If this fight happens, thats it for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu forever! GJJ fully EXPOSED! Final nail in the coffin! 3 devastating blows consecutively, Cesar, Royce and Rickson all in one year.
Sak would embarass Rickson even worse than he did to Royce. There is no way Rickson could defeat even a banged-up Sakuraba. Sak is too slick on the ground he won't be submitted. He takes a beating but he won't be submitted and Rickson isn't the guy who could give it to him the way Silva and Arona did.
Rickson, for the sake of GJJ don't do it! You guys have spent decades building this legacy, it'll be completely tarnished in just one year. Sak is going to smash you!
Personaly I wish he and royce etc would quit I got a call from a potential student yesterday who jokingly asked "so do I get a discount now that Royce lost?"
Once again, and I stress the people questioning Rickson need to read the Gracie Mag. Guys like Fihlo have been down playing Rickson's skill for years. As mentioned on another thread most of these guys don't even talk to each other. For Fihlo to first off train with Rickson was big (huge actually) and secondly for Fihlo to then speak out on how amazing Rickson is is even bigger.
You know at first, this explanation makes complete sense. And I came up with this explanation too when I read Filho saying these things about Rickson (considering the history of Carlson). But I think even bigger than that history is the "unity" of Brazilians in general. I dont doubt for a second that they would hype one of their own up so high just because he's Brazilian. Even though they have beef with each other, they seem to unify if there is a common enemy. So Im in the middle between the two explanations
If their only goal was to present unity, why did Fihlo go train there in the first place, unless they recognized the value of Rickson.
Filho seems to have a personality of doing what he wants to do...probably cuz of his talent, I dont think Murillo and Sperry can "hold him down" like they can with the lower guys on BTT. So I think Filho went out there on his own without telling anyone else. And remember he also said so much about Royce bieng a hero for fighting Hughes. I think Filho is just off on his own, and he may be doing this shit for political reasons. I think hes doing it to either up his clout at BTT, or threaten them in an indirect way of saying "I can go anywhere I want, if you dont give me what I want." Maybe it has to do with money, or a whole host of other things.
To me the line of "I wont show anyone else what Rickson taught me," is just as disrespectfull to BTT.
This fight (supposing it happens) might involve a loss for GJJ under the evident logic of the Gracie Academy, since they basically purport that everyone who uses certain basic grappling techniques (including Sakuraba) is a GJJ exponent (ha ha), but I don't think it will be a loss for RGJJ. I very much don't think so.
I remember a time when if one Gracie lost there would be a line of the rest of them trying to fight the guy to restore the Gracie name. So which one of them is going to fight Matt Hughes next?