FreightTrane - Yeah, I'm not going to predict the winner, because its impossible, but saying no one on that list except Rickson knows how to fight is not the smartest thing to say.
Tyson was involved with more physical competition than Rickson.
i'm just laughing in my head at the thought of rickson w/ his hands high trying to get close to tyson w/ his girly "front kick" and getting flattened w/ a left hook/overhand right...
Yeah, I wouldn't say Tyson would for sure beat Rickson, because most likely Rickson would get it onto the ground, but saying Tyson has no chance is dumb. There is a strong possibility Tyson would put Rickson to sleep.
FreightTrane - Yeah, I'm not going to predict the winner, because its impossible, but saying no one on that list except Rickson knows how to fight is not the smartest thing to say.
Tyson was involved with more physical competition than Rickson.
i'm just laughing in my head at the thought of rickson w/ his hands high trying to get close to tyson w/ his girly "front kick" and getting flattened w/ a left hook/overhand right...
Yeah, I wouldn't say Tyson would for sure beat Rickson, because most likely Rickson would get it onto the ground, but saying Tyson has no chance is dumb. There is a strong possibility Tyson would put Rickson to sleep.
There is a very strong possiblity he could catch him with someone, but he would still have to get through Karelin which would be no easy task.
Definitely Rickson. He's the most complete and experienced fighter in that tourney. This is 1993, so it's safe to assume that the the other fighters would either be one dimensional, or lack the cross-training, especially Tyson (who will be ragdolled by Karelin). Rickson does have the hardest path though, so he's gonna have to catch both wrestlers in quick submissions to be fresh enough to face Gokor in the finals. Rickson by armbar.
I really don't see how Rickson stands a chance in hell against Karelin though. What mythical submission does Rickson use on a guy he stands zero chance of getting to the ground, and please don't say he's going to pull a flying armbar or triangle on the greatest Greco Roman wrestler ever.
He's not pulling guard either. Any attempt by Rickson to pull guard is going to result in his head being bounced off the canvas repeatedly.
You have to at least concede that even though Karelin was "just a wrestler" (even though he most certainly was a competent boxer as well), if you tell the guy he's in a fight it's not like he's going to try to pin Rickson if he pulls guard.
Karelin would do the same thing to Rickson that I do to jail bait teenage girls
Leave them lying down, barely consciouss, bloody and confused while I walk away laughing
Rickson; this is the only one at this point (1993) that has any MMA experience to speak of. The rest would be like arguing that Usain Bolt could make it in the NFL. Yeah he has related skills, but not at ALL the entire skill set.
Wow. Before it was clarified. I had that college wrestler who would have been badass in mma vs. Rickson or a very muscular looking BJ Penn at like 15. I was going to with that college wrestler over a young Penn. Rickson over that college wrestler by rear naked choke. Tyson knocking out Karelin with the first punch. Some Karate or Jiu-jitsu guy, cleared-up as Nastula vs Igor. Igor by headkick ko. Gokor submits Hoost. Rickson defeats Tyson similar to Funaki win. Igor takes out Gokor in a good fight. Igor kos Rickson and ends that myth.
FWIW during an interview, Karelin claimed he had competed in a Sambo tournament while he was in the military "with good result". The guy was not a stranger to submission.
Domingo - Igor didn't really his his stride until the late 90's. For that matter, Hoost, too.
Yeah, exactly. In 1993, Igor hadn't really developed his NHB game yet. Actually, at that point, he was still a kickboxer. He said that he only started training grappling after he lost his first NHB tournament.
He would have still been extremely dangerous anyway, with his prodigious power (and he was also really sharp, coordinated, and precise back when he was lean, too) - and especially with his toughness when it came to bare-knuckle, no-rules NHB (especially with headbutts).
But more likely, he eventually would have been taken down and subbed at that point. (And besides, in 1993, we didn't even know who Igor was yet, to even care. He wasn't even a blip on the radar at all in the world of martial arts.)
And in 1993, Branco Cikatic was actually on top of the kickboxing world after dominantly going through and winning the first-ever K-1 GP that year (including KO-ing Hoost in the final). And Branco was hardly impressive in MMA when he later competed - and in 1993, would have been owned in NHB once he got taken down (and didn't really have the athleticism and coordination to avoid that fate).
Btw, the freestyle wrestling representative should really be Bruce Baumgartner - the absolute best, strongest, most dominating freestyler of that era.
(Karelin vs. Baumgartner would actually be an ultimate fantasy matchup as well - as they were without question the two best SHW wrestlers of that era in their respective styles.)
And while Nastula's an interesting choice for the judo rep (especially considering how tough he turned out to be while losing to some top MMA fighters over a decade later) - Douillet, Ogawa, or Khakhaleishvili would have had more established, impressive competitive judo credentials at that point.
But as far as that ultimate-dream 1993 NHB tournament goes - it would have almost inevitably come down to Rickson and Karelin. And Karelin almost certainly would have ended up wrestling Rickson.
Remember, in 1993, nobody knew what to expect. And when it comes down to it - especially in a new unknown world - you go with what you know. You revert to the baseline of instinct, or what has been instilled to be instinct. And for Karelin, that was wrestling.
Yes, Karelin claimed to have competed in the national sambo championships and that he had some boxing training from his father - but wrestling was still far and away his primary, and pretty much exclusive, focus at that point, as he had just won his 2nd straight Olympics and 4th straight World Championship.
So I would hardly expect Karelin to have trained much GnP technique or game-planned for sprawling-and-brawling instead. It would have ended up the ultimate wrestling vs. jiu-jitsu matchup. (Except with a whole lot of size, athleticism, and otherworldly power on Karelin's side - and more real-fight experience and realistic preparation and expectation on Rickson's side, to go along with no time limit.)