Sakuraba & The Gracies

[crazyjoe380]

i'm watching rickson's highlights now...


he's no joke...

lol


he straight flipped over this guy..he fights well

[Rob B]

Bau

"I was talking about Rickson's status in NHB and comparing it to Wilts in the NBA

Both clearly dominated all their opponents back in the day..."

Well this whole thing came about when you stated that Wilt had no rivals just like Rickson. I pointed out that a rivalry is not 2 people matching each other point for point or techniques for technique. A rivalry is 2 oponents who bring out the absolute best in each other and force each other to compete at the highest level; just like Wilt/Rusell, Magic/Bird, Ali/Frazier. Sak could have provided that fo Rickson, win or lose he could have provided Rickson the rivalry that thrust him into the limelight world wide.

"yeah Rickson said that he came to Japan to prove his familys style is the best..... um.....how many years ago was this??

He said it during the JVT's and beat everyone ...
AND spread the word of GJJ to the whole of Japan....GJJ is VERY well known there now....because of him....

I think he proved his point..."

Like I said, honor and pride are attitudes you carry with you ALL OF THE TIME, not just when it's easy for you. There is not much honor in defeating up one dimentional fighters like Bud Smith and David Levicki. These fighters were no where near the best in the world and No, he did not prove his point.

"Many years later ...Sak comes along and beats his brothers
Why does Rickson have to fight him now? He's older and proved his point back in the day... yeah... he said some B. S about Sak having no aura....I'm sure it was just sour grapes cos Sak whupped his brothers."

In the fighting game you cannot get away with talking smack and not backing it up; someone will eventually call you on it. Once again Rickson was not retired; in fact he fought Funaki months after all of this happened. He was an active fighter, unlike your Wilt analogy which would have put him 20+ years removed from the game. The fighting community was asking him to Put up or Shut up and Rickson did not answer. To me that is a mark of a business man and not a great fighter; would Ali have turned that down, marciano?

"You talk about Gracie family pride like you ARE a Gracie!!
damn!...what does Rickson owe you?? Why should he fight cos a bunch of internet people thinks he should?"

I am talking about family Pride in general, Rickson doesn't owe me anything personally; he does however owe his family this fight. he was bestowed the title of family champion by his clan and he accepted it. You cannot have it both ways, if you accept all of the attention you also accept all of the responsibility that comes with it. These are the Gracies, fighting and family honor has been their entire lives. The world was looking at Rickson to avenge these losses as the family champion should. It looks like he didn't have the stomach for it.

"Ricksons fans (well his real fans) respect his descisions....
I would LOVE to see him fight Sak....but he wont......so be it!!!"

I would hope that real fans would be brave enough to tell Rickson when he messed up. No one wants a bunch of Yes men surrounding him. Rickson should have taken this fight, it dimished him as fighter when he didn't and i am not afraid to say it.

[BJJwarrior]

It comes down to this Rickson is very good, but what keeps him from being great is his lack of high quality competion. this might be because of his age, his skill, his bravado or for any other reason. Regardless of reason he still has NOT fought enough high quality people to be considered great.

Thats the bottom line

[Bau]

Rob...

Ugh.... whatever..... ok Rickson....no good fighter.... no good competition.....never fought anyone...doesn't love his family...

happy now???

dude...

just take this up with Rickson himself pleeeez......youre not afraid
to tell him what you think right??? so Do it!!! - cos who he HASNT fought reallly seems to bother you!

And who the hell are you to say what Rickson owes his family??? If you are related to him in any way... ok ...you have a right to be pissed off......but please dont gimme this
"he owes his family" shit if you're not even IN his family...
none of his family has expressed any disappointment in him ( well not publicly anyways!!)..so.. whatever!

As for me...I dont think he messed up.....I WOULD have liked to see him fight....but I'm not him.......he didn't fight SAk
and he has his reasons.....its not gonna make me lose respect for him and his ablility as a fighter....seen all his fights and I still think he's great...

O.k Rob.... I'm tired of giving Rickson props... you have your own opinion and I have mine....thats cool

nice um..."discussing" Rickson with you!!

and by the way..... Is Funaki really that bad a fighter???
I heard that he was supposed to be good...but after
Rickson won....he suddenly sucked...(hmmmm....)
I mean really...I wanna know... people WERE saying the Funaki would beat Rickson right??? Where did he rank in the fight world??? Anyone with good knowledge of Funaki??

[ramaaiki]

It seems things have developed to a question of honor.

Honor is Courage, humility and Wisdom.

It seems Rickson most show his honor by doing one of two things.

Show humility and admit that he is past the point in his career where he can compete with a fighter of Sakaruba's stature.

or

Show courage and accept a fight with Sakaruba.

Rickson must show the wisdom to choose correctly.

What he has shown is pride. Pride is not a virtue of honor.

In fact it has the protential to make a man either a fool or coward.


The Gracie family is already historic.

Who shall continue?

[Rob B]

"just take this up with Rickson himself pleeeez......youre not afraid
to tell him what you think right??? so Do it!!! - cos who he HASNT fought reallly seems to bother you!"

When this was all happening I emailed his website and didn't get a response. If I'm ever in his part of the country I will drop by and check his school out. I stated this before, maybe you didn't read it???

"And who the hell are you to say what Rickson owes his family??? If you are related to him in any way... ok ...you have a right to be pissed off......but please dont gimme this
"he owes his family" shit if you're not even IN his family...
none of his family has expressed any disappointment in him ( well not publicly anyways!!)..so.. whatever!"

Rickson is a public figure now; his family has made millions off of people like me. People who have attended their seminars, paid for classes and bought their products. They are an open target for comments and criticism, just like any other celebrity who has made money from the public.

Rickson is the Alpha Male of the Gracie clan, if he wants all of the attention associated with that position than he should accept the responsibility that goes along with it. If he's retired and steps down as the family champion then fine, he should say it and give Sakuraba his due instead of thue EXCUSES he put forth.

"As for me...I dont think he messed up.....I WOULD have liked to see him fight....but I'm not him.......he didn't fight SAk
and he has his reasons.....its not gonna make me lose respect for him and his ablility as a fighter....seen all his fights and I still think he's great..."

I am not talking about his skill level; I've seen his tapes and he could very well have the finest expression of Jui-Jitsu I've ever seen. I'm going to state this again for you,

SKILL LEVEL DOES NOT EQUATE TO GREATNESS

Greatness is much more than that; it's skill level, heart and courage.

[Rob B]

ramaaki,

Great points, you said it far more eloquently than I. I hope you have enough info for your article now.

[Bau]

"Skill level does not equate to greatness"...DUH!!!

I still think he's great....and I have my reasons

you dont think he is....and you have yours...

OK???? its clear we both wont change our opinions....