Sakuraba vs Kang Sept 17

Alexander

Alexander

Well-known member
Interesting match-up. I would love to see Saku win, but I think he's going to catch a beatdown. Anyone think Saku will prevail? I'm looking forward to seeing Kang vs Manhoef and Akiyama.
 
Tattooed76 said:
Rodja,
I can't go to the site because I am at work but it appears to be on Sherdog.

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Gothca, so it is one of these rumored to be official deals, kinda like the Chuck v Wandy fights over the past several years.
 
Rodja said:
Gothca, so it is one of these rumored to be official deals, kinda like the Chuck v Wandy fights over the past several years.
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Sounds like it might be until I hear something else. I don't usually follow Sherdog. I actually googled it since I am not blocked from there at work and it showed as one of the links.:thumbsup:
 
This is a fight that I really do not want to see. It is painfully obvious that Saku does not need to be fighting anymore. He is a warrior and a legend and I hate to see him get beaten down so much over the last 3-4 years. His fight with Arona makes me cringe at the mere though of the beating that Saku took.
 
I don't know if Kang really has anything to gain from beating Saku right now. Saku is falling apart physically faster than my 91 plymouth colt. He just lost to Royce and was beaten back to life by Smirnovas (sp?) after he was destroyed for most of the fight. The Pride GP runner-up to Sakuraba is sadly a step down in my opinion. This from a Saku fan to....
 
Rodja said:
This is a fight that I really do not want to see. It is painfully obvious that Saku does not need to be fighting anymore. He is a warrior and a legend and I hate to see him get beaten down so much over the last 3-4 years. His fight with Arona makes me cringe at the mere though of the beating that Saku took.
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I'm with you, but if the fight is gonna happen we can hope Saku has one last trick in his bag. I agree with the guy that drives the plymouth colt, Kang has very little to gain from this. There's some good guys for Kang to fight in K-1. I really want to see him fight Akiyama more than anyone else. I would take Akiyama in that fight too. Akiyama doesn't receive a lot of hype, but I've always been extremely impressed by him.
 
Alexander said:
I'm with you, but if the fight is gonna happen we can hope Saku has one last trick in his bag. I agree with the guy that drives the plymouth colt, Kang has very little to gain from this. There's some good guys for Kang to fight in K-1. I really want to see him fight Akiyama more than anyone else. I would take Akiyama in that fight too. Akiyama doesn't receive a lot of hype, but I've always been extremely impressed by him.
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Really? I believe that Kang could easily be the #1 185 lb guy in MMA. He should have won that fight with Misaki despite his injury and his blend of BJJ and KO power makes him dangerous for any fighter. The only MW that I could see being a bad match-up for him is Lindland.
 
Rodja said:
Really? I believe that Kang could easily be the #1 185 lb guy in MMA. He should have won that fight with Misaki despite his injury and his blend of BJJ and KO power makes him dangerous for any fighter. The only MW that I could see being a bad match-up for him is Lindland.
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Lets not forget Filho. Would be a tough match-up to, I wish they went at it in the Pride GP.

Also, I kind of think he might be a step lower in striking and perhaps BJJ (not so much though, maybe slight edge to Kang) to Anderson Silva. Standing up with that man can have serious consequences haha.
 
Biceps18 said:
Lets not forget Filho. Would be a tough match-up to, I wish they went at it in the Pride GP.

Also, I kind of think he might be a step lower in striking and perhaps BJJ (not so much though, maybe slight edge to Kang) to Anderson Silva. Standing up with that man can have serious consequences haha.
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Anderson's reach and footwork are what make him such a dynamic striker, but Kang is much quicker with his punches and has a phenomenal overhand right.
 
Rodja said:
Really? I believe that Kang could easily be the #1 185 lb guy in MMA. He should have won that fight with Misaki despite his injury and his blend of BJJ and KO power makes him dangerous for any fighter. The only MW that I could see being a bad match-up for him is Lindland.
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Yeah, Kang would definitely be the favorite in that fight. I am going out on a bit of a limb picking Akiyama if they were to fight. I don't see a lot of guys beating either Kang or Akiyama at 185. Akiyama is pretty well rounded, and him and Kang would match up nicely IMO. We'll bet on it, if it ever happens.
 
Rodja said:
Anderson's reach and footwork are what make him such a dynamic striker, but Kang is much quicker with his punches and has a phenomenal overhand right.
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Agreed, it would definitly be an interesting and most definitly an entertaining fight. I don't know who I would cheer for, maybe a fellow Canadian? lol
 
Biceps18 said:
Lets not forget Filho. Would be a tough match-up to, I wish they went at it in the Pride GP.

Also, I kind of think he might be a step lower in striking and perhaps BJJ (not so much though, maybe slight edge to Kang) to Anderson Silva. Standing up with that man can have serious consequences haha.
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+Hendo, even Franklin would make a nice fight, and my dark horse, Akiyama.
 
I agree with Rodja that Saku needs to hang em up. I think Kang would beat Franklin, but Hendo, Filho, Silva, Murray, and Stinky might give him a really tough fight. He could rise to #1 though. I haven't seen enough of Akiyama to rate him.

OT: I saw a vid of Randleman recently and he's tiny now like 190 or so.
 
jas123 said:
I agree with Rodja that Saku needs to hang em up. I think Kang would beat Franklin, but Hendo, Filho, Silva, Murray, and Stinky might give him a really tough fight. He could rise to #1 though. I haven't seen enough of Akiyama to rate him.

OT: I saw a vid of Randleman recently and he's tiny now like 190 or so.
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Link to that vid?
 
jas123 said:
I agree with Rodja that Saku needs to hang em up. I think Kang would beat Franklin, but Hendo, Filho, Silva, Murray, and Stinky might give him a really tough fight. He could rise to #1 though. I haven't seen enough of Akiyama to rate him.

OT: I saw a vid of Randleman recently and he's tiny now like 190 or so.
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You need to watch all of Akiyama's fights. He hasn't really fought anyone great, but he has huge potential. At the very least watch his fights with Manhoef and Smirnovas.
 
This fight bothers me. When guys get to be a certain age, they should only be able to fight guys in a comparable place. Sakuraba vs. Shamrock might be good. Sak/Gracie had the right idea to it; too bad it sucked. When they've been around that long, and been through so many battles, they should not be fighting guys who are as young and hungry as someone like Kang.
 
Beowulf said:
This fight bothers me. When guys get to be a certain age, they should only be able to fight guys in a comparable place. Sakuraba vs. Shamrock might be good. Sak/Gracie had the right idea to it; too bad it sucked. When they've been around that long, and been through so many battles, they should not be fighting guys who are as young and hungry as someone like Kang.
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Sakuraba already beat Ken. It would be interesting if there was a senior division, Ken, Saku, Coleman, Frye, Royce, Rickson, Severn, Tank, Kerr, etc. But even then we really don't need any of them taking anymore punishment.


Kang couldn't even finish Gono or beat Misaki so I doubt he would fare well with Anderson. Silva's striking is on another level entirely. But any of the match-ups already mentioned would be better than a fight with Sakuraba.
 
ersatz said:
Sakuraba already beat Ken. It would be interesting if there was a senior division, Ken, Saku, Coleman, Frye, Royce, Rickson, Severn, Tank, Kerr, etc. But even then we really don't need any of them taking anymore punishment.


Kang couldn't even finish Gono or beat Misaki so I doubt he would fare well with Anderson. Silva's striking is on another level entirely. But any of the match-ups already mentioned would be better than a fight with Sakuraba.
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I wouldn't say the fight with Misaki is a fair assessment.
 
I got my wish, Akiyama and Kang are fighting tomorrow night in the K-1 Hero's Korean Event. Good looking card overall.

Denis Kang vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
Dong Sik Yoon vs Fabio Silva
Taiei Kin vs Zelg Galesic
Ikushisa Minowa vs Min Soo Kim
Carlos Newton vs Shungo Oyama
Marcelo Garcia vs Dae Won Kim
Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs Tae Hyun Lee

Looking forward to seeing Garcia fight. Newton/Oyama should be pretty good. I'm standing by my pick earlier in this thread. Akiyama will beat Kang.
 
Alexander said:
I got my wish, Akiyama and Kang are fighting tomorrow night in the K-1 Hero's Korean Event. Good looking card overall.

Denis Kang vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
Dong Sik Yoon vs Fabio Silva
Taiei Kin vs Zelg Galesic
Ikushisa Minowa vs Min Soo Kim
Carlos Newton vs Shungo Oyama
Marcelo Garcia vs Dae Won Kim
Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs Tae Hyun Lee

Looking forward to seeing Garcia fight. Newton/Oyama should be pretty good. I'm standing by my pick earlier in this thread. Akiyama will beat Kang.
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I am really curious as to how Marcelo will adapt to MMA. I went to a seminar of his and his skills are absolutely amazing.
 
It is hard for me to ever cheer for Akiyama because of what he did against Saku. I personally do not care what supplements/drugs athletes use, but using a lubricant is going too far and is very disrespectful. I find it especially strange because Akiyama is also a grappler, so I would assume there would be mutual respect for his brethren.

I rolled with a guy one time who had never taken any BJJ and he also had a sh!t load of hairgel that eventually drenched him and it was extremely difficult to get any sort of grip on him. I do not think he did it intentionally, but I can empathize with Saku.
 
Yeah, I agree, it's complete BS to grease yourself. It's difficult to get an accurate read on the extent of greasing Akiyama accomplished. Either way it is BS, and did he really need to grease to beat Saku?

Apparently it was a brutal KO by Akiyama. Akiyama is unbelievably athletic and equally skilled. Hopefully K-1 can acquire some good 185 ers(187), otherwise Kang and Akiyama should just fight each other every 6 months.

Unfortunately Garcia got cut badly and the fight was stopped. He controlled most of the 1st round from the top on the ground. He got caught with some punches, shot in for the takedown, and got kneed, which caused the cut.

BTW, I have not seen the fights. Just what I read at sherdog by Bruce Leroy. Their are some pretty good pics of Akiyama KOing Kang.
 
Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Didn't see that coming.



My read on the greasing was that it wasn't really legit, but since people love Saku so much they favored his side. I didn't really follow it that closely, though. I didn't realize that Akiyama had such heavy hands.
 
whole Akiyama-Kang fight

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Great punch by Akiyama. It looked like he took a big right early in the fight and wasn't too phased.
 
Thanks for posting that, Jas. I love how a lot of people are saying Kang is way overrated, not trying to give any credit to Akiyama. These people are mostly from sherdog mind you. The truth is they're both very good fighters.
 
Akiyama looks very solid. Kang was probably winning and dictating the tempo before that, but Akiyama timed and planned that uppercut perfectly. You were joking about the Akiyama > Anderson comment in your log, right?
 
Yes, I don't see Akiyama being able to beat Anderson. I do think Akiyama could beat pretty much all the UFC MW's excluding Anderson.
 
Just making sure. You've been swinging around on both of their scrots, but as I suspected you have a tighter grip on the spiders. I'm not sure that I trust you after the Terry Martin debacle.
 
I have to wonder if he even trained for that fight with Leben. He looked like sh*t. I overhyped him for sure, but he's better than his performance in the Leben fight.
 
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