How did Sakuraba beat Rampage, Vitor if it took him 1 hour to beat Royce?

It was, at the time. It had Tito Ortiz, Rampage Jackson and a host of other well-respected guys. It was a major gym at the time. I would also argue he--that is, Rampage--was more well-rounded in Pride than he later became, unfortunately. Because for whatever reason, Jackson abandoned wrestling and grappling, it seems. His wrestling and ground control used to be a major threat. Then he decided to become a one-dimensional slugger for whatever reason. Maybe because he figured that was more marketable in America...? I think maybe just lost interest the other stuff.
He was waaay more well rounded when he was with Oyama.
He felt in love with his boxing(under Juanito?)and I think,he had back problems later,allegedly,because Rampage used that as a reason when people questioned him about his lack of Slampages in his UFC run.
 
Rampage and Vitor were guys that are every bit or nearly as good as today's best fighters at MW, LHW, and HW.

Matt Hughes could not even beat today's gatekeeper WWs and he steamrolled Royce with a 10-6 in like 3 minutes.

Sakuraba fought him for over like 1 hour.

How did a guy that went 1 hour with and still couldn't finish a UFC 1 guy manage to beat Rampage and Vitor?

Styles make fights is everything you need to know.
There was an incredible strenght gap between Hughes and Royce and a different ruleset, this is the reason the fight was so short.
 
Rampage and Vitor were guys that are every bit or nearly as good as today's best fighters at MW, LHW, and HW.

Matt Hughes could not even beat today's gatekeeper WWs and he steamrolled Royce with a 10-6 in like 3 minutes.

Sakuraba fought him for over like 1 hour.

How did a guy that went 1 hour with and still couldn't finish a UFC 1 guy manage to beat Rampage and Vitor?

you’re over looking primes. Hughes is somebody I’m not a fan of but him beating Gracie was a borderline “duh” thing, look at the odds. It’s circumstance. Time and place.

I think Rampage would have dominated Saku at any point of his career outside of KOTC>

huge Kazushi fan, btw.
 
Kidnappin´was later.

Huas was realistically the 1st,tho... SAKU G. belongs to the modern era, not really a pioneer.

Ruas the first to do it all? How so?
Or you mean especifically the first to display it in UFC?
 
News flash, Royce was way better than all the Gracie haters want to pretend. How did Royce beat Ken Shamrock in a minute without breaking a sweat when Bas Rutten lost to the same Ken Shamrock twice. Because Royce is extremely underrated. How did Wanderlei Silva barely get by Yoshida, twice, when Royce beat Yoshida up without much trouble? Because Royce is extremely underrated by Gracie haters.

Royce wasn't some physical specimen, and didn't have much punching power, but he had great technique. He only lost 2 fights in his entire career, and he fought name guy after name guy. It took Sakuraba 1.5 hours to stop him with low kicks, and he lost to prime Hughes when Royce was about 40 years old. That was in the middle of when Hughes also finished GSP and BJ Penn. In fact, GSP with all this modern everything and young age only lasted 20 SECONDS longer than 40 year old Royce did. Royce also wasn't training with good partner like Rickson anymore like he was earlier in his career.

People can hate the Gracies all they want, but it's pretty stupid to ignore what they teach when it can turn a guy with the punching power of my grandmother into someone TOUGHER and BETTER than guys like Rampage, Yoshida, Vitor, etc.
 
Royce never did enough in fights to gas out like Rampage and Vitor did against Saku
 
Modern talent is overrated, just like the new breed was overrated.
Maybe modern talent is that good, it's just that Rampage and Vitor way back then weren't the Boxing Slamming Rampage and the TRTor we know now?
 
was gonna say that...I loved Saku but suspicious of some of his wins, being a Japanese icon fighting in Japan agaist "gaijin" fighters.

Get stuffed you should be crucified for even suggesting such a thing. Seriously the very thought of Saku being part of a thrown fight is laughable.
 
If Sakuraba had the same talent and came up through the UFC, he might just be the GOAT. I think he could have made 170 without much of a problem I think, yet in Japan they had him fighting roided up heavyweights.

The Japanese are way too macho for their own good.

So sad.
 
He was waaay more well rounded when he was with Oyama.
He felt in love with his boxing(under Juanito?)and I think,he had back problems later,allegedly,because Rampage used that as a reason when people questioned him about his lack of Slampages in his UFC run.
I could believe the back problems thing, but either way, the direction he took is disappointing. I remember when he said he was training with Karo Parisyan, I got excited, thinking he'd perhaps started to care about something other than his boxing again. But I don't know if that went anywhere.
 
The yakuza controlled Pride FC and everybody was using steroids. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those Pride fights were fixed.
 
Styles make fights is everything you need to know.
There was an incredible strenght gap between Hughes and Royce and a different ruleset, this is the reason the fight was so short.
Not that complex, poor Hoyce was 40 yrs old.

It iz what it iz.


was gonna say that...I loved Saku but suspicious of some of his wins, being a Japanese icon fighting in Japan agaist "gaijin" fighters.

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/the-day-sakakibara-asked-chuteboxe-to-kill-saku-39.3955161/


Ruas the first to do it all? How so?
Or you mean especifically the first to display it in UFC?

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...mma´s-dark-ages.3874607/page-5#post-151624913
 
If Sakuraba had the same talent and came up through the UFC, he might just be the GOAT. I think he could have made 170 without much of a problem I think, yet in Japan they had him fighting roided up heavyweights.

The Japanese are way too macho for their own good.

So sad.
He came in for the fight with Royce at 176 and must have weighed significantly less than that when he fought Igor. The crappiest part of Pride's treatment, IMO, isn't the open-weight fights they made Saku fight but the fact that they left him out of the 183-pound GP's they put on. As I said elsewhere in this thread, that was apparently the final nail in the coffin for Sakuraba with Pride.
 
Looking back the idea of a one night tourney where you have to fight 3 times in one night,but all fights have no time limit,is really stupid and ridiculous.
 
Rampage came at saku w everything he had. Saku had to win or die.

Because of the gi and the no time limit,saku had to be more careful.
 
That's just how fights work. You're trying to do some MMA math that just won't add up.
 
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