Throwback Sakuraba vs Wanderlei 2

Hughes vs Saku, who you got ?
We discussed this before,I would go with Hughes,but fuck,I would like to have seen this in the early 2000's

I would really have liked to see who would win the grappling battle,and if Sakuraba could pull out a crazy submission. In truth we never saw Saku fight a top wrestler who was as skilled on the ground and trained submissions and sub defense like Hughes did. It would have been a dream fight.
 
We discussed this before,I would go with Hughes,but fuck,I would like to have seen this in the early 2000's

I would really have liked to see who would win the grappling battle,and if Sakuraba could pull out a crazy submission. In truth we never saw Saku fight a top wrestler who was as skilled on the ground and trained submissions and sub defense like Hughes did. It would have been a dream fight.
yeah, i agree, hughes took Royce easy in 2006, so, i dunno....still the submissions of Saku would be a problem...i don't know....a little torn on this..
 
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He was winning overall but the injury was caused by a very deliberate slam from Wanderlei right on the shoulder so I wouldn't say it was a fluke.
 
If they fought in modern day MMA, they'd be in 2 different weight classes.
That was not the case in >Japan tho, Saku fought mirco for crying out loud....my point still stands, he had a good chance here before the injury, that's why i said Saku would beat BJ, Hughes, and maybe gsp,,...against gsp, the problem would be on the feet, hughes maybe, just maybe with the Wrestling, but saku was a wrestler too, and far better on the ground with Submissions i think
 
I wont say Saku was the better fighter. How can he prove that?? Wanderlei went undefeated for 5 years at LHW. What I will say is Saku for sure could have done better,they had a good clash of styles,and if Sakuraba could have taken it into his world and they were of equal size,maybe he COULD HAVE won. But Wanderlei was too big AND too good. Not just in this fight,but all their fights.
in this fight atleast, Saku was doing great for a smaller fighter, against Wandy who had never lost in many years, maybe a draw against Mirco, the non winning rules ?
 
2008*

2001 and 2008 is like night and day

You cant compare anybody with 7 yrs passage of time

you also convienently leave out Wandy beating Rampage twice
ahh, i was thinking Chuck vs Rampage, that was in 2007
 
in this fight atleast, Saku was doing great for a smaller fighter, against Wandy who had never lost in many years, maybe a draw against Mirco, the non winning rules ?
Rampage also beat Chuck in 2003 in Pride ....so, mma is crazy, but to say Saku would not have a chance is abit silly
 
what are you saying? It wasn’t a bad matchup? Really? Ok.
no, i didn't say that i think, i said Saku had a good chance in this match, he did great before the injury
 
Those Pride super roiders always had these 2nd, 3rd and 4th winds. Dangerous business tussling with em.
 
This what I remember about this. It was fucked but Sakuraba was the better fighter and at too big of a disadvantage. Oh well, assholes will ‘splain how terrible Sakuraba is.

Delusional. Sakuraba wasn't even remotely close to being Wanderlei's equal let alone the "better fighter". He was a relic from an older inferior era, he could beat pure grapplers like the gracies but needed help from Yakuza fight fixing to get big wins against new stars.

But the brazilians couldn't be bought. Wanderlei wanted real glory. This isn't pro wrestling, he's the much better fighter and proved it 3 times in a row.
 
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it wasn't a slam dunk for Wandy like people said it was, Saku had Wandy 6 min on his back.....i think that matters

And did fuck all with every minute he had him there. Wanderlei had no fear there with his airtight defense.

The only success Saku had in 3 fights was one punch Wanderlei ran into, literally ran into because he had absolutely zero respect for Sakuraba's skills.

This wasn't just a slam dunk, this was like Shaq ripping the entire backboard down to the court like he did several times in the 90s before the NBA improved their baskets.
 
Uh, yeah…to all the idiots that said, what’s wrong? Why a mismatch? Shit? let’s put Royce v prime Coleman.
I'm probably going to piss some people off saying it but no way in hell would Royce ever have been foolish enough to take a fight against prime Coleman. He left after UFC 5 because he already saw the writing on the wall. Forget Coleman, just imagine if Royce stayed and ended up against Tank at UFC 6.
 
I'm probably going to piss some people off saying it but no way in hell would Royce ever have been foolish enough to take a fight against prime Coleman. He left after UFC 5 because he already saw the writing on the wall. Forget Coleman, just imagine if Royce stayed and ended up against Tank at UFC 6.

exactly, Saku was a nut. It was definitely a case if he won, huge respect, but prime, roided Axe murderer?… felt like Wand would win that 9 out of 10.
 
exactly, Saku was a nut. It was definitely a case if he won, huge respect, but prime, roided Axe murderer?… felt like Wand would win that 9 out of 10.
Oh absolutely. Worst kind of matchup for him honestly. He probably knew all 3 times he was screwed going into those fights but was the kind of guy who wanted to always test himself.
 
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