Sakuraba VS Renzo
Sakuraba VS Newton
Sakuraba VS Braga
Sakuraba VS Vernon White
Sakuraba VS Minotoro
all great fights
"sakuraba, although he was very good, was a boring fighter to watch."
LMAO! This guy has to either be a very retarded troll, or a total newbie to mme. Saku has a huge following for a good reason, and being boring isn't one of them.
if you like to sit and watch a guy kick a downed opponent in the legs, be my guest. his fights just seem to be slow paced in general. thats not to say it's a bad fight to you, but it is to me. personally, i love to see saku getting beat on, so i thought his fights with wand were really good. but once he got put against guys who would come at him hard with strikes and were relentless, he didn't have an answer. now those losses were against top competition obviously so take that how you want. but i still think seeing saku get beat on makes for a much more exciting fight.
let me tell you how big of a deal it is if Saku really goes to Heros.
today sportnews paper. didnt have a picture of Kid yamamoto winning. instead it had 2 pictures on the front. 1 was saku and maeda standing together in the ring. as the picture you can see above.
second. picture of akebono vs don frye.
This news is Huge in japan! Sakuraba is the most famous Japanese MMA guy . if he goes to heros. then there is kid yamamoto, genki sudo and sakuraba and akiyama. this alone will result in huge drawings for tv.
also yesterdays event was totally sold out. i didnt see any empty spot. last time k1 max was also in that same stadium and there were some empty spots. but yesterday hero event,there wasnt any empty spot.
Hey redeye2000... is there a major falling out between Sakuraba and Takada? Sakuraba seems like such a company man and it seems strange for him to be going to K-1.
According to this Japanese article (www.sanspo.com/fight/top/f200605/f2006050402.html), the announcement came as a total surprise to DSE, as they were busy confirming the information after yesterday's announcement. If Saku never even bothered to inform DSE, which seems to be the case, there certainly is bad blood right there. PRIDE made Sakuraba (and vice versa), and for him to leave like that...wow, he must've been pissed, for who knows what reason.
Pic of Saku with Maeda and Tanigawa (FEG President and K-1 Producer)
http://www.so-net.ne.jp/hero-s/01herosnews/20060504/img/ph05.jpg
More pics and trascript of the press conference (in Japanese)
http://www.so-net.ne.jp/hero-s/01herosnews/20060504/20060504.html
Saku says he wants to fight Black Mamba (Kultar Gill).
In the transcript of the press conference, when asked about a possibility to return to Pride, Saku said that he wanted to fight in both Hero's and Pride. Tanigawa said that he never heard Saku express any animosity towards Takada.
Wow. Very odd situation.
Saku and Maeda after the Hero's show
Konoyaro-
What did Sakuraba say about leaving Pride? Any reasons? What was his intent to fighting in Hero's?
YVES - reading the transcript, he was equivocal about the whole situation. When he was asked why he went to Hero's, he said that Tanigawa expressed his fondness for him, and that fondness was reciprocated (like that's a reason to leave your longtime employer), and that there were a lot of fighters in Hero's that he wanted to fight, and that it would be fun facing these fighters. When asked what he thought of Pride, Saku said he had nothing but thankfulness for not only Pride but Takada Dojo as well. When asked about what the fans of Pride might think, he said that because he was not included in the Open Weight GP, that left him with nowhere to go, and that by going to Hero's, he would add excitement to the organization. No real answers, IMO.
People on this forum have always said DSE makes Sakuraba fight all these larger fighters (Cro Cop, Arona, etc.) and that he is like a slave to the company. However if you read interviews and such it appears to be quite different. Sakuraba always wants to fight these opponents and even wanted to move up to HW a while ago. Maybe DSE/Takada is finally trying to protect his career and refused him entry into the Open Weight GP? Sakuraba may have been insulted/angry and left to go to Hero's... which is under a company not being investigated by the police for illegal actions involving the Yakuza.
Sakuraba isn't a guy that wears his heart on his sleave and he must have some resentment towards Takada or DSE for this split imo.
Thoughts?
ttt
According to Tanigawa, the situation went down like this. Saku's contract with Takada Dojo expired at the end of March (according to Saku's lawyer, Saku was not directly contracted with DSE, but with Takada Dojo for bouts in Pride), making him a free agent. Tanigawa heard about this and approached Saku about fighting in Hero's, but according to Tanigawa, Saku wasn't really interested when they first talked about it, and that Saku seemed to be distresed about the whole situation. On May 1 (2 days before Hero's), after two weeks of deliberations with Tanigawa through his lawyer, Saku finally told Tanigawa he wanted to go to Hero's, and that he would discuss the matter with Sakakibara (not sure if he really did). Tanigawa tried to contact Sakakibara himself, but could not reach him.
Tanigawa said that he never heard Saku express his discontent towards Takada Dojo, and that he thought the reason Saku came to Hero's is because he was at a turning point in his career, and that he needed a change of scenery. He also said Saku is not about money, and that this was not about money.
Just seeing Sakuraba standing next to that prick MAeda pisses me off.
Thanks for the info, I wish I spoke Japanese. I can't wait to read DSE's response and specifically Takada's response.
I remember how upset Sakikibara was about Royce and Fedor fighting in other orgs... he is gonna go apeshit over this.
I'd be interested in what Pride and Takada have to say. I don't think its a bad career move to go fight in K-1, its just I hate K-1's matchups worse than all of the major promotions out there.