Sakuraba's kicks can only carry him so far... he's a good kicker but he leaves himself open big time when he tries to lay it on with a hard kick to the thigh... Guys who are effective strikers such as Silva could shrug it off fairly easily and leaves Sakuraba open...
Lil Nog is a legit 205 lber and from my impression he cuts to 205 lbs so he's like every other light heavyweight these days...
Sakuraba is either 195 lbs - 199 lbs. He doesn't look as toned as he did in ealier fights... not that it matters to be toned...
Sak isnt fighting at his natural weight anymore.
Its one thing to add muscle and gain weight but Sak looks like he's just drinking more these days and adding bodyfat.
Rogerio is at more than 205, when next to his borther they look the exact same size. So he probably cuts from 220.
My point was that Sak needs to only improve his boxing, his kicks are fine.
Sak def. has gained a few pounds in one way or another...
i was incorrect in saying that sak beat one dimensional fighters. but every time he fought someone ... except of course for the inconsistent vitor.... he's had an advantage in one way or another.
to put it another way, i'd say saku's an A- level submission guy and a C level striker. i guess you could put A level takedowns in there somewhere also. now everyone he'd beaten in the past, he'd outrank them in one of these categories. when saku fights someone like mini nog.... who i'd say is an A level submission artist and a B level striker... he's gonna have problems no matter what condition he's in because there isn't a safe place for him to go to. he's in trouble standing and on the ground. he can't dictate the fight like he did in the past.
"he's gonna have problems no matter what condition he's in because there isn't a safe place for him to go to. he's in trouble standing and on the ground. he can't dictate the fight like he did in the past."
- just for arguements sake: why would the ground be not safe for sak if he is an "a level sub guy" and rogerio is also an "a level sub guy."
Werent any of the Gracies a-level sub guys?
The gracies were A-level grapplers but outside of Renzo they were D-minus level strikers.
Renzo was maybe a C- level striker at best.
However after watching Bushido I feel that the Gracies have come a long way in their striking.
jerkface is right in that a man with A-level grappling and C-level striking will lose most of the time to a guy who has B- level striking and is larger.
totaljerkface... that knock against Sakuraba could go against any top fighter ranging from Fedor, Cro Cop, Rampage, etc... I don't think it diminishes his past wins... you can never know... maybe Sakuraba could put in a better strategy than what he did against Lil Nog, by maybe not getting in a striking match but doing some GnP and takedowns... thus winning the match... Sakuraba could have played into the game of a Gracie and lost... From the sounds of the fight description, Sakuraba played into Nog's strategy which was to try to keep it standing. Sakuraba does have a tendency to think he can strike with some fighters for some reason.
I LOVE Sakuraba. He is and forever will be a legend in MMA. My favorite fighter of all time.
-ShelbyGirl
GD, Sak didnt exactly dominate the striking against Renzo. I'd say it was a dead even match until the kimura.
Pax. Are you talking about the matches with Silva (1 and 3 in particular)?
In all honesty, if Sak ill in fight 1, then throwing those wild haymakers (which he had never done up til then) kinda makes sense, no, to just end it early, take your chances. Cant be certain about that.
But with fight 3, i am pretty certain that since in fight 2 sak was succesful in taking Silva down, Silva played the 'you can come to me' game and thus sak was trying to open silva up to come forward and strike. Silva did not pursue Sak at all (which worked perfectly for Silva) Silva def. beat Sak to it as sak took the risk of trading, he boomed sak before sak could get the takedown. thats how i saw fight 3.
Sak isn't done. I'm actually proud that he did as well as he did against Rogerio. Sak was not only giving up size but he was fighting an up and comer who trains with some of the best fighters in the world. There are 3 things I feel Sak needs to do: get in better shape and fight at 185, let his injuries heal, and start training with some other fighters. I've been wondering why he doesn't work striking with somebody like Kondo, I mean the must have respect for each other and both would benefit. No matter what happens with Sak he will always be my favorite fighter and a legend.
snc, groove. i think anyone in the world (except sak himself, his team, and pride?) must think what you mentioned is pretty obvious.
i mean its obvious that he got by pretty nicely even with the takada training team.
even if he didnt train with others, it might help if he actually rested, and fought 185ers.
Like you, i will always be a fan but how much longer can he keep this up. I mean, even though I believe he was headbutted by nino en route to getting ko'ed, he was still ko'ed by nino. why the fuck cant that tell pride, his camp, and himself that he needs to take a fucking break and that fighting randleman, rogerio (even though he became the first to sub randleman) are the best thing to do after losses.
Really trying my patience.
Your right, Sak needs to heal up more than anything right now. I think Sak is a very loyal guy though and feels that it is his duty to fight for Pride and put asses in seats.
I found this after my last post.
(PRIDE) Nobuyuki Sakakibara confirmed Vader's participation for their 2/15 Yokohama Arena "Bushido" show. Sakakibara said that his top concern was completing the matchmaking for a fight between Yuki Kondo and Vanderlei Silva. Sakakibara also reiterated comments he made on Thursday, saying that he would attempt to have a sumo wrestler participating in the Summer of 2004. On Thursday, he said it would be Musashimaru. On Friday, he didn't mention a specific name. Sakakibara also said that he was interested in bringing in Frank Shamrock. When I talked to Josh Barnett in early December about Frank Shamrock coming back to MMA, he said that unless all the conditions were right, he didn't expect to see him back in MMA. Meanwhile, Kazushi Sakuraba said that he regretted working the 12/31 Saitama Super Arena show against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira because he wasn't in good enough physical shape. Sakuraba admitted that he really didn't want to fight on 12/31 but did it for the good of the company.
- PuroresuPower
fucking morons. that's all there is to it.
let's see, Saku in his prime was around 180 lbs. he was never ripped at all, so it's safe to say that even then, he could have lost some weight. BJ Penn, a man many consider the number 1 LW (155 lbs) walks around at something like 182. Now, Penn will be taking on Matt Hughes, who is only ONE weight class above his, and everyone is talking about how this is some big fucking deal. I will state this in "screaming" fashion to emphasize my point: IF PENN TOOK ON RANDY COUTURE NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT FUCKING MIND WOULD THINK HE'D WIN. BUT PEOPLE EXPECT DIFFERENT FROM SAKU. The very fact that Sakuraba can not only hold his own, but beat TOP FUCKING 10 LHW's like Belfort and Rampage and maybe Randleman (who once held the fucking HEAVYWEIGHT title) is a testament to how amazing he is. The fact that he could go NINETY FUCKING MINUTES with an all time legend, and then come back out to control the man who was possibly the #1 HEAVYWEIGHT on earth at the time (if not #1, Igor was top 5 for sure) for half the first 15 minutes, only to completely gas is a testament to just how fucking good he is.
what, you stupid fucks think it's a weird coincidence that Bas Rutten and every other fighter on earth have such respect for the man?
talk about fucking clueless. no one would give BJ Penn more than 2 minutes with Mirko CroCop, but Sak's expected to beat the guy....
Sakuraba rawks the house. I want to see him fight in his weight class and rip new assholes.
=)
PAX makes a great point: 'Sak just seems same'.
Sak has a great base to polish his game around. but it seems that Sak wants to show people he can win despite his exposed weakness. (Like a pitcher getting a strike-out after telling a batter he will throw a fastball down the middle)
The fact that Sak hasn't gone down the road Sato is on shows just how talented he is.
Hope he can see what everybody sees.
Sakuraba's fight with Macias, Silva 1, and Silva 3 as well as Braga, and Vitor... No offense, but his striking was not that good looking and very risky... Sakuraba didn't have to strike with Silva in fight 1 or 3. I never understood how he respects the striking of Vovchanchin but went balls out against Silva... they are both strikers by trade but the sickness probably did have something to do with his strategy.
As for Silva 3, I think the strategy was good and Sakuraba was "scoring" and baiting Silva to move foward but to do it as many times as Sakuraba did was just asking to get beatdown IMO (which did happen). That was the most striking Saku has done in that fight than what he did most of his career outside of the Royler fiasco. If he waited like he did against Randleman, IMO, the fight would have slowed to his pace and Silva would have eventually moved foward and been vulnerable to a takedown. However he didn't and paid for it. I have other ideas on why Sakuraba lost badly in his 3rd Silva fight but that is another story all together.
I think Sakuraba acknowledges the excitement of striking and tries to bring it for the crowd which is a mistake if he doesn't get better.
Pax, its so hard to say these days.
Sak is kinda like the polar opposite of Rickson now, seems like.
Rickson, we cant get to fight.
Sak, we cant get him not to fight.
A medium would be nice for both.
Wasa has the correct. Sak is one of the few other than COUTOURE who will take on ALL COMERs. Also the asian view is quite different from the american view...if u're undefeated u're the man...if u lose a few...u suck. The asian view is you keep fighting the top comp. win or lose and u still get the respect.
sak never had great striking but training with cro cop woulda helped. he will win again