Every BJJ guy I know who’s done seminars with him, and every person I’ve heard talk about rolling with him, all seem convinced.
Renzo is as legit as they come. 2x ADCC champ, 5 MMA wins over former UFC champions. He says that Rickson is the best.
I think the worst anyone can do is bemoan that we didn’t get to see Rickson prove himself in comps, but to say he’s a “bullshitter” is pretty insane.
Mario Sperry was “273-0” before losing to Igor Zinoviev, would this show Rickson it’s not worth it to risk losing and break the aura? Could it have influenced him or is Sperry nothing like Rickson?
Sperry is not anything like Rickson in the sport of BJJ
Oh snap, 273-0 is pretty impressive though
What do you mean?
Rickson was undefeated for a decade in sport JJ and universally acknowledged as the best in the sport. Sperry didn’t (and still doesn’t) hold that level of achievement in his career.
You’re a BB so maybe I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.
Based on a lot of the posts you’ve made it sounds to me like you’re a pretty seasoned grappler yourself, whose opinions on such matters should be taken pretty seriously
I did some time a million years ago in Relson’s garage and at UH and then in the Bay Area with Ralph and Nino but I am 100% an armchair QB. I would definitely defer to guys like Shen.
Still some impressive credentials commanding respect in the eyes of a younger brown belt like myself.
That said I’d say Rickson and Sperry competed at different times, but Rickson seemed more dominant in his era. Sperry is one of my heroes, and his MMA/Vale Tudo creds are better than Rickson.
Well then I would defer to you as well. No doubt in my mind that Sperry has much better Vale Tudo accomplishments. Not even close.
I think you’re being unfair. Rickson could have fought Rutten, Sakuraba, Kerr, et al, but the Japanese were willing to pay him a lot of money to fight Japanese pro-wrestlers, so of course Rickson chose that route. However, after his son’s death, he mentally checked out. He decided to retire.
Who knows how well Rickson would have done against the guys. IMHO, I believe Rickson would have defeated Rutten, but would have lost to Sak and possibly to Kerr.
biggest grifter on earth
Rickson would probably beat Igor Z though, I was curious about how much risking losing the 0 played into Rickson not fighting more
I trained the first 4 years in no gi and it’s half grappling then half Thai boxing and the people with gis would take the tops off and I wouldn’t grab the pants, I had Ken shamrocks book and he was anti gi and that influenced me at the time.
Made it to purple belt later on but went back to no gi so I defer to brown and black belts, all the gi grips are tough to deal with and it’s a grind moving up from purple and dealing with injuries from mixing in too many body building type workouts FRAT warning
Sperry was actually good and tested himself in tournaments where the risk of losing is significantly higher vs hand picked opponents.
Rickson rigan is the only sport match you can find and Rickson doesn’t even look that good.
Does anyone under 40 believe the rickson bullshit? Just curious.
To be fair, Rickson was going against the number 2 guy at the time in rigan, the Brazilians had a saying in the late 80’s/early 90’s that, to paraphrase went something like this, “if rickson wasn’t rickson, rigan would be”
holy shit, those keychains are cool
I have to agree. Sperry has more matches and against opponents with high level Jujutsu. He defeated the majority of them. Whereas Rickson kept on grappling the same people such as Moreira and Rigan.
Sperry has a more impressive MMA and BJJ record compared to Rickson.
Sperry fought Igor Vovchanchyn - that alone makes his track record superior
Rickson’s only legit mma fight was againsf a broken down Funaki.