"Why does Pride insist on putting their good fighters against Monsters in higher weight classes."
IMO
Entertainment. Plus the David vs Goliath factor.
"LOL..who did Yoshida beat to be considered great? Help me remember"
Frye (subbed, something that NEVER happened to Frye), Hunt (subbed), Tamura (subbed, and he's a submission expert), took Wand to two decisions which is something Sak couldn't do, choked out Tank. Oh yeah, and he'll fight anybody, obviously. Olympic Gold medalist at Judo, that's what makes him great.
ummm..
people are ranking Lindland at #1 because he put up a good losing performance against Rampage.
Yoshida took Wand the #1 LHW to decision twice, including one split.
He beat the man who beat Crocop and Wanderlei, MARK HUNT...
and he beat Royce Gracie, MMA's legend.
Yoshida is far from great as an MMA fighter. This much should be obvious to anyone.
Always goes to war? Like when he hugged Wandy's wrists for dear life? Like when he clearly wanted no part of CroCop after eating about 2 leg kicks? Please, Yoshida is an aging judo great whose overall MMA skills are unspectacular at best. He has never beaten a top 20 opponent in MMA and never will.
Yoshida is about as far from a great mma fighter as one can get. And nobody sane ranks Lindland #1 in anything except being boring as hell.
"He has never beaten a top 20 opponent in MMA and never will."
Please read my previous post, then kick yourself for claiming you understand MMA. Granted you may not like Frye or Hunt but in 2002 Frye was still in his prime (37) and had never been submitted in his career, Yoshida - in his first MMA fight - submitted him. Hunt (everyone thought would kill him) fell victim to Yoshida's ground skills as well and suffered the same fate as Frye. Frye is the more impressive victory considering Frye's ground skills. Granted he doesn't hold a title in Pride but losing to the best in the business does not make you a can man.
"people are ranking Lindland at #1 because he put up a good losing performance against Rampage."
No, he was ranked at #1 long before that fight.
"Yoshida took Wand the #1 LHW to decision twice, including one split."
Yahoo.
"He beat the man who beat Crocop and Wanderlei, MARK HUNT..."
In his first ever MMA match.
"and he beat Royce Gracie, MMA's legend."
lol
"Please read my previous post, then kick yourself for claiming you understand MMA. Granted you may not like Frye or Hunt but in 2002 Frye was still in his prime (37) and had never been submitted in his career, Yoshida - in his first MMA fight - submitted him. Hunt (everyone thought would kill him) fell victim to Yoshida's ground skills as well and suffered the same fate as Frye. Frye is the more impressive victory considering Frye's ground skills. Granted he doesn't hold a title in Pride but losing to the best in the business does not make you a can man."
You are quite obviously talking out of your ass. 37 is far from prime age for a fighter and Frye was nothing close to a top guy at that point. Nobody thought Hunt would beat Yoshida. He was a K-1 guy in his first MMA fight ever, he was tailor made for Yoshida to take down and submit. Yoshida's standup is shitty and his subs aren't good enough to threaten anyone competent on the ground. That's all there is to it.
"his subs aren't good enough to threaten anyone competent on the ground"
Um, you know what, its just not worth the time to argue it. I'll agree to disagree with you.
I see most of the world has not woken up to James Thompson. He's not just a monster or a can. There is rapid, visible improvement in his skills. Not to mention he is very entertaining. If Yoshida is out of shape, Thompson will crush him.
Thompson is a huge man who is working hard to improve all of his skills. If he keeps this fight standing he will knock Yoshida's head off, if it goes to the ground he may find himself in some serious trouble. But I think Thompson will win this.
"In his first ever MMA match. "
.... and much closer to his MMA Prime. HUNT is looking more and more pitiful every fight. Hunt in his first fight fought NO different than he does now, except maybe he had a little more energy and motivation when he first fought yoshida. His fight with Barnett was just pitiful.
"I could beat his ass standing"
Wand couldn't do it, Hunt couldn't do it....so who are you again? Honestly, you guys crack me up, I'll admit it isn't anywhere near as intruiging as say Morrero vs. Gonzaga (or as I call it, the beer run fight) but at least Yoshida steps up and fights anyone they put in front of him. Even if the guys outweigh him by 30 kilos or more. Samurai/Warrior spirit!
Yoshida singlehandedly showed the MMA world that Judo could be extremely effective standalone in MMA.
He revolutionized the MMA scene, by opening our eyes beyond the traditional big 3 styles, Jujitsu, MT and Wrestling.
Nowadays, Judo fighters are everywhere in MMA occupying the top ranks of many weight classes. Nakamura, Aoki, Fedor, Filho, Karo etc. are all top fighters.
Yoshida has beaten:
Hunt (beat Silva, TK and Crocop)
Tamura (Beat Renzo, Horn & Militech)
Ogawa (Olympic Silver Medalist and undefeated except for loss to #1 of all time HW Fedor)
Royce Gracie (finished Royce Gracie under MMA rules, watch the fight carefully, Royce's hand goes limp while Yoshida is applying the choke/smother, this is confirmed by the ref as well)
Tank Abbot (Yoshida beat him standing and on the ground)
Frye (another MMA legend)
He has only been finished by Crocop, and this is FAR from an embarrassment. Crocop has finished the best of the best including Silva, Sakuraba etc.
Um, guys, Yoshida was gold medal Judoka who just happend to take up MMA in what, his 30's??? It's not like he's cross trained like every fighter of today. All I hear on this board is "Hey! he's getting in the cage/ring and puttin all on the line, are you, pussy?" Give him due respect, cuz I don't see many people with the limited skill sets he's got taking on ANYONE they throw at him!!!! ANyone here care to step in the ring with Wand, or Cro Cop???
34...
Kdiddy is an idiot.
Lets see how any fighter fights after going to a decision loss to Silva, taking a beating while doing it and then fight four weeks later.
Oh yeah, that shit doesn't fly in organizations with Athletic commissions.
Also, yea, we all know Royce kicked his ass in the rematch that was declared a draw... So what? Chuck has losses too. Does that make him a joke? Fuck no! EVERYONE can lose at anytime!
Yoshida is not a joke, he's just not a great MMA fighter. That is all there is to it. You want a great judo based MMA fighter, try Karo or Fedor.
Karo is 24 and been fight MMA since he was 16!!! and Fedor is, well he's freakin' Fedor!! Yoshida's gotta be about 37 now!! I have mad respect for Yoshida.