MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[Egg Shen]

Holy shit, that would have been insane.

 

Igor Vovchanchyn, now there's a cult hero of MMA.

[wandshogun09]

Jesus, Wanderlei vs Igor would've been chaos. To think we could've had that and we got fucking Fujita vs Monson instead. That's like having fit Hannah from the office at work promising you a shag, standing you up and you end up with the chubby girl who works in the chippy. It'll do but it doesn't cut it as a substitute. I never did get to shag Hannah. I did get free chips for a few weeks though. So swings and roundabouts.

 

I thought Igor retired after the 2005 GP though? Never knew he was planning to come back in 2007.

[wandshogun09]

 

We enter the Pride era of Sakuraba's career.

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS VERNON WHITE

March 15th 1998 - Pride 2

His first opponent in Pride would be Lion's Den fighter Vernon 'Tiger' White. A Pancrase veteran and Ken Shamrock protégé. He even appeared on Monday Night Raw once in 1997 during Shamrock's WWF run as part of a 'shoot fighting exhibition' in the build-up to Shamrock's first WWF PPV match against Vader.

 

Anyway, this would be the first opponent in Saku's young MMA career who was actually around the same size as him. Or at least closer to it than Conan and Kimo.

 

Commentators are 'The Fight Professor' Stephen Quadros and 'El Guapo' Bas Rutten. My favourite Pride announce team. Better than Mauro Ranello/Rutten IMO and definitely miles better than Mauro/Frank Trigg and the short-lived tandem of Bas and Damon 'The Dog' Perry. Remember that doofus?

 

The fight starts and White hurts Sakuraba with a punch right off the bat and Saku immediately initiates the grappling. You could see Saku was still very uncomfortable with being hit at this point in his career. As opposed to later on when it seemed like he almost became too comfy eating strikes and relying on his skill and heart to pull him through.

 

It remains a grappling match pretty much from there on out. And a pretty excellent one at that. Constant reversals and sub attempts from both and at a pretty high pace. At one point the action slows down a little bit and Quadros goes "I think these guys are starting to get lazy". Fucking hell, they've barely stopped scrambling for like eight minutes, allow them a little breather.

 

PRIDE COMMENTARY NOTE: Quadros and Bas are talking about pretzels. Bas likes them with sugar on top. Quadros prefers the savoury option with salt. Good to know.

 

This is a really good fight. Hadn't seen it in years. Sakuraba keeps coming close on armbar attempts but White keeps managing to escape and take Saku's back. He gets a waistlock and Saku does his patented kimura throw/reversal thingy - always loved that.

 

Going into the final round and it's been a close one. There's been hardly any striking in this fight, to the point I, and the commentators, was wondering if there was some kind of 'gentleman's agreement' between the two to just grapple it out. Then again, White rocked him right at the start of the fight. Regardless, they come out striking a bit in this final round. Saku shows some decent kicks.

 

Inevitably they end up back on the ground and Saku is just a step ahead for me. He's got full-mount, Vernon hip escapes out of it but Sakuraba gets an armbar in the transition, but White again escapes! Beautiful.

 

 

Mad scramble again and Saku hits another slick armbar and this time there is no escape and Vernon has to tap. Tremendous finish and a really good fight.

 

"My God, who is this guy? Kazushi Sakuraba coming out of nowhere, fighting two fights against the same guy in Silveira. And fighting Vernon 'Tiger' White, one of the top contenders in Pancrase, rolling around with him on the mat, slowly turning up the heat and armbarring him...amazing!" - Stephen Quadros

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS CARLOS NEWTON

June 24th 1998 - Pride 3

Here we go! I fucking love this fight.

 

Bas Rutten comes into the ring just before the intros. Quadros has to pretend it's live and Bas has just stepped away from the commentary booth for a sec, even though they recorded the commentary probably months later in some studio on these early Pride releases. As if Bas would be commentating in jeans and a green t-shirt anyway. That's not 'El Guapo'.

 

 

He gives both fighters some flowers. How lovely! Then does a little promo where he greets the fans in Japanese, announces that he's fighting Randy Couture in the UFC in October (another fight that got away) and that, after his UFC contract, he wants to fight in Pride against Rickson Gracie (ANOTHER fight that didn't end up happening, stop cockteasing us). He says sayonara and then immediately starts talking on the commentary again, with them both pretending he's just came back to the desk from the ring. Got to love Pride.

 

Fight's underway and they're having a nice little exchange on the feet. That won't last long. Saku with a brilliant reversal where Newton goes for a trip and Saku kind of hip tosses him. Saku then spins right into an armbar but Newton gets out. What a start to the fight!

 

There's too many transitions, reversals and crazy submission attempts to mention here. Plus I'm not doing play-by-play anyway. It's truly a joy to watch though. They're going for every sub in the book from armbars to kimuras to toe-holds to heel hooks to chokes. And they've both always got an answer for the other's attempts. Saku's on fire and Newton is right there with him.

 

That first ten minute round flew by. Seriously, there's been UFC prelims recently where five minute rounds seemed twice as long as this and a chore to sit through. But this is so fun and engrossing to watch you lose all track of time.

 

"This is an amazing matchup. Amazing! I had said that Vernon 'Tiger' White vs Kazushi Sakuraba was maybe the most technical grappling match that I'd ever seen. This may have trumped that. This may be more technical, but more exciting because these guys are really going for it - Stephen Quadros

 

Newton starts to open up with some good ground strikes in round two. In particular some vicious knees to the body. But they're soon tangled up in submissions again.

 

Must be all ten minute rounds here because the Japanese bloke announces to the crowd that there's five minutes left of round two. I can't keep up with the rule changes and updates. I know the Gracies seemed to make their own rules in Pride but I don't know when the company finally settled on fights being 10 min/5 min/5 min.

 

Whatever. Something about that announcement kicks Saku into a higher gear and he rolls for a kneebar...

 

 

It's over!

 

Fantastic. The one submission neither man went for and Sakuraba busted it out at the perfect time.

 

"I have to say, from a grappling standpoint, Mixed Martial Arts just hit a new high" - Stephen Quadros

 

Nice show of respect from both men after the fight as well.

 

If you want to see Sakuraba at his best and you're only going to watch one fight, make it this one. Probably Sakuraba's best fight for me. It's my favourite anyway. The skill involved was so advanced for the time. There was nothing like this in MMA in 1998.

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS ALLAN GOES

October 11th 1998 - Pride 4

Now building some momentum and proving himself a legitimate fighter, Sakuraba was catching on as a star for Pride and was by far the highlight of those early cards. People look back fondly at Pride but often the rose tinters forget that there was some total shit on those early Pride shows. Proper boring long as fuck hugfests that felt like they lasted weeks. The only bright spots were when a Sakuraba, Igor Vovchanchyn or Gary Goodridge were fighting. But Saku was the main saviour of those cards because he was not only exciting to watch, he was totally unique in his fighting style and he was Japanese so he gave the crowd someone they could really get behind. If Pride didn't have Sakuraba in their formative years when they were still finding their feet, I'm not sure they'd have ever made it to their magical 2002-2006 run.

 

Anyway, Allan Goes...

 

 

A Pancrase vet, Carlson Gracie BJJ black-belt and eight time (!) BJJ world champion, was Sakuraba's next foe. He was also a team mate of Conan Silveira so he was coming in trying to avenge the big man's defeat at UFC Japan.

 

Definitely no gentleman's agreement here. Goes is very aggressive with his strikes and Saku seems a bit more vicious. Goes spends a fair bit of time in the old butt-scoot position here with Saku just kicking at his legs. Usually a boring position to watch but this is good stuff. Saku keeps it alive with cartwheel guard pass attempts - fucking quality - and Goes is surprisingly effective with kicks off his back. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen anyone have so much success with kicks from that position. He's kicking at Sakuraba's legs constantly, and fucking hard, and landing some nice upkicks to the face too. He even gets a decent rear naked choke attempt in there on Sakuraba as well. Saku looks a bit thrown off.

 

If Pride scored round-by-round instead of scoring the fight as a whole, then I'd definitely give that opening round to Goes.

 

The second round cools off a lot. Until late in the round where Saku springs to life and goes all out for an armbar. Goes escapes though. Closer round because not that much happened.

 

Third is slow paced again. Goes tries hard for a RNC again but was unable to get the hooks in and can't finish it. Rest of the round consists mostly of Saku standing over Goes kicking at his legs and Goes isn't as effective as he was in the first round because he's tired.

 

Fight ends and it's a draw. That's about right. Loved the first round but it was a bit boring after that. I just think the rounds are too long and it forces a slower pace sometimes. Wasn't bad though, just a bit too long.

 

Goes went on to help form the Brazilian Top Team with Mario Sperry, Murilo Bustamante and the Nogueira brothers later on. He was decent. He just never got over that hump for whatever reason. Had some good fights though. This one with Saku plus I remember really enjoying his fight with Hendo at UFC 17.

 

Goes also has the honour of beating up a murderer when he TKO'd one time UFC fighter Homer Moore in the IFL in 2007.

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS VITOR BELFORT

April 29th 1999 - Pride 5

Vitor was 6-1 at this time. He was coming into this fight fresh off destroying Wanderlei Silva at UFC Ultimate Brazil. His only loss was to Randy Couture.

 

This was the first time Sakuraba was pitted against a really dangerous striker. He looks more comfortable here in the standup than he ever has before though, throwing headkicks at Belfort and all sorts.

 

 

But wait...OH SHIT, the old Belfort Blitz! Hooks and uppercuts all over the place as Saku covers up and eventually gets Vitor down. Bullet dodged.

 

He keeps Belfort on his back and just starts blasting away kicking at his legs. Over and over and over again. It's brutal. Vitor's leg is getting all fucked up. That's the story of the whole first round.

 

They come out for round two and Belfort doesn't look like the same fighter. He's hesitant and gun-shy. SAKURABA DROPS BELFORT WITH A FUCKING SPINNING BACK KICK TO THE BODY! Nuts. I completely forgot about that. Madness. That'd be like Demian Maia flooring Robbie Lawler with a spin kick now. Total shock. The crowd's going berserk.

 

Saku continues tenderising Vitor's legs. They stand back up and Saku lands two more spinning back kicks to the gut. You can see Sakuraba's confidence building and Belfort's dwindling as the fight goes on. Sakuraba is shutting down Belfort with striking. Unfathomable.

 

Sidenote - I love Sakuraba's bright orange shorts. Can you imagine him in the Reebok fight kit? Nah, me neither.

 

Belfort's head is gone. He's now dropping to his back for no reason. Bas suggests it may be because of the damage to his legs, which is the only logical explanation. Either way the Japanese fans are booing him.

 

Saku's taking the piss now, slapping Vitor's bad leg while he lies on his back. Saku looks like he's had enough of Vitor's flopping to his back and as the last minute ticks away, Saku tries to finish the fight in style...

 

 

They go the distance and there's no mystery here - Sakuraba gets the nod from the judges. Awesome performance. He pretty much made Vitor his bitch. No other way to really describe it.

 

The next post will be the real meat and potatoes of Sakuraba's career - the legendary Sakuraba vs the Gracies series.

[jimufctna24]

I thought Igor retired after the 2005 GP though? Never knew he was planning to come back in 2007.

According to wiki, Igor had a serious hand-injury. It's possible Igor got cold-feet, or he couldn't get around the injury. The poster only popped up a few weeks before the show, so I doubt Igor had much time to prepare. Anyway, it seems that Wanderlei didn't compete because he was suspended by the Vegas commission.

 

From what I recall, Pride really tried to recruit old stars for the show. It was meant to be a show celebrating Pride's past. Hence why Frye and Yvel returned, and Sakuraba was rumoured to return. (he made an appearance, but didn't fight). 

 

PRIDE COMMENTARY NOTE: Quadros and Bas are talking about pretzels. Bas likes them with sugar on top. Quadros prefers the savoury option with salt. Good to know. 

Bas and Quadros's commentary style was very different to the UFC's. On a UFC video game for the PS3 (which had a Pride mode). they discussed how their approach was less formal, and more entertainment based.

 

I liked them as a duo. Mainly because they never outstayed their welcome. Bas and Quadros did Pride's commentary for about 5 years (Mauro took over from Quadros in 2003). As Pride only did around 5 shows per year, they never got stale. I have always liked Mauro as well, other than when he tried to shoehorn in pop culture references whilst commentating for Strikeforce.

 

 

.The next post will be the real meat and potatoes of Sakuraba's career - the legendary Sakuraba vs the Gracies series.

I am sure it will be a good read. However, reading about Saku's performances in the late 90's has been very refreshing. Mainly due to personal reasons, as I am not overly familiar with the early Pride shows.

 

I could happily not discuss some aspects of MMA history ever again (the emergence of TUF/Forrest vs Bonnar 1), but a lot of Pride's back catalogue remains very fresh.

Edited August 8, 2015 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

 

...PART 1

 

After his dominant victory over Vitor Belfort in April 1999, Sakuraba went on to submit Ebenezer Fontes Braga in July and Anthony Macias in September. Both by armbar. Unbeaten in Pride and having beaten three Brazilians in his career already, it was just a matter of time until Sakuraba came up against a Gracie.

 

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS ROYLER GRACIE

November 21st 1999 - Pride 8

Royler would be first. He was a BJJ black-belt and a multi-time BJJ world champion. Son of the legendary creator of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Helio Gracie. Brother of Royce. Half brother of Rickson. Cousin of Renzo and Ryan. That family tree has more branches than ten Christmas trees.

 

But Royler would be up first. Rickson, widely regarded as the best fighter in the family, is in his corner.

 

 

For the first time in his career, Sakuraba would enjoy a size advantage here, and it shows. Royler looks tiny. He makes Sakuraba look big. Saku's got a good 30lbs on him and a height advantage.

 

Slow early with Royler just holding on from the bottom in the butterfly guard. He's doing nothing. Just stalling.

 

After a couple of minutes of that nonsense, Saku eventually breaks free, and now the action picks up.

 

Saku just starts kicking the absolute shit out of Royler's legs. He's battering his legs with kicks as Royler just pulls himself around the ring on his arse. He gets up and you can see he's wary of the leg kicks. He ends up back in the butt-scoot position eating more leg kicks and his right thigh is just red raw. He's nowhere near as effective in that position as Allan Goes was, that's for sure.

 

I don't know what Royler's plan is here. It's not one of those Gracie fights with no time limit either so he can't really afford to play the long game and wait for Saku to tire. He's getting fucked up and offering nothing in the way of offence himself.

 

Round two starts and right away Royler eats a hard knee from the clinch. This is just the worst day at the office ever for Gracie. He can't do ANYTHING. He's trying to stand with Saku now and he's jumpy and flinching at everything and can't do shit. Saku drops him with a head kick then continues toying with him and smashing his legs in.

 

"This is almost...becoming comical"

 

Says Quadros in reaction to Sakuraba actually dragging Royler around the ring by his fucking ankles!

 

I can only imagine what was going through Rickson's head at ringside. He must've been absolutely seething.

 

 

He doesn't look happy, does he?

 

It's late in the fight and Royler finally manages to drag Sakuraba to the ground. He's finally got the fight where he wants it and...

 

 

SAKURABA SUBMITS HIM WITH A BRUTAL KIMURA!!

 

Incredible stuff. With this win Sakuraba ended the long undefeated run the Gracie family were on. No Gracie had ever been officially beaten before this. And not only that, he did it with a submission hold!

 

And for his part, Royler never tapped! Look at how nasty that kimura is. And Royler wasn't going to tap. He was going to let his shit break to uphold the family's honour. Admirable or stupid? Either way the ref had seen enough and spared Royler from getting his shoulder ripped apart.

 

Rickson is going mental at the Pride officials and Royler's saying "I didn't tap" to a Sakuraba who looks like he couldn't give less of a fuck if he tried.

 

From there Sakuraba entered the 2000 Openweight Pride Grand Prix tournament. In the first round in January he defeated another Lion's Den fighter, Guy Mezger, setting up a quarter final against another member of the Gracie family.

 

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS ROYCE GRACIE

May 1st 2000 - Pride Grand Prix 2000 Quarter Finals

This time it'd be Royce. The most famous of the Gracie clan due to him being the main man in the first few UFC events. Before the Grand Prix started, Royce had been out of action for five years. His last fight was the awful second fight with Ken Shamrock at UFC V in 1995. So it was pretty big news when he came back to fight in Pride. He won a dull decision over Nobuhiko Takada in the opening round of the GP.

 

The rules were tweaked for this one. Each round would last 15 minutes, there would be no referee stoppages and there would be no time limit and no limit to the number of rounds they would fight. Basically, they would keep fighting until one man finished the other. Whether it took two minutes, two hours, two days or two fucking years. Barmy.

 

 

The Gracie Train. For no reason other than I always thought it made for a pretty cool visual. Especially with added Pride ramp.

 

Anyway, yeah, fuck am I watching all of this. We've all got lives to lead and spending 90 minutes watching one fight isn't high on my list of priorities. Even if it is a historic/iconic/legendary fight. Life's too short.

 

I have to talk about it a bit though. You can't discuss Sakuraba's career or the rivalry with the Gracies without mentioning its centrepiece and the most famous chapter of the story.

 

I have watched it in full once. The sheer length of the thing probably means I'll never watch it in its entirety again. But there's bits and pieces I love in there. In among long spells of inactivity, as you'd expect in a ninety bastard minute fight!.

 

The pre-fight video for this is great. Watch it...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=GOQAjhzM8Rs

 

Actually, you can see a noticable improvement in Pride's presentation as a whole for this tournament. It was the first time Pride was being seen on PPV in America so they went all out to tart the general look of their product up.

 

God of chin, Antonio Inoki is handing out flowers to the combatants this time. Helio is at ringside so you know this is some important shit. He still looks intense as fuck even though he's probably about 127 here.

 

Gary 'Big Daddy' Goodridge joins Quadros and Rutten on the headsets for this fight.

 

The battle begins and they are cutting a pretty fast pace initially. Royce is more aggressive than you might expect but Saku stays calm and is getting the better of it early, using Royce's own Gi against him and threatening with a kimura.

 

There's a bit I love here where Sakuraba is holding onto Royce's arm with his head poking through the ropes. And there's a camera shot of Sakuraba's face and he does this little grin to the camera like he's merrily walking his dog in the park on a summer's day. I love it and it's one of the first images that pops into my head when I hear Sakuraba's name mentioned...

 

 

No big deal. Only the biggest fight of your career. Love that.

 

The crowd is electric for this. It's such a slow paced fight now but the crowd is lapping it up. Every time Sakuraba tries a submission they erupt. Every time Royce tries a submission they gasp. Every time Sakuraba escapes a bad position they roar.

 

 

Round one ends and I think I'll go ahead and skip forward a bit.

 

Third round now so they're already 30 minutes in.

 

***Random thought - Royce must've been regretting wearing that fucking Gi. It's May, in a packed arena under hot lights and he's been fighting for half an hour. He must've been sweating his tits off and feeling like he was dying.

 

Fuck! Now Sakuraba's gone and accidentally kicked him in the bollocks. Poor cunt's having a nightmare.

 

Saku's piling it on in this round with the leg kicks and by the end of the third round it looks like it's starting to pay off.

 

SKIP...

 

Fifth round underway. Sixty minutes into the fight! Royce doesn't look too good here. He's stumbling forward and in the Gi he looks like an old man in his pyjamas looking for his false teeth.

 

Saku ends up in Royce's guard and he's throwing fucking Mongolian chops! Sweet. He's starting to really pull ahead now. Royce is fading badly.

 

 

Nothing happening now. Saku on top and Royce just holding him. We are SEVENTY FIVE minutes in though. I'll cut them some slack.

 

Sixth round!

 

Saku on top again. Neither are doing much but Royce is doing literally fuck all now but just trying to survive. Now Sakuraba's really starting to go to town with the leg kicks. He lands a few particularly rough ones and Royce is buckling. Now he's bleeding from the mouth. Safe to say he's not really enjoying this.

 

Saku drops him with punches and cracks him with ANOTHER leg kick as he gets up. Royce looks broken. He's about done. The camera cuts to a concerned looking Helio and Rorion Gracie at ringside. They're having a discussion and it appears they're considering THROWING IN THE TOWEL! This is pure pro wrestling drama. I'm all swept up in it and I already know the result! Fuck me.

 

As 'Mean' Gene would say..."Put that cigarette out"....no sorry, the other one - "You could cut the tension with a knife".

 

 

The round ends. Royce looks fucked. The crowd is going mad. The commentators are speculating how much more Royce can take. Helio is now up on the apron.

 

This is something else. Not the best fight you'll ever see but the drama and atmosphere is off the charts. Even 15 fucking years later.

 

"What's going on in the corner?" - Gary Goodridge

 

Seconds out for round 7!

 

But hang on a second...

 

 

THE GRACIES THROW IN THE TOWEL! SAKURABA WINS AGAIN.

 

That moment where the Gracies throw the towel in has to be one of the most memorable and iconic moments in MMA history. It almost seems worth sitting through 90 minutes to get the full context of that moment.

 

Needless to say, the crowd goes bloody bananas. Royce looks crushed. Nice moment with Sakuraba shaking Helio's hand after the fight.

 

FUCK! I'm exhausted after that and I've been sat on my arse.

 

I was going to do the Renzo and Ryan fights in here as well but I'm done for tonight. I'll do a second Sakuraba vs Gracies post sometime tomorrow or Monday.

Edited August 9, 2015 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Mauro Ranallo is the man. Anyone heard his boxing work with Showtime? Fucking brilliant.

[jimufctna24]

Mauro Ranallo is the man. Anyone heard his boxing work with Showtime? Fucking brilliant.

 

I have only heard him a few times, but he is indeed very good.

 

I remember the acclaim Mauro and Bas got for their commentary on Fedor vs Cro Cop. They reinforced that the fight was special by treating it very seriously. The jokes and light hearted quips were dropped, and their comments were kept formal. In short, they read the occasion and adapted to it.  In contrast, Mauro and Trigg snickering their way through Butterbean vs Sean O' Haire was also fitting. 

 

I rate Mauro and Quadros as the best play by play men in MMA history. I mark Goldberg down. as he has outstayed his welcome, and can be lazy. Whilst I don't find Anik offensive, I am not a fan of his. He lacks a certain charm and energy that Mauro has.

[wandshogun09]

I've never been much of a fan of Mauro at all. The only time I found him tolerable was when he was paired with Bas. They just had that chemistry together. Mauro's such a fucking nerd, he's like a real life Millhouse and the contrast between him and Bas for some reason just worked. They complemented each other well as total opposites. Bas was the badass with the great personality, Mauro was the straight laced play-by-play guy.

 

After Bas left, Mauro and Trigg were a rotten substitute. And when Mauro went to Strikeforce he became unbearable for me with the cheesy cliches and catchphrases, and especially the shoutiness of him. It was cool in Pride when he was genuinely in shock shouting "KEVIN RANDLEMAN JUST KNOCKED OUT MIRKO CRO COP!!" But when he was screaming all the time in Strikeforce it just annoyed me. Frank Shamrock was a terrible announcer too. When they were together in the booth I wanted to rip my ears off with pliers. Strikeforce commentary would've been completely unlistenable if it wasn't for Pat Miletich who was great.

 

I've seen bits of Mauro announcing boxing and stuff and he's not as bad as he was in Strikeforce but his voice just grates like fuck on me.

[jimufctna24]

Helwani did an extended interview with Mauro a few years ago. I felt he came across as a really nice guy. I think most agree that he was overbearing during his Strikeforce run. He was trying way too hard. 

 

I think most MMA play by play guys are a bit nerdy. Quadros and Anik are hardly the kings of cool. Gus Johnson was an exception, but he was panned by critics, and embarrassed himself on Sherdog radio (he welcomed criticism of his commentary, then got defensive when the hosts gave him some)

 

Out of the others. Franky Shams is one of my favourite fighters ever, but as a commentator I was not fussed either way. Miletich was the most acclaimed Strikeforce announcer. I understand why. Bill Goldberg was terrible, but I could never get annoyed with his musings, because he only did a few shows, and some of his comments were comedy gold. (like saying "if I was in there" about 127 times, and then adding "but let's not get into that during the 128th time he brought it up)

Edited August 9, 2015 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

Ranallo brings an energy rarely heard in boxing commentary. That Showtime team with Mauro, Paulie Malignaggi and Al Bernstein is the best in any combat sport for me.

[wandshogun09]

 

...PART 2

 

OK, after that career defining victory over Royce, Sakuraba advanced in the tournament and had to face Igor Vovchanchyn in the semi finals. That wouldn't have been a favourable matchup for Saku at the best of times due to Igor's weight advantage and lethal KO power. But Saku was doubly fucked here because he'd be fighting Igor LATER IN THE SAME DAY as the 90 minute Royce fight! Imagine fighting a 90 minute classic, winning and then they tell you, 'yeah, don't get relaxing too much mate, you've got Igor in a bit'. Fuck. That.

 

Sakuraba fought bravely but it was just too much to ask. He lasted the first 15 minute round and then they pulled him out. Mostly because of pure exhaustion. People often forget when they talk about Sakuraba vs Royce, that Sakuraba not only fought 90 minutes with Royce, he then fought another 15 with Igor the same night! He fought a total of 1 hour, 45 minutes in one night!

 

Anyway, after that setback, the Gracie rivalry rolled on...

 

 

I loved Pride's event posters.

 

Pride 10, in my opinion, was the first really great Pride show. It was in a huge arena with just under 40,000 people attending. And the card was stacked with great fights like Vovchanchyn vs Inoue, Wanderlei vs Mezger, Shamrock vs Fujita. And the main event...

 

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS RENZO GRACIE

August 27th 2000 - Pride 10

Don't know where Bas was but he's MIA for this one. And instead we have the team of Stephen Quadros and a very young looking Eddie Bravo doing the announcing.

 

They actually call Sakuraba "the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet" during the show opening. Which really, it's pretty hard to dispute that at this point in time when you consider the streak he was on. No-one else in the sport was doing what he was doing really. Except maybe Frank Shamrock. More on that later...

 

 

Right away Renzo looks more handy on the feet than Royler or Royce did against Sakuraba. Renzo and Ryan trained differently to Royce and Royler, they did a lot of No-Gi training and incorporated more striking into their game, so it's not that surprising that he's faring better than they did really. Doesn't land anything big but he just looks more natural there.

 

Renzo throws some hard leg kicks, maybe trying to get some revenge for the battering Saku gave Royler's and Royce's legs. Haven't seen this in years and they are exchanging on the feet more than I remember.

 

 

We're nearly ten minutes in and they've barely been on the canvas.

 

Saku's smiling on the stool between rounds. Renzo looks a bit tired as his brother Ryan towels him down.

 

Round two underway. Renzo charges with punches and Saku changes levels on him and hits a beautiful takedown. Now he's kicking at Renzo's legs on the ground like he loves to do. Get out of there Renzo!

 

Awesome cartwheel guard pass attempt from Sakuraba.

 

 

It didn't work but he gets style points for that from me.

 

Late in the round and Renzo has a waistlock from the back. SAKURABA SPINS OUT OF IT WITH A KIMURA! Outstanding reversal!

 

 

And he fucks Renzo's arm right up straight away. Again, like Royler, Renzo didn't tap but the ref was absolutely right to stop the fight.

 

To his credit, Renzo is all class post-fight. Even when Ryan tries to call out Saku, Renzo cuts him off and snatches the mic.

 

"Many people make excuses when they lose. I have only one - he was better than me tonight. I wish him all the best.

 

The only gift I can give to him is to say that he's the Japanese version of the Gracie family" - Renzo Gracie

 

The show should've ended on that note but Ryan still calls out Sakuraba after Renzo's nice little speech. Although he does it more respectfully than I suspect he was going to before Renzo said his piece.

 

What the fuck? Now Belfort is calling Sakuraba out for a rematch. Leave it, mate. Let the bastard have his moment for fuck's sake. What next, is Helio going to call him out as well?

 

"No doubt, Sakuraba is the number one fighter in the world" - Eddie Bravo

 

Renzo still looks back fondly on their first fight, despite the gruesome way it ended...

 

"That was the most pain I ever felt in my life, but I was happy I went through that, even though it hurt a lot. I was smiling the whole time. It was the moment I found out my mind was stronger than my body" - Renzo Gracie

 

For me, that was the best Sakuraba vs Gracie fight. Renzo was just more equipped and a little bit more well rounded than the other Gracies so he wasn't just dominated. It was a really good and competitive fight. And you don't get a much more dramatic finish than this had. The spinning kimura reversal and then the way the fight ended was incredible.

 

Sakuraba and Renzo would meet again but not until 2014. It wasn't under MMA rules though, they faced off in a grappling match at Metamoris 5. It ended in a draw.

 

 

After a mismatch win over Shannon Ritch, next up for Sakuraba was Renzo's younger brother, Ryan.

 

 

Ryan was the loose cannon of the Gracie family. He was a complete nutter. Everyone who knew the Gracies at this time agrees that Ryan was the bad boy of the family. Matt Serra told some stories on Rogan's podcast a while back, of his early training at Renzo's school and how nuts and intimidating Ryan was when they first met.

 

He also had more dangerous striking than the other Gracies, which he showed in his TKO win over Tokimitsu Ishizawa in his lone previous Pride fight before this.

 

 

KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS RYAN GRACIE

December 9th 2000 - Pride 12

Ryan was coming in with a shoulder injury here, so they agreed that the fight would be just one ten minute round.

 

 

Saku's died his hair half orange/half red for some reason.

 

"Sakuraba said that he did not train so hard, he had a lot of things to do" - Stephen Quadros

 

Like dying his hair.

 

Almost immediately Ryan gets Saku in a waistlock from the back...yeah, that's probably not a good idea if you look at how the Renzo fight ended. Nothing happens though.

 

Sakuraba with a neck crank attempt that had the crowd going nuts but Ryan survives. Saku is dominating him on the ground.

 

 

As the fight draws to a close, they end up tangled up on the floor and Saku is actually punching Ryan's arse. He doesn't give a fuck.

 

The bell goes for the end the round and Ryan's curled up holding his shoulder.

 

Saku clearly won this and the judges agree.

 

Sakuraba - 4

Gracies - 0

 

There actually were two more chapters (Royce rematch/Ralek Gracie) to the Sakuraba vs Gracie story, although years later. The final score was;

 

Sakuraba - 4

Gracies - 2

 

But fuck that. The proper rivalry to me was always the Royler, Royce, Renzo and Ryan fights between 1999 and 2000. That's when everyone was still in or near their prime and when the fights mattered most. And Sakuraba, 'The Gracie Hunter', clean sweeped them.

 

The one that should've happened after Ryan though, was Sakuraba vs Rickson.

 

How awesome would Sakuraba vs Rickson have been in 2000 or 2001, with Saku coming off this four Gracie wins? Whether it was money, political reasons, Rickson's age, whatever - it's a crime that fight never happened.

 

The closest they got to sharing the ring was this...

 

 

Flowers again?! What is it with Japan and flowers?

 

Actually, after Sakuraba beat Renzo at Pride 10, there was an interesting little exchange between Quadros and Bravo discussing potential fights for Saku...

 

Quadros: You know, there's a lot of great matchups for him. Wanderlei Silva has issued a challenge. There's a lot of fights out there. Frank Shamrock would be a tremendous fight. We're talking about fights that actually could happen.

 

There are other fights like maybe a Rickson Gracie fight. You know, that fight, so much money involved. I mean, it'd be hard to raise that money. But realistically, they could put together a Wanderlei Silva fight. They could even put together a fight with Ken Shamrock.

 

Bravo: The world wants to see Rickson Gracie vs Kazushi Sakuraba!

 

Quadros: Yeah. I think some of the world wants to see it but he's already beat three Gracies. What do they wanna see? He might win, he might lose but they wanna see him fight other guys too. I think Wanderlei might be his next fight. There's always new guys coming out. Rickson's 40 years old, it would be a great fight but, you know, it might be too high of a price tag on that fight.

 

So it didn't happen. Sakuraba vs Rickson and Frank Shamrock are the two fights I'm most gutted we didn't see.

 

Rickson seemed bitter, even years later, about Sakuraba's success against the Gracies. Here's a quote from a Rickson interview with Black Belt Magazine;

 

Why has Kazushi Sakuraba been so successful against Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylists?

 

Rickson Gracie: He doesn’t make many mistakes. He’s very calm … the kind of fighter who waits for you to make a mistake and then capitalizes on it. I saw fights where people kept pressure on him — like when he fought Kimo [Leopoldo] — and he got beat up pretty easily.

 

I saw fights where he didn’t really win — like with Royler [Gracie]. Sakuraba stayed outside and kicked Royler’s legs and punished him, and because of the weight difference, he got the advantage.

 

I saw him fight Royce [Gracie], and Royce had the advantage in the first rounds. And then he just got tired and could not keep the pressure on Sakuraba. He could not finish the fight before he got tired.

 

And I saw him fight Renzo [Gracie]: He was always very calm, waiting for Renzo to give him the space to create new options for himself.

 

Basically, Sakuraba’s not a destroyer; he’s not a guy who has a great expertise in anything. But he’s very smart and very tough. He’s not afraid of getting beat up, and he plays with the crowd and makes a mess in his opponent’s head.

 

How does a person acquire that kind of mindset? Could a fighter consciously develop his mind to use those same tricks?

 

Rickson Gracie: I think you can develop that kind of mind, but some people are born with it. It’s just that in every match Sakuraba has won, it was not a victory he could put over his shoulders [to display]. Of course, he deserved to win — he’s a tough opponent — but he never made the victory. A lot of people allowed him to slip through their fingers. Nobody who lost to him says, “That guy is really good; he kicked my butt.”

 

So you don’t see much technique in Kazushi Sakuraba’s fights?

 

Rickson Gracie: Of course he has technique, but I don’t see anything that impresses me. The mental aspect of his game is the most valuable possession he has.

 

Do you feel any pressure to fight Kazushi Sakuraba — to protect the Gracie name, if for no other reason?

 

Rickson Gracie: I don’t feel pressure to fight anybody because I don’t have a commitment to myself to prove anything or to my family to protect the name. The family will always be respected. I don’t think winning one more time or losing one more time will shake it. But in my heart, I really think Sakuraba deserves to get beat because it’s like he’s lucky all the time. He’s just very slippery.

Sakuraba was just lucky then. Very, very lucky. He was so lucky that he fucked up Royler AND Renzo with the same hold. And that time he was lucky for 90 minutes against Royce. He must be the luckiest bloke to ever live.

[jimufctna24]

Rickson was a bit of a myth. No doubt he was a great fighter for his time, but by retiring with an undefeated record, it did keep the Graice aura alive. Although, UFC 60 did wreck that aura on a commercial level, as most fans don't have a clue who Rickson is.

 

As much as I love Frank. I have to confess that Sakuraba would have probably beaten him if they would have met in 2000. Frank's peak as a fighter was his run before his first retirement from 1997-1999, which earned him the title of "best fighter of the 90's" from the Wrestling Observer. While Sakuraba peaked around 1999-2001, just after Frank retired.  In terms of peak, they just about missed each other.

 

Even if they met during their primes, I still think Sakuraba would have been a bad style match-up for Frank. Despite his smoking habits, Saku just kept going and going, I don't think Frank would have outlasted him. Given that Sakuraba was at least on par with Frank in terms of grappling, toughness and striking, it's hard to see where Frank would have an edge. Frank was the bigger man, but only very slightly.

 

This is still one of the best promos in MMA history though. 

 

[wandshogun09]

It still bothers me that we never got to see Kazushi Sakuraba vs Frank Shamrock. There's loads of fights throughout MMA history that I wish happened, but there are very few cases where it actually annoys me that we missed out on seeing them. Saku vs Frank is definitely one of them. Even more than either vs Rickson, for me at least.

 

Their primes were close enough, I think. And that only makes it all the more frustrating that it never happened. If you think, Sakuraba's best fight was arguably the Carlos Newton one in 1998. And the Renzo fight in 2000 is right up there as well for me. Frank's best fight was surely the Tito Ortiz fight in 1999. So right smack in the middle of Sakuraba's hot streak. If they'd met at any point between 1998 and 2000, we'd have seen the very best versions of each other facing off. Both were in tremendous form back then. Frank was in phenomenal shape and had the momentum and confidence of a champion. Sakuraba wasn't yet broken down physically and was banging out show stopping performances left and right and was the most innovative fighter on the planet at the time. I really think we missed out on a proper all-time classic technical masterpiece.

 

This was also at a time where promotional divides weren't so much an issue to getting fights made. In the late 90s - early 2000s it was no big deal for a UFC fighter to take a fight in Pride or vice versa. Again, that makes the fact that the fight slipped away even harder to swallow. It could've happened in the UFC or Pride. There was a three year window to make that fight when it;

 

a) Mattered most to MMA - I honestly believe they were the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport at the time.

b) Coincided with both guys' physical and performing peak.

 

Very rare you get both of those things in one fight. A three year window to get it made and they just watched it close for whatever reason.

 

Old Frank quote on Sakuraba;

 

Well, we had the same teacher. We have the same lineage. My thing at my height of learning was that I really wanted to kind of find my style of fighting and develop it,” Shamrock told FiveOuncesofPain.com in 2010. “He was the only other guy that had the same lineage of teachers and training and experience that I did. I felt like we were destined to meet; we just never did.”

 

I agree with your assessment of how the fight would've gone. I always felt like Sakuraba would just prove a bit too crafty for Frank. I don't think he'd have submitted him, but I think he'd have done enough to take a decision fairly convincingly. Would've been an amazing fight to watch though.

Edited August 10, 2015 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

it's pretty crazy that Rickson has kept that aura about him, his fighting career wasn't much of anything really but there's still chatter about how good he was. Joe Rogan still gushes over him on his podcast, maybe not so much as an MMA fighter, but as a jiu jitsu practictioner i think the general feeling is that Rickson is still probably the best.

 

His fighting days were done by the time i got into MMA but i used to feel the buzz from the 'comeback' chat that would happen pretty much all the time over on the sherdog boads. I'm kind of happy it didn't happen.

 

Of course his son Kron is involved in MMA now, he's only 1-0 and it's all pretty low-key, but i love that the Gracie name is still ticking over.

 

 

Rickson by armbar.

[jimufctna24]

And the Renzo fight in 2000 is right up there as well for me. 

If we are being fair and balanced. It's clear that Frank's fight with Renzo in 2007 outstripped it. That was a true epic. 

 

Rickson by armbar.

When I first started going on MMA forums in 2005, I recall this sentence coming up often. It took me ages to realise it was a punchline