Kazushi Sakuraba.. the gracie hunter

Charles Bronson

old timey gentleman
" ju jitsu is ok.. Bt professional wrestling is the best! " - Sakuraba

a collegiate wrestler who went to japanese professional wrestling

decided he would try to fight in PRIDE - everyone laughed "he will get killed!"


instead...

Sakuraba dismantled the Gracie legend, dismantled the invincible aura that jits had held for so long



along with Bas Rutten - my favorite MMA fighter of all time.. Sakuraba!!!

 
the first match between Sakuraba and a Gracie...


history was made


those whipping, low kicks cracking against the side of roylers' calves..

thats your fibula, the little bone that offers all the lateral stabilization in your legs

its pretty easily broken, watch dennis alexio vs stan longidinus (sp?) alexio gets chopped on the outside of his calf while attempting to check low kicks improperly - and his leg got all wonky when he put weight on it

kinda, umm gross!


surprised royler didn't suffer a similar incident, Saku was whipping those kicks in there very very hard

in all honesty, roller won my respect in that fight - he took a tremendous tremendous amount of abuse and excruciating pain to hang in there the way he did..

became the first and ONLY gracie i didn't hate - i respected him for his effort, fighting spirit and sportsmanship in the bouts with Saku

was so happy to see royce handed his arrogant ass by the calm and humble japan man

if you don't love Sakuraba after watching him bow to old man gracie at the end of that bout, just go ahead and get off my planet
 
Last edited:
Saku and Bas

along with the vale tudo fighter Pele..

my inspiration for crossing over to mma from muay thai

who remembers it being MAURICE SMITH (!!!!!) who exposed the Jits players vulnerability to a polished striker

that smith was one of the very first to actuality CHANGE THE GAME!!!!

maurice smith retired from thai boxing after being demolished in a devastating ko loss to peter aerts, then trained mma for around 8 months..

smith waltzed to victories over mark coleman, tank abbott, and the gracie heavyweight conan barberri - a mountain of a man with a physique that rivaled a body builder..

i never had a chance to meet Sakuraba.. Bas, Pele and Maurice were all fine gentleman.. was impressed with their intelligence and charisma - esp Bas, what a fucking riot that guy

intelligence and charisma, common among those top world class guys - you don't find many meatheads who can compete at the highest elves consistently - and stay there to make careers of it

thai boxers forced the ufc to mold their rules...

Jits guys were being too easily dominated, shook the whole sport to the foundations
 
Last edited:
Back
Top