Not gayer than your username
When you are a red belt you accumulate wins by not competing
Look at who he fought…
At Pride 4 he could’ve faced Kerr, Ruas, Saku, Goes, Wallid, Igor or Goodridge. Instead he rematched Takada who was coming off a win in a fixed fight against Kyle Sturgeon (his only fight ever as well)
Rickson had plenty of opportunities to prove himself against legit fighters. It never once happened except for Funaki who was already fucked by then
My issue is this
In MMA look at who he called out as compared to who he fought…
- his fans will say that there just wasn’t enough money for his right the people that he called out
In grappling
His fans will say that he is the greatest ever
- my BJJ heros also state this sentiment
The claim that mma didn’t have enough money
- he was offered countless super fight by ADCC and always turned them down - maybe the sheik couldn’t come up with enough cash for him
How many state and national JJ titles did he win in Brazil???
In the gym, I will believe that he was an incredible competitor
I personally don’t think that it is an outrageous thing to say that Rickson has a lof of anxiety when it comes to competition outside of a closed door setting
If I wrote something about touching Ken shamrocks robe to get good at leg locks id expect some insults headed my way
If you mentioned “purple cape”, you might get a pass…. Just sayin
I wish Rickson didn’t price himself out of a lot of the fights that should have been made. The only legit excuse he had was when his son passed. That sucks and the timing was horrible for the fight world.
Some fights we were robbed of I can think of quickly;
vs either Shamrock
vs Saku
vs Bas
vs Fedor
vs Cro Cop
vs Big Cat
vs Randleman
vs Ruas
vs Rizzo
vs Igor Vovchanchyn
My old professor got his brown under Rickson. He said that Rickson definitely counted beating his students during rolling.
The anxiety was evident in “Choke.”
He puts too much pressure on himself claiming to be undefeated, that’s the worst mindset for competing and testing yourself. Def could see the pressure coming out in Choke.
He actually called out Coleman (Pride Grand Prix era)
Coleman accepted
Rickson then said it would not be worth his time due to Coleman not being “strong enough”
Thats right I forgot to put Coleman. shit. I remember that call out and dic… backing off.
Rickson deserves a lot of flack but i dont blame him for rematching takada. 99% of fighters would have taken that fight if given rickson money. It was the main event of the show and what drew most of the crowd. Rickson vs anyone else you mentioned at PRIDE 4 and the event would not have done as well. Saku himself was still not as established and his name didnt carry as much weight as it eventually would.
Rickson was and is so overly hyped its not even funny. You will find people who still place him higher than roger. Rickson has cared more about surfing and pot for a few decades now than he has about bjj and his own kids.
Rickson got paid though when the vast majority of his peers were not. Many of his peers wouldnt have been fighting period if they had been able to make more money doing something else, or perhaps even hold a job. Thats just how it was back then.
Rickson never should have bought into his own ‘aura’ though and talked trash about all the other fighters.
There are more than a few people that act like cult members rather than someone with observations and an opinion
Opening the Closed Guard by Robert Drysdale
In itt he does out of his way to mentions that the Rickson myth is just that and that people from Brazil tend to roll their eyes when the topic comes up
THAT IS A GENERAL QUOTE FROM HIS BOOK
Yeah I don’t blame him for taking the Takada fights at all… Those were needed by PRIDE to get the attendance needed and it was a good pay day… just don’t act like that was a legit fight/win.
Him talking shit about Fedor and Cro Cop really pissed me off. I wish we got to see him get wrecked by both.
Rickson hasn’t been relevant to bjj in 25 years.
You literally heard nothing from him for years during the 2000’s and then randomly out of nowhere shows up to a tournament to coach and ends up chucking a water bottle on the mat/at the ref over a perceived injustice. It was surreal.
Rickson also claimed that he only fought opponents who had a “certain aura”.
Presumably this meant that Sakuraba didn’t possess this ‘aura’, but Bad Bud Smith somehow did…
Why did she stop counting at 450? Sakuraba would eat him alive
opinions vary
Once again, there is video of Helio saying that Rickson was like 8-0.