I think Pat Smith would have won but it sure would have been fun to watch either way.
guard pull
olympic gold medalist in judo, shouldnt be hard for him to sub an over the hill tank
i always feel like, if its a fixed fight, it will be exciting
that was mostly boring
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I dont think itās going to work. He only got Shamrock down that way because he thought wanted to be on the ground with him
I can see Smith being the favorite.
But Hackney was tough and I wouldnāt count him out.
I agree it would be guaranteed excitement either way.
Perhaps. But I think Royce could have pulled it off.
A lot of fixed fights were boring. The idea there is no damage and your mindset here is easy to sell to the masses āyep, he sucks on the ground and was shotā, thatās exactly what they wanted back then. They were trying to build Yoshida. Why else even bring somebody who had just left pro wrestling a few years earlier in for this one.
No other tank fight ever looked that way either
Tank could literally stand up out of it if he wanted to
The way Shammy, Severn, and Akebono did? How about Kimo? Did any of them āliterally stand up out if it?ā
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I donāt know that Iāve ever heard Yoshida/Tank work speculation.
If I did it was brief.
Yoshida/Frye was more talked about.
Tank had lost 7/10 fights leading up to it.
Itās not like Yoshida needed Tank to put him over.
Tank losing to good fighters was normal for Tank.
Nothing against him it just is what it is.
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I just found out seconds ago that Dave beneteau fought Patrick Smith on Japan back then.. it was over quickly with Dave taking him down and pounding him out .. Beneteau is an early fighter that Iām surprised didnāt have more success or stick around longer.. he had the wrestling and boxing to do well but Oleg had his number
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Severn wanted to be on the ground, he took Royce down, Shamrock is an idiot and of course said before the fight āIām not getting choked out by a skinny guy in a karate giā, Akebone, just lol at that fight, probably a work, it looked like a work.
Kimo? Really? The hair pull thing went unnoticed to you?
Thereās
A huge difference between trying to win by top position vs just going fuck this, and standing up out of it, especially when you could throw Royce like a lawn dart
Yoshida was one of the if not the highest paid guy in Japan for a bit, they were doing the Japanese move of mixing worked fights and real fights with him, pancrase style. He was legit, but they were really trying to build a star and also fill fight cards.
The Tank fight didnāt even make sense otherwise. He wasnāt in Pride, he didnāt have another fight there, the matchup wasnāt anything special, it was a way to pay a big scary American to lose, just like Rampage vs Sakuraba, or Coleman vs Takada.
yoshida had good wrist control most of the fight (obviously he trained to avoid those hands)
lord knows the highest level judoko has crazy grip strength
bet tank had never felt wrist control like that
possible work, but i lean towards real
probably one of those fights where yoshida knew he had tank for 6 months, and tank got a call a week earlier to come get a paycheck
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The whole fight just looks so weird compared to other Tank fights, and the matchup was so random and out of nowhere.
Do you have any basis for this beyond your own speculation?
Pride had a lot of fights like that.
They had an appreciation for MMA history and the names involved.
Yoshida beat better fighters than Tank.
Hackney vs Jennum is mine.
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Yoshida was never a ground specialist.
Not one of them pulled out of Royceās guard. In fact, he beat them using it.
Iām not saying Tank wouldnāt land anything. He could. Like I said, he has a shot to land a huge blow if he does it early. Otherwise, Royce will either trip him or pull guard where Tank would have a difficult time fighting in it let alone pulling out of it.
Tanks fight in Pride was a dud .. I remember Renzo Gracie being in a few long and boring fights too.. then u had Kimo vs Severn which was dogshit
I remember pride match-makers wanted to set up Marco Ruas vs Tom Erickson .. Ruas accepted but Tom declined as he said he wouldnāt have enough time to train.. this would have been a great fight - hard to pick a winner .. gotta give it to Ruas for accepting a fight with that monster wrestler