Kazushi Sakuraba returns!!!

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Paulo Filho at Bitetti Combat VI on Feburary 25th!!!

I though this diserved its own thread as oppose to just the usual calendar update. I think Sakuraba is a living legend, I would love more than anything for him to take out a former number 2 ranked Mw and make his way back into the rankings.

What are peoples thoughts on this? Sakuraba is hardly going to KO Filho, so will he really be able to Outpoint or Submitt a big powerfull BJJ BB like Filho? I cant see it happening, I dont know who Saku can win this one but Id give Michael Bispings life for him to win!

Can't see Sakuraba winning this one, nor can I see him climbing the rankings again, nice fight to watch though

Sakuraba is the number 1 legend of mma as far as i am concerned.

strange that this is taking place in Bitetti when DREAM would seem like a much more logical location considering they are both DREAM fighters and Saku's obvious appeal in japan.

as for the fight itself, i am confident that if anyone is a better striker its Sakuraba.
Saku's style is the scourge of BJJ practitioners everywhere.
well most of them. Arona; who has a somewhat similar style to Filho dominated Saku. (does anyone know the rules for bitetti btw?)

i predict Saku will win a boring, yet epic decision against a coked up Paulo.

if he wins he is back in the top 10 at 8 or 9 IMO.

not a bad style matchup as far as the top, top fighters go. Maia would be a more attainable challenge for Saku if he wanted to beat a top MW, but he has a good chance here.

I think Saku will get mauled unfortunately. Filho is a monster when he's in the right frame of mind and if he takes the Arona gameplan vs Saku he'll win this.

I just want Saku to fight Shamrock. That's the battle of the two biggest legends in MMA IMO.

"Sakuraba is the number 1 legend of mma as far as i am concerned"

You love you japanese MMA, you even sound Asian, that sentince sounds funny in a japanese accent!

Couldnt agree more mate, Fedor IMO is number 1 if he stays undefeated but Saku is number 2 in my books. Top 10 for sure if he wins id agree as high as 8 possibly, when an old legend starts winning it shows he is on form again, his past career backs up what he can do. Id love to see Saku single leg him and relentlessly hold on to anlimb for the sub! Filhos BJJ is top drawer though.

Dream would be far better to have it but maby he justs wants to stay Busy and get Paid drinking money!

I bet Frank Shamrock getting a win and Saku beating Filho would set up a real superfight. Shammy only looked Shot against Nick Diaz who I think its top 4 in his weight. Saku has the option to fight for Strikeforce as well, and Shammy could possible do it in Dream you'd assume. Id rather it in Dream unless Bravo would show it in SF!!

Beat me to the Superfight Anfield! Yeah id love to see it. But I see Filho realistically spending the fight in top position, prob taking Saku out early but lets really hope not, theres enough Filhos in MMA id kill to see Saku back on top!

i love mma.

japan just seem to do it best.
anyway Fedor is easily the best figther ever, Saku is arguably the most legendary, PRIDE flourished on his momentum in the earlier days.
probably being the most popular mma fighter ever helps too!

i just hope Filho shows up high as a kite and i will be backing saku.

ben of course i am british, but you know hoe people say you pick up mannerisms from people you spend alot of time with? well most of my university colleages are foreign and speak in broken english. which is unfortunate because i dont speak any other language.

What age are you Chesty?

21, what age do i come across?

I thought you were a lot older to be honest. I was thinking early 30's! haha!

Anfields5thKing wrote:I thought you were a lot older to be honest. I was thinking early 30's! haha!

wise beyond my years i guess

either way i have been watching mma since i was 16? i think

i remember watching pride videos in 2005 anyway.

since we are on the subject Anfield..

i seem to remember you saying you have 30+ years of martial arts experience, you have referred to multiple kids, owned some kind of business overseas?

im gonna say 38?

Close. 36. Started Karate at 5. Celebrating 31 years of not being very good at Karate this year! Haha!

Ye very exciting fight, its big fight for both guys. Filhio IMO has so far been a waste of potentiol but that boils down to one fight with Sonnen. This is his toughest opponent since his comeback so we will see if he can still reach that top level. For Saku, its a chance to show he still has it. I don't know, its a tough fight for Saku because I do think Filhio can be a top 5 MW easily.

Honestly, I don't know that much about Saku, when I entered MMA he was past his best and his wars had begain to take a toll on him. Ive seen quite a lot of his fights and I know he is probably the most popular MMA fighter of all time but not to sound ignorant but is he really the greatest MMA fighter of all time? Surely it has to be Fedor, if he retired right now I still think he would be the greatest. I could be wrong but what is it about Saku that makes him so special?

Sakuraba beat Royce Gracie in his prime. It was Gracies 1st popper loss. There was no time limit on the fight and to have a winner by KO or Sub. Saku beat Gracie and became the top p4p fighter in MMA.

He also beat Ryan Gracie, Ryan Gracie and Royler Gracie. Only 1 of the 4 gracies making it the distance with him.

He was probabally top p4p fighter untill he lost to 200+lbs Igor Vovchanchyn but it was an openweight tournament, were he had already beat Guy Mezger.

Seeing as Igor was considerabally bigger a lot of people rated him p4p best because the fight was stopped by Sakus corner, He went into the Wanderlei fight as P4p number 1 in the world I think.

In his career he also beat UFC champs Belfort, Randleman, Carlos Newton, Ken Shamrock and Hall of Famer and one of the all time greats Masakatsu Funaki
(who is the only man to beat Bas Rutten and both Shamrock Brothers)

He also beat Giant Marcus "Conan" Silveira to win UFC Japans Heavyweight tournament, The heavyweights were to be 200lbs+ Sakuraba entered the tournament with 0 MMA skills, realying on a mostly pro wrestling skillset. He weighed 180lbs or so but said he didnt understand the metric system!!! UFC allowed him to fight and he won the tournament!!!

Anyway Saku is a bad ass mofo and is the 2nd best ever IMO

"Sakuraba beat Royce Gracie in his prime"

Didn't Royce take a couple of serious shots in the nuts during the fight though? After 90mins I remember both of them blowing hard and looking like they couldn't really be bothered any more, and I think Royce was badly affected by the low blows. In my memory nobody really won the fight, it was a snoozefest. Although to be fair, Sak did manage to not be submitted by Gracie unlike everybody else.....

A Japanese mate of mine told me back in about 2005 that Sakuraba was so popular in Japan that people would literally throw themselves in front of him in the street and beg him to touch them. He could basically do whatever he wanted and either the public or the Yakuza would back him.

My favourite memory of the Gracie Hunter has to be his 'brutal' knockout of Ken Wayne Shamrock

Yeah the Gracie fight was a snoozefest, But I remember Saku getting the better of him, I think he was winning it... havnt seen it in ages and not chomping at the bit to watch it again!

Yeah KOing Shammy was great! I just read on Wikipedia that Igor actually outweighed him by 50 or so pounds, Sakuraba weighed 176lbs!! Seeing as he could have been a Welterweight You have to exucse him for taking losses to the likes of Crocop!

I loved were he threw Renzo in a Kimura breaking his arm! Just reading a bit more on Wikipedia, when Ryan Gracie poped his Shoulder Saku avoided going for the Injured arm!! REally sportsmanly guy! He diserves every bit of the fame he has in Japan.

Wikipedia confirms what I though that he was probabally top p4p in the world going into the Wanderlei fight as it says he was the FAvorite! I cant remember him dropping Wandy though (selective memory maby!!)

Fuck I forgot to mention he beat Rampage! He has a hell of a CV! Funaki and Gracie were HUGE wins though, and he beat Minowaman!

Wikipeida article on him is a decent read for anyone interested...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazushi_Sakuraba

you forgot the most impressive thing about the Igor fight, he was competitive for 15 minutes before his corner threw in the towel.
And this was THE SAME night as the 90 minute Royce fight!

also among the fighters with the biggest heart in mma.

how many other fighters have been KOd in the middle of a fight and come back to win?
(bit of fun: count how many times you would have stopped the fight)

manschesthair_utd wrote:also among the fighters with the biggest heart in mma.

how many other fighters have been KOd in the middle of a fight and come back to win?
(bit of fun: count how many times you would have stopped the fight)

The Zelg fight made my Big Bro a fan of his! Im sure he will like to see this! He really admired his tenacity going after a sub like that but this fight was nothing short of Heroic! (I hope the Japanese gave him some sort of Sparkiling huge trophy for this!) Dude gets KO'd then GnP out and comes back to start winning on the feet then tapps him!!! Chesty thanks for that post, never seen that fight! How the Fuck did I miss that one!!! What a fight!

On a Side note was the ref the biggest Saku fan, not just letting him get KO'd then calling a ropebreak but look how he jumps and chops Saku's opponents arm off the ropes when he is trying to stop a TD! Thats Passion!

Aasking a lot but there isnt a chance that The Voice and Bass did commentary on a version of it? dunno if either did Heros commentary!