I believe world vale tudo brought Igor Vovchanchin and Coleman’s student Nick Nutter in around the 5th event. Would have been cool if Kerr and Rizzo were in that same tournament
Kerr vs Rizzo
Igor vs Ruas. Are two fights that would have been amazing back then
fuck how did I forget igor. his performance against the death touch guy was terrifying. it seemed possible the fella would die.
I fear igor would have been derailed by Ruas. would have been an insane fight for sure.
Lol the “death touch” guy. His last name was Carvalho right? I remember reading that he almost killed Wallid Ismael in a street fight and that he was feared throughout Brazil . I remember they wanted to set Mark Kerr up against him but even he was a bit reluctant due to Carvalhos rep at the time lol.
yeah reputation proceeds him, then he turns up and it becomes apparent he’s no more intimidating than your average truck-driver
I believe Carvhalo had pretty strong BJJ too until he went down the “death touch” wormhole. I think Renzo had a match with him and put him to sleep.
If he had his big toe up, he couldn’t knock him out.
I think I still have the official VHS tape of this somewhere. I remember in around '97 many were saying fighters should never throw high kicks in NHB.
i have a very faint memory of a karate guy in an early ufc who said he could resist being choked
iirc it was judo man pardoe who choked him out
it was almost completely true at the time
What exactly was the “death touch” stuff? Was it aikido or chi ?
Fighters were saying that due to the threat of a takedown though right? I remember many fighters saying the jab doesn’t work in mma either but I think that’s bullshit
I remember Mo/Conan having a rematch but do not remember Conan subbing him. That’s impressive.
Jon Peretti is a genius in the fight game IMO. Brutally honest and highly intelligent, he made for a great commentator and match maker. It’s unfortunate he’s not involved in
Mma anymore. He needs to go on Rogans podcast
Yeah, and many who could throw good kicks didn’t have good defense on their back. Smith did, and was able to tie up people and try to gas them out.
Hmmm…
Not sure about that.
I’d lean toward Igor.
Never heard that story before that’s pretty cool
two of my favourite fighters but I think at the time, Ruas would have headbutted igor after every missed haymaker, kicked him to pieces and smashed him on the floor.
Conan wears him down and wins via arm triangle
Thx. Props to Conan for getting revenge. Maurice looked lethargic there
It would have been very interesting to see how Ruas approached a fight with Igor. I’m guessing he’d aim at taking Igor down quickly but could he? I remember Sperry making quick work of Igor . But then I remember Ruas struggled with Otsuka lol
Ruas I never felt lived up to the hype . I do think he was very good but it never showed in the cage for whatever reason.
That’s bullshit. Ruas had a horrendous gas tank and like 90% of his offensive output all time was hanging off of guys and stomping their feet.
Igor was the 90’s nhb GOAT and their records don’t even begin to compare. I’d say Ruas is a tad less overrated than Rickson.
Igor would have beaten the fucking shit out of any versio of whoo-has.