Who was closer to being best in the world - Jacare in BJJ or Romero in rasslin'?

HOLA said:
It does, it's extremely deep. Unlike in MMA, wher the #2 or 3 guy would almost assuredly crush the # 20 guy, that isn't so in wrestling. Even in just Russia, you have 5 guys per weight class who are neck and neck to be world champ. There have been cases of guys winning the world championship not even winning the Russian nationals the next year.

You have guys like Weidman and Askren qualifying for and winning matches in ADCC, with little experience in sub grappling. That doesn't happen in wrestling.
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Brandon Slay was only considered the 3rd best guy in the US going into OTT, he made the team and beat the best wrestler of the past 20 years. This year Metcalf dominated in international tournaments put got to worlds and couldn't get on the stand.
 
Jacare is easily a top 10-15 Bjj practitioner of all time. Romero wouldn't make a top 50 list in the wrestling world. As others have said though, the level of competition isn't comparable.
 
samoajoe said:
Nobody cares we all know Wrestling has a longer history. The answer to the topic is still Jacare he was the best guy perhaps ever in BJJ and easily in his class while Romaro was at one point #2 for one event.
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He won the world championships in 1999. It is the same competition as the Olympics. The guy he beat in the finals of the 1999 World Championships was the 1996 Olympic gold medalist.

He was then #2 for 3 other events. 2000 Olympics, and the 2002 and 2005 WC. And there are legit reasons to think he could/should have a #1 for some of those.
 
PolishHeadlock said:
Brandon Slay was only considered the 3rd best guy in the US going into OTT, he made the team and beat the best wrestler of the past 20 years. This year Metcalf dominated in international tournaments put got to worlds and couldn't get on the stand.
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Yep. Another good example is Neal. He was the world champ in 1999, but didn't win the U.S? Olympic trials in 2000.

There was this kid, a few years older than me, Jesse Jantzen. Used to see him in HS wrestling tournaments. He went 221-3 or something. And those 3 losses were in 7 and 8 grade. He never actually lost in high school.

Went to college, finally became a D1 champ his senior year. He never came close after to winning a senior national title or getting on the world team. There is just crazy depth.

Videos of him getting pinned after college.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QjRYL0pz7vE
 
HOLA said:
Yep. Another good example is Neal. He was the world champ in 1999, but didn't win the U.S? Olympic trials in 2000.

There was this kid, a few years older than me, Jesse Jantzen. Used to see him in HS wrestling tournaments. He went 221-3 or something. And those 3 losses were in 7 and 8 grade. He never actually lost in high school.

Went to college, finally became a D1 champ his senior year. He never came close after to winning a senior national title or getting on the world team. There is just crazy depth.

Videos of him getting pinned after college.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QjRYL0pz7vE
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I remember Jantzen, nasty crab ride. He bear Esposito in the finals. His style didn't translate well to freestyle. Wasn't his younger brother really nasty? I think he got injured and never got to wrestle in college.
 
PolishHeadlock said:
I remember Jantzen, nasty crab ride. He bear Esposito in the finals. His style didn't translate well to freestyle. Wasn't his younger brother really nasty? I think he got injured and never got to wrestle in college.
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I think he might have more than 1 brother. Can't remember. Corey was an All-American in 2012 though, for Harvard. Think he had some injury problems in other years.
 
Wouldn't be surprised at all if Romero dropped the 2005 finals match. It's not a coincidence that these cubans do so badly in world finals. Livan Lopez might have dropped his finals match last year as well.
 
Romero, Olympics over anything else.
 
heavyarms21 said:
Agreed , I mean look at our Olympic trials , I can only Imagine how many All Americans or hell even Former NCAA champs that Don't even make it to the Olympics, and you would think that would get them well prepared for the Olympics and even that's not a guarantee
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The vast majority of NCAA champions don't make it. Funny thing is some without winning the NCAA do make it. The rule set is different enough to change outcomes.
 
Jacare in this one
 
WrestlinganJudo said:
The vast majority of NCAA champions don't make it. Funny thing is some without winning the NCAA do make it. The rule set is different enough to change outcomes.
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Yep which is why when you get an NCAA champ who does well in the olympics, they are dangerous in MMA. Its why guys like DC (not a champ but Cael Sanderson so gets a pass) and Askren arguably have better MMA wrestling than Yoel and Cejudo despite their higher level of olympic success.
 
Comparing the two sports is ridiculous.

Wrestling has a much larger talent pool. Winning an Olympic medal in wrestling trumps any accomplishment one can make in BJJ or submission grappling.

That being said, I think Jacare was/is closer to being the GOAT of his background than Yoel was, Jacare is legit top 5 of all-time in BJJ comp, but an Olympic silver medal in wrestling is the better single accomplishment.
 
Meathead Jock said:
Yep which is why when you get an NCAA champ who does well in the olympics, they are dangerous in MMA. Its why guys like DC (not a champ but Cael Sanderson so gets a pass) and Askren arguably have better MMA wrestling than Yoel and Cejudo despite their higher level of olympic success.
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When I was wrestling it felt like a different world doing freestyle. When taken down usually the best thing to do on bottom is the stall until you are stood up again. In collegiate rules you want to escape or reverse.

Can you imagine doing a Gramby in freestyle. I did in my first freestyle tournament in Jr High and found out I scored on myself while getting an escape.

Folkstye is better for the ground game.
 
It's like asking who was closer to being the best at American Football or Canadian Football.

I like bjj and all... but being a world champion wrestler, at this stage in the game, is several times more prestigious than being a world champion jiu jitsu player.
 
Jacare was a better BJJ competitor all time than Romero was a wrestler. Of course, the difference in the depth and competition in each respective sport is massive so it's tough to really say that Jacare's accomplishments are more impressive even if he is one of the three greatest BJJ players of all time.
 
WrestlinganJudo said:
When I was wrestling it felt like a different world doing freestyle. When taken down usually the best thing to do on bottom is the stall until you are stood up again. In collegiate rules you want to escape or reverse.

Can you imagine doing a Gramby in freestyle. I did in my first freestyle tournament in Jr High and found out I scored on myself while getting an escape.

Folkstye is better for the ground game.
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Yup. I'm Canadian, so all I ever did was freestyle (and a tiny bit of Greco). When I was young you did get a little bit of time to work on the ground, but nothing like folkstyle.

And now you get no time at all. No one does anything from bottom but hang tough and wait to get stood up.

It's bullshit, actually. Almost impossible to beat a guy who has better takedowns than you. International Judo has turned into the same thing. Makes every tournament into a takedown competition... which used to be a fun thing that would get tacked onto the end of a big tourney when I was a kid.

Freestyle wrestling has become very one dimensional in the past decade and a half.
 
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