Do you think Yoshida can defeat the great Kimura?
Yes, if he has the guts to dig him up.
Tomas
no
Yoshida is nowhere near being legendary. He has done what many at that level has done.
Kimura never competed in an international event as far as I know. Yoshida did and did well.
Ben R.
In my opinion, Kimura wins. Kimura beat all the top heavyweights in Japan for 13 years. Yoshida never came close to that record. Yoshida in his prime was close to Kimura's weight, but I imagine Kimura was much stronger than Yoshida.
Kimura vs Yamashita would be more interesting. I think Yamashita wins easily.
"Kimura never competed in an international event as far as I know. Yoshida did and did well."
Kimura didnt need to..Japan was the sole great Judo power in his era.
Yoshida would have had a chance to beat kimura in sport judo, in MMA, Yoshida would be beaten silly.
Yamashita could well have beaten Kimura, but again not such a cake walk in Vale Tudo...Unless he caught him with a choke...who knows..
I'd really love to see some footage of Kimura fighting in Japan in "sport" Judo. I think then we'd all be better able to speculate.
Ben Reinhardt
I believe Kimura competing against today's judoka within the parameters of the rules of Kimura's day would kick ass.
I have been told by many that the 1964 Japanese Olympic team went to train with Kimura shortly before the '64 Olympics he that Kimura lined them up and defeated them one after the other handily. Kimura was probably 50 years old at the time or damn near it.
Whether Kimura would have been dominate in any other era matters not to his legend. I like the perspective of Kimura and Babe Ruth as a reporter opined in the movie, "The Natural", referring to a Ruthian like character, "He is the best there ever was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be".
To answer the question posed on this thread about whether he could have defeated Yoshida I would have to say that he most certainly would have. If the question was could he have defeated some of the legendary bigger guys, i.e. Yamashita, Saito, the huge Ruskies and Euro gold medalists, Inoue, etc. that is another story and a more valid question.
Did any of you ever see that picture of Kimura when he was 18 in the 1930s? Damn, he was put together like the terminator and had this potent looking greaser style haircut. Kimura was one dude that was not going to be dominated physically by any style. His traing regime was the most Spartan of any athlete ever.
Okano sometimes beat teh big boys, but not consitently. The same would have been true for Kimura in all probability.
Could Kimura dominate in MMA? Maybe, maybe not.
Yamashita was AS dominate and MUCH larger.
Yamashita=best ever. Kimura=best ever, but he was smaller.
Kinda like Rocky vs. Ali. Ali was bigger and as dominate in his day as Rocky was, so most guys have to go with Ali...
Dogmeat wrote,
"I hate to break this to you guys but Kimura really would not be that great in modern judo or mma"
Wrong on the judo part. Kimura weighed 185 pounds and I bet he would destroy most of the competition at that weight class. Probably all of it. The man was an undefeated All Japan Champion for 13 years. No matter what era you talk about, that is an amazing feat.
Do you think any -90kg fighter of the last 20 years could have won it at least once? None of them did. Koga and Yoshida came the closest. Yoshida lost to Jun Konno, and Konno never represented Japan at the Worlds or Olympics.
Winning the All Japan Championships in ANY year would be tougher than winning the Olympics in the -90kg division. Its the best players in all of Japan for christs sake.
Kimura proved himself against the Biggest and the Best players in Japan for his entire career. He never lost to the big boys. Yoshida never proved he could beat the big boys. They are both the same weight.
I'd go with Kimura over Yoshida. Kimura over the big heavyweights of the modern era is a very different story.
Better yet, at 185lbs, he is only a little over 3kg away from under 81kg (about 178lbs). Given that he would cut a wee-bit as a modern competitor, with very little dieting, he is an under 81kg player.
Koga vs. Kimura?