku has the better legacy, which is what the OP was asking. He was one of the first guys to figure out how to hang with a Gracie. Along with Masakatsu Funaki he was the first true Japanese great. He also was able to beat guys that were far bigger than him.

BJ was probably the better fighter, but I wouldn't say he had the same sort of impact on the sport. Especially from a historical perspective.