what Samoa says i agree with.Im a big fan of Rickson but he beat nobody in top 50 in MMA Not sure its his fault But Sakuraba in his prime would have answered all the fans questions
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funaki was probably top 50 at the time
Last Ranked: 10/01/2009
[#159 Light Heavyweight](Generated Historical Rankings - Fight Matrix Funaki)
Highest Quarterly Ranking: 7/01/1998
[#1 Heavyweight](Generated Historical Rankings - Fight Matrix Funaki)
All-Time Rank:
| 10/01/2000 | 2 | #9 Light Heavyweight | 39-11-1 | 69 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/01/2000 | NR | #11 Light Heavyweight | 39-11-1 | 70 |
| 04/01/2000 | 4 | #12 Heavyweight | 39-10-1 | 89 |
| 01/01/2000 | 2 | #8 Heavyweight | 39-10-1 | 91 |
| 10/01/1999 | 3 | #10 Heavyweight | 39-10-1 | 93 |
| 07/01/1999 | 2 | #7 Heavyweight | 38-10-1 | 95 |
| 04/01/1999 | #5 Heavyweight | 38-10-0 | 99 | |
| 01/01/1999 | 1 | #5 Heavyweight | 38-10-0 | 99 |
| 10/01/1998 | 3 | #4 Heavyweight | 37-9-0 | 124 |
| 07/01/1998 | #1 Heavyweight |
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Yuki Nakai was more skilled than anyone in the UFC in 1995.
I don’t see Nakai beating Royce or Shamrock and possibly Severn in 1995. No one in all of NHB had more heart though.
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He was kind of small, that’s for sure. But I think I only about 20 or 25 pounds lighter than Rickson.
I don’t know that he would have won the UFC tournaments, but to watch his fights now he looks far ahead of Royce in terms of overall MMA skill.
Plus he was absolutely the best 154 pound fighter in the world at the time. I guess top 50 can be interpreted a lot of ways in an open weight tournament
Nakai was an impressive martial artist and eventual BJJ BB.
Fuck Gerard Gordeau.
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He’ll probably outweigh Rickson by 80 pounds when the next generation of Gracie’s talk about him.
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funaki in mma not pancrase was 1-1-1 the draw he should have lost to Braega and was well passed his prime
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Nakai was 140 soaking wet easy fight for Rickson who didnt even throw a punch and took it easy on him
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he was nowhere near best 155er what good 155ers did he beat ? none from USA
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how was he the best ? he was at least 35 pounds lighter than Rickson
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Nakai fought shooto at welterweight, 154. There was a weight class below, lightweight, which was 143. So he obviously wasn’t 140.
VTJ 95 happened right after UFC 5. There were no 55’ers in the UFC, or America, at that time. Shooto was absolutely the best in the world at that time for the lower weight classes
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Yeah this is true. I can’t believe we still see the “kimura was 220” stuff thrown around.
Some of the Gracie’s are for sure more salesman than fighters. Especially Rorion. I don’t know that I would say that about Rickson though.
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To varying degrees, they are all sales people for the Gracie name. I just take it with a grain of salt. The way Rickson describes Helio’s defeats, especially the KO loss to Santana, he does everything except say he won the fight.
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I wish Rickson would have fought more people too. But let’s not forget that in 1994 the guys who won UFC events were Royce and Steve Jennum.
The VTJ fields were at least on par with the UFC’s at the time
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The only way be making shit up and projecting is them. I’m just denying their bullshit.
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This is a really good point that people miss.
“200,000 people”
Come on, this is all fact. 1 in every 300 Brazilians was there live, and Helio was 105 pounds. This all seems very reasonable…
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Literally all of their history pre-Carlson comes off as a PT Barnum sales pitch promotion.
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