Sakurai wins by picking apart Kawajiri during the standup. Discuss.
And Kid has gotta jump ship if he wants to be in the top 3, even though I feel he could beat Kawjiri and possibly even Sakurai.
KAwajiri is defending his Shooto title in February against Joachim Hansen.
Kawajiri vs Sakurai would look a lot like Gomi vs Sakurai
Sakurai has some tough losses. I still think he's one of the best around. He'll be back.
Einux, im not so sure Gomi/Sakurai II would like a lot like Gomi/Sakurai, though id favour Gomi. It would still be an interesting fight though KJ vs. Mach, but like you said, we're should wait until we see KJ/Hansen first. I believe you're picking KJ on that one?
Mach vs. Yves would be great too.
mach is #3 right now as far as rankings go. Kawajiri is #2. I would say mach is the challenger although I think Mach would win this fight.
Kawajiri by TKO
I can't wait to download that fight.
IMO kawajiri fought like shit against GOMI.. he was very tentative and would try to have the ref stop the fight over little head butts and eye scrapes. I was very disappointed in him.
Kawajiri also fought terribly against buscape.. but to his credit he did get better as the match goes on as he usually does.
Kawajiri will beat Hansen because of the size/strength advantage but Sakurai would beat him easily.
Sakurai fucked up when he tried that hip throw.. i believe a sakura/gomi 2 would look very different.
Kawajiri doesn't have the same balls to the wall striking style that Gomi has. He is not as aggressive in the standup, whihc would allow Sakurai to have time to pick him apart with leg kicks. Against top fighters he is a slow starter IMO and this will give Sakurai to seriously damage him with strikes.
Mach's one of the best all around fighters. His subs are unbelievable but they're easily not his strenght. I think mach/gomi 2 would be different too.
At least i hope it's different.
"His subs are unbelievable.." eh....not exactly.
And yes Wasa I am picking Kawajiri to soudly beat Hansen (nothing against Hansen, Im a big fan of his too, just a bad matchup for Hansen style wise)
Sakurai would probly lose to Gomi imho.
Sakurai will almost ALWAYS lose to a guy who has good wrestling. Sakurai has an amazing guard for defense. But his subs arn't that great. A good wrestler with a submission background (or vice versa) will ALWAYS give Sakurai tons of trouble.
Sakurai would probly get G&Ped to a decision by Kawajiri. Kawajiri's chin has never really been tested (Gomi basically KO'ed him when they fought, but as we have seen time and time again, Gomi can KO just about anyone) so Sakurai might have a chance from the clinch (he's scored some nasty KO's with knees in his carrer)
And yes Kawajiri did fight like shit against Gomi. But Gomi has a tendency to make guys look like that.
Yeah, i agree, KJ wasnt that impressive against Gomi but did bring it for however long it lasted and he did try a few tds but Gomi stuffed them bigtime.
I think KJ could have slowed the pace when it wasnt going his way and try to pick his spots for the takedown ala Azeredo did but Azeredo basically fought fresh against a Gomi that just took out KJ too.
Gomi just doesnt really let you let up.
Mach vs. KJ would be interesting but so would every matchup bet. all the top LWs. Shaolin is already coming back strong and Yves barely lost to Hansen, Hansen barely lost to Mach.
I wonder if its possible to get Kid, Sudo and Uno for the next LW GP?!?!
Uno got KTFO by Hansen of coures but took the fight to Hansen for a lot of it aswell. Im sure Yves would like to rematch KJ...
Mach ALWAYS goes for those throws with a decent success rate. Unfortunately he did it against the ropes and it messed the throw up
"Sakurai fucked up when he tried that hip throw.. i believe a sakura/gomi 2 would look very different."
i'd say sakurai's guard is very good. he's not just defensive but his sweeps are really good. almost swept hughes and subbed him
Kawajiri
Gomi
Hansen
Yves
Uno
Kid
Sakurai
Shaolin
Thompson
Genki sudo
This would be the perfect LHW GP, Hopefully this will be the card for next time.
dude to be honest, I really don't think there is anyone at 155-160 that can touch Gomi. And thats coming from a HUGE Kawajiri jockrider. Gomi is just too big, too strong, has too much cardio, and hits way to hard.
I even have my doubts that Penn can beat him at this stage in Gomi's career.
"KAwajiri is defending his Shooto title in February against Joachim Hansen"
this will be a great fight!