Another of his opponents, Nobuhiko Takada, subbed Mark Coleman and drew with Cro Cop.
Weren’t a lot of Takada’s fights worked? And wasn’t Nakai at least twenty pounds smaller than Rickson and half-blind from the eye-gouges he received from Gerard Gordeau earlier that night? Actually, I think Nakai is more famous for fighting Rickson half-blind than for any of his Shooto fights.
[quote=raylawley;2311988]Only fought noobs? Funaki was mentioned already, but what about Yuki Nakai? Another of his opponents, Nobuhiko Takada, subbed Mark Coleman and drew with Cro Cop. So I wouldn’t really say he only fought noobs.
I reckon he’d give Sakuraba a damn good run for his money. Royce fought Sakuraba to six rounds the first time, and Rickson is a level above Royce.[/quote]
YAY! I get to be the first to disagree with everyone one this post. I have to give the win to Rickson. The reason being simply that Royce was able to hang at all with Sakuraba. Remember when UFC 1 came out Royce had just received his black belt. At this time Rickson was a 6-7th degree Black belt. Therefore making him several levels above Royce. Royce was picked for UFC 1 BECAUSE he was small and dinky looking. They thought it would sell the art better if the smallest fighter won the entire event. Rickson was TOO BIG AND SCARY for UFC 1.
So back to ricksons prime vs sakuraba’s prime…
Given that Royce ~= Sakuraba. And that Rickson is >>>>>> Royce. Therefore one would conclude that Rickson is >>>> Sakuraba
[quote=superninjagod;2312368]YAY! I get to be the first to disagree with everyone one this post. I have to give the win to Rickson. The reason being simply that Royce was able to hang at all with Sakuraba. Remember when UFC 1 came out Royce had just received his black belt. At this time Rickson was a 6-7th degree Black belt. Therefore making him several levels above Royce. Royce was picked for UFC 1 BECAUSE he was small and dinky looking. They thought it would sell the art better if the smallest fighter won the entire event. Rickson was TOO BIG AND SCARY for UFC 1.
So back to ricksons prime vs sakuraba’s prime…
Given that Royce ~= Sakuraba. And that Rickson is >>>>>> Royce. Therefore one would conclude that Rickson is >>>> Sakuraba[/quote]
When you watch them both fight they look exactly the same, and Rickson was getting a bit old. I think being a 7th dan is more of a Gracie family heirarchy thing than having anything to do with him being that much better than Royce. Royce had some amazing battles and today still holds a few records (like having submitted the most people ever in one night), Rickson did not (to my knowledge??). I’d take Royce over Rickson.
[quote=excludedmiddle;2312473]When you watch them both fight they look exactly the same,[/quote]Seriously? Rickson was about 10 times the top control fighter. You ever see Royce drop shots from the mount like this? YouTube- Rickson Gracie vs. David Levicki
[quote=excludedmiddle;2312473]I think being a 7th dan is more of a Gracie family heirarchy thing than having anything to do with him being that much better than Royce.[/quote]Not true at all. In BJJ competition Royce was never world class while Rickson won everything there was to win at the time he was competing.
Just because people look the same does not mean by any means that they are the same. When Rickson fought in pride he was pretty much at the top of his game, and he was TREMENDOUSLY more athletic than Royce. However Royce did not have nearly the technical level of Rickson.
There have been many multi-BB BBJ guys who have won world championships and when they visited the Gracie Dojo’s and fought Rickson they were submitted.
As for Royce’s record that was more due to the layout of the UFC as suppose to his ability, it is not like Rickson could not do that. Anyway go read more about their history before you make a judgement about who is better yourself.
[quote=superninjagod;2312716]Just because people look the same does not mean by any means that they are the same. When Rickson fought in pride he was pretty much at the top of his game, and he was TREMENDOUSLY more athletic than Royce. However Royce did not have nearly the technical level of Rickson.
There have been many multi-BB BBJ guys who have won world championships and when they visited the Gracie Dojo’s and fought Rickson they were submitted.
As for Royce’s record that was more due to the layout of the UFC as suppose to his ability, it is not like Rickson could not do that. Anyway go read more about their history before you make a judgement about who is better yourself.[/quote]
Whether Rickson was capable of beaten everybody in MMA with his arms and legs tied behind his back does not matter. The fact is that Royce had almost twice as many fights as Rickson including Sakuraba, Yoshida, Matt Hughes, Ken Shamrock, Pat Smith and Dan Severn, while Rickson’s only mentionable fight was Funaki. I mean, Remco Pardoel was probably a better fighter than everyone else Rickson fought. Royce didn’t back down to fighting champions, while Rickson dodged real fights. Rickson didn’t really have any battles and didn’t have much of a career in MMA. If we were talking about BJJ it would be a COMPLETELY different story, but we’re talking MMA here. He doesn’t quite deserve the MMA credit, IMO.
Maybe I should have said “almost” instead of “exactly”. So Rickson threw some strikes while on top. Neither of them can fight standing up, really. They both would throw those crappy front kicks to keep the other guy back until they were ready to shoot in and go for the takedown. Their groundgame was very good but still looks mediocre by today’s standards. Both were overall pretty boring to watch.