This is what an A-level HW grappler looks like... 6' 8", 300lbs + that moves like a MW

[AnotherOldGuy]

Teddy Riner won 10 World Championship gold medals and 2 Olympic Gold medals... the most ever in the history of Judo.

Yamashita won 4 World Championship gold and 1 Olympic Gold.

They're not even on the same level. Not even close.

Yamashita retired sooner, and lost his certain 2nd Olympic gold because of the Olympic boycott of 1980. If you Google (and speak French) you can find interviews with Riner where Yamashita comes up (its an obvious comparison); he doesn't seem to share your opinion what Yamashita is not at his level - he seems in fact to be pleased by the comparison.

 

[Prutfis]

To put into perspective what a beast Riner is:

Alexander Karelin:

6' 4", 285 lb

Olympic games: 3

World Championship: 9

Teddy Riner:

6' 8", 309 lb

Olympic games: 2

World Championship: 10

Karelin also went what 6-7 years without anyone even getting a point against him

 

[HaulParris]

Interesting

 

[mkt]

He's had a number of close matches, and has lost matches in the past. There are other guys his size and strength in judo; what sets him apart is technique.

Who? I don't follow judo very closely. I'm not questioning his skills, but I don't think you'd have to be as well-rounded or skilled as a normal 6 foot tall guy who wants to compete at the highest levels.

 

[tasticles]

A guy his size and grappling credentials would do just fine against lower level competition if he doesn't panic when hit.

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

BJJ came out of Japanese jiu jitsu, not Olympic-style sport judo.

Incorrect. Kano came up with sport Judo from jjj. Which was taken to Brazil via immigration and evolved into bjj. Technically it should be called brazilian Judo but back then the name Judo didn't stick and was new. People kept the term jiu-jitsu even though the sport version of it was being called Judo

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Incorrect. Kano came up with sport Judo from jjj. Which was taken to Brazil via immigration and evolved into bjj. Technically it should be called brazilian Judo but back then the name Judo didn't stick and was new. People kept the term jiu-jitsu even though the sport version of it was being called Judo

OK more coherently: Judo was japanese jiu-jitsu made sport. That's what bjj evolved from. Technically he's correcf. It did all evolve from jjj.

 

[BigMuffler]

I don't expect an A-Level Athlete to do a 1RM Bench Press with his legs failing about like a cheap whore.

How can an elite Judo player have such poor coordination and body awareness??
You sure that wasn't some sort of joke bench press mocking someone else?

Well, it would be scary if he never trains benching and just did that for the lulz.

 

[fractal]

Dude will fail the USADA sign up sheet.

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

Olympic testing is far stricter than USADA, if he passes that then USADA is a joke. I'm not saying he's not using, just that if he's not getting caught now he's definitely not getting caught by USADA.

Dude, read the whole thread. Olympic testing is a joke.

 

[Strategery]

He’s french, a few shots and he’ll surrender.

 

[mmaElite53]

Would like to see him try mma for sure.

Usada and gay Jesus though..

 

[ultrasonic]

Yes

You do realize all Olympic drug testing is done by national antidoping agencies like USADA right? The ufc just copied their model lol.

 

[Hotora86]

UFC hall of famer after one BJJ drill session at local gym

...and immediately tagged as "BJJ fighter" by all the TMA haters.

 

[Thaijitsu612]

Not really though, but in 4 weeks for sure. Every time you change your technique you lose a lot of strength due to having to learn new patterns but it will benefit you very soon. I've benched for a few years and just fixed my wrist positions to be more straight, lost a lot of strength initially but after a few weeks I already feel much better muscle activation in the forearms and my sets of 2-3 have become much more explosive. Initially it took a lot of weight off my sets though.

That's not always the case. If someone is benching with their feet off the floor and are taught proper technique they will not lose strength.

I myself experienced setting new pr's just by correcting technique. I've seen it happen quite a bit with others as well. Especially with bench and squat. Is normal.

 

[Taric]

Riner is a beast, no doubt.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Dude, read the whole thread. Olympic testing is a joke.

It varies by sport and country. Read up on France's testing.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

If he's an A level athlete why isn't he playing basketball or football? Checkmate.

 

[DragonBreath]

It seems vastly more likely that HW would be split into two weight classes than to combine heavy and super-heavy. There already is a catch-all class at the top, and it has 0 current fighters outside of local promotions.

Anybody who cuts weight to make HW now could just fight at SHW already. People hypothesizing that it would be great seem to know a lot more than the fighters doing it! The fighters all seem to agree that size matters, and HW is already such a huge weight class that some fighters can't even compete because they're in-between sizes. But there isn't enough big fighters to make the split work, they have to just accept a lower-quality weight class with a smaller talent pool and less activity.

Adding a couple super-heavies to the weight class would just push out some of the talented HWs that don't cut weight. One 300lb guy might push three people out of the sport! And he wouldn't have the gas tank or durability to be a lasting presence, and at that size knockouts are so random he'd be unlikely to defend a title even one time. It would be about the same as just canceling HW.

I'd love to see a rematch between Jose Canseco and Choi Hong-man as much as anybody, but why make it a weight class? What is wrong with letting that freak show be a freak show?