There's a guy who mostly posts in Worldwide that analyzed Karelin.
The short of it is, his fight with Maeda (in Rings) may or may not have been a work, but either way it showed that Karelin had a lot of holes. His transition to MMA would not necessarily have been simple.
comparing Lesnar Wrestling with Karelin Wrestling is like comparing a baby to an adult in physical strength.Please. No one ever took this crapfest serious. Karelin went for fucking wrist control when he could ve killed Maeda. Karelin with 1 year of mma training would still need to proof he had a chin but if thats the case holy cow he would obliterate near everyone as soon as its grappling range. The guys isometric strenght was otherworldly. Never again someone even came close to his power. Just think about him having even a little above sub game. Someone like Lesnar is a joke compared to Karelin and Karelin was way tougher on the mental side.
I've watched a good bit of Karelin. I think any even half-decent striker would piece him up with ease. His hands looked slow and lumbering. That being said, in fairness we have to assume that he would at least work on his hands, if not focus on them. If he got even just solid striking defense, he could have been a real force.There's a guy who mostly posts in Worldwide that analyzed Karelin.
The short of it is, his fight with Maeda (in Rings) may or may not have been a work, but either way it showed that Karelin had a lot of holes. His transition to MMA would not necessarily have been simple.
Well seeing as how his prime fighting years would've been 1993-2000. I'd say he would've dominated the early UFC tournament days and early Pride depending on whichever Promotion he fought in. He would've destroyed Gracie. Fights with prime Shamrock, Severn, Coleman, Kerr, Frye Couture, Randelman and Taktarov would've been interesting. He was a better wrestler than all of them though. Karelin was an absolute beast. He most likely would have never fought under USADA so that's not really relevant.Lets assume this guy "passes" any USADA testing. Does he get starched? Does he dominate?
Thats kinda what I was going forcomparing Lesnar Wrestling with Karelin Wrestling is like comparing a baby to an adult in physical strength.
Karelin destroyed the best wrestlers in the world, he made them look helpless.
His fight with Maeda was a work. It was a worked strong style match which was what Maeda was known for. Karelin was paid a lot of money to do it. Karelin never had a real MMA fight. It's to bad that it wasn't a shoot. Maeda would've been a great first opponent for someone like Karelin. A winnable fight against someone with a name.There's a guy who mostly posts in Worldwide that analyzed Karelin.
The short of it is, his fight with Maeda (in Rings) may or may not have been a work, but either way it showed that Karelin had a lot of holes. His transition to MMA would not necessarily have been simple.
There's a guy who mostly posts in Worldwide that analyzed Karelin.
The short of it is, his fight with Maeda (in Rings) may or may not have been a work, but either way it showed that Karelin had a lot of holes. His transition to MMA would not necessarily have been simple.
I've watched a good bit of Karelin. I think any even half-decent striker would piece him up with ease. His hands looked slow and lumbering. That being said, in fairness we have to assume that he would at least work on his hands, if not focus on them. If he got even just solid striking defense, he could have been a real force.