How would Gotch and Hackenschmidt do in UFC today?

[Fluffernutter]

Would either of these guys hang with contenders in contemporary times?

 

[rocketrasslin18]

Conor in 1

 

[Geech]

If you plucked them out of history as they were back then, they would get destroyed. Not even gatekeepers most likely. Our knowledge about fitness and martial arts has changed too dramatically.

If they had the benefit of all the advanced knowledge and techniques, then who knows? They would have a shot at being competitive.

 

[Evil3mperor]

It’s kind of ironic that Hackenschmidt invented the bench press of all things. His chest is like the only non-huge thing about him.

I've worked out with him a couple of times. He's all arms.

 

[Echo_Bliss]

Gotch would be a beast, so would Lou Thesz or Ed Lewis.

Haskenschmidt... by the time he faced Gotch, he was recovering from injuries, not motivated as a fighter, and was training lazy. Before the rematch, he got injured. Early career, he would've been beast mode, later hit or miss.

Farmer Burns would've been a tough guy for anyone.

 

[Dan Torrance]

I'm more interested in how Referee Smith would do in todays landscape.

I think, that given, enough time and lessons in the unified rules that he'd do rather well actually.

 

[Fluffernutter]

Gotch would be a beast, so would Lou Thesz or Ed Lewis.

Haskenschmidt... by the time he faced Gotch, he was recovering from injuries, not motivated as a fighter, and was training lazy. Before the rematch, he got injured. Early career, he would've been beast mode, later hit or miss.

Farmer Burns would've been a tough guy for anyone.

If I remember correctly, Ed Lewis is the reason why wrestling morphed into 'rassling.

He was so unbeatable that he would throw a match at a county fair to a local guy. Then, he would demand a rematch the next week, where he would win. During the rematch, the crowds were large