Ummmmm no. I have to disagree here. There are many different skill levels in any athletic endeavor or league. In the 90's would you be more impressed if a basketball team dominated the Chicago Bulls (Pippen, Jordan, et all) or if they dominated the Los Angeles Clippers? By your rationale they had to be on or near the same level to be in the competition right? They were both NBA teams right?
For the records and record books...Fedor beat Several MUTLIPLE time champions. Rickson did not. and that's on PAPER. There are several boxers in history who were undefeated heading into their bout with the current champ. 9 out of 10 times the ones that were undefeated fighting guys with losing records lost to the champ in dramatic fashion. Especially in bouts were the standing Champ had fought and defended the title already.
Sorry but there are always levels within levels of any athletic endeavor. so the Joe Smith Tito Ortiz comment won't stand. It does make a difference who the competition is and a win is not a win.
As a student of Ricksons when he had his bouts in Japan...the Japanese promoters had, for national pride purposes, pressured him to throw the fights. Rickson did not. So, after he beat the shoot-fighter he faced in a documented ring, the Japanese sent over their NUMBER ONE SHOOT FIGHTING CHAMP of the day to beat Rickson in his own school. Rickson had kept very tight ownership of the tape.
Rickson came to class one night, and for those of us too stubborn and curious to leave, showed us the tape. A mass of Japanese press had followed the shootfighter. Luis called Rickson at home about the problem; a mass of Japanese press in the studio with some showboat, and Rickson went down there to deal with it...in his pajamas. He kicked out all but one camera, and proceeded to have his bout with the guy. For making him get out of bed and for disturbing his neighbor businesses in the strip mall, Rickson beat the crap out of the guy before choking him out. He let the press back in the door, just as the guy was waking up...so they could plaster pictures of their bloodied hero all over their sports mags. Even though annoyed, Rickson said he had a lot of respect for the figter, as he never quit trying.
That guy wasn't a tomato can; he was sent to recover the pride of Japan, lost in the vale tudo matches to what the Japanese called, "a south american banana-eating monkey" (referencing the Gracie diet). It's not a documented win. And if you spent any time around Rickson back then, this kind of thing happened literally several times a week, with most of the comers having some titles to back up their right to take a shot at the champ. We had Pan Am and Olympic wrestling & judo medalists FROM AROUND THE WORLD, kickboxing and karate champs from around the globe, and titled representatives from pretty much any contact martial art or sport you can name. We even had guys talk smack, boast in the papers, and not show up...so that Rickson would eventually bring the fight to them, and make them walk away in front of a crowd.
Dennis Alexio -- back then, the number one full-contact kickboxing champ -- kept bragging he could KO Rickson. He also kept holding out for a purse. Rickson got tired of the smack talking (the Brazilians don't really have a cultural reference for saying something, and not meaning it for the sake of ring publicity...you talk stink, they think it's on), and travelled to an exhibition bout Alexio was doing in Hawaii. He stood at the entrance Alexio used to get into the ring, and waited for him to come out. Alexio was show-boating his win as he sarted for the exit, and saw Rickson waiting for him with that pissed look. Alexio made for a different exit.
What made Rickson great was not the number of documented wins against guys with records...there was no big MMA movement back then outside of Brazil, as it was only starting in the US and Japan, so there was no huge pool of opportunity then for guys to get records. Back then, you simply showed up, agreed on terms (i.e., no eyes), and went at it. In Brazil, he was already a legend...he had already beat most of the up-and-coming either rolling on the mat in training, or at seminars, or in challenge matches. So, when they had a vale tudo match there, the guys in the know already knew..."oh yeah, Rickson trained the guy who trained the guy in the blue trunks, and slapped the guy in the yellow trunks around like a little beyotch in a challenge match at the Rio school."
That's how Rickson did business. 400 documented matches? Of course not...no documents. But you gotta figure...2 classes a week, with some bozo showing up to call him out at each class = 104 bouts a year. And these are fights, without referees, rules, purses. Many nights had guys lined up waiting for a chance. And he took all comers. Some were tomato cans; many were champions in their own rights. And, if you knew Rickson, you would know he would never brag about it. Unlike the noisier brothers and cousins, Rickson keeps his cards pretty tight to his chest. He'll show up, kick everyone out, beat the guy, then leave. If you ask him about it later, he'll just say "The two guys who need to know what happened know", and leave it at that. That's where being beer drinking buddies with his inner-circle guys with copies of the tapes comes in handy...you see some famous MMA guy show up for an interview with a shiner when there was no fight, and find out later that it's from a Rickson "sparring" session from an insider...he shows you the tape. Then you go to Rickson to confirm (without telling him you already know), and he gets obtuse, evasive, and zen-like in his replies. That's how you know.
Will his official record ever be as good as Fedors? Nope. There weren't that many MMA events back then, and he agreed to stay out of competition in the states so his brothers could have a chance to build some fame and cash. Has he only beaten chumps? Well, before he "got" the importance of fighters deserving better purses than they were getting, he didn't turn anyone down. In fact he went to get them if he needed to, just to put the rumors to rest and make his point. That was how Rickson did business, and that is why e will, to me, always be the champ. Beause his records were from sidewalks, bars, beaches, picnics, challenges at seminars, and anywhere his detractors could find him, or he could find them.
Regards,
Dave...once a student of Rickson before most of you even heard of MMA, and still an admirer having been in the room for many challenge matches.
