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Is Japanese star Kazushi Sakuraba seriously considering a move to heavyweight? The Japanese press reports that this could be the case. Stemming from comments made earlier this last week, Sakuraba is entertaining the thought of getting up to 215lbs to enter the PRIDE Grand Prix.
The PRIDE middleweight star, who has had personal problems in the past, stated that his much publicized drinking problem has caught up to him as of late. Sakuraba also admitted that he has been eating excessively. At one point in his career, he was around 175lbs when he fought Royce Gracie.
Some think his jump in weight is due to burnout. In the span of less than one year, Sakuraba faced 7 opponents. It is highly doubtful, anyone on the 'A' level matched this frenetic pace in the last three to five years. His opponents included the likes of Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, Vanderlei Silva, Igor Vovchanchin, Guy Mezger and Royce.
Show after show, Sakuraba asked for a break but was the key drawing card for Pride. The crossover audience he brought from pro wrestling made Pride the most successful show of the last several decades in Japan.
In his first 14 MMA matches, he had only lost one. That was to Vovchanchin who outweighed him by nearly 50lbs.
He won his next three matches but then met up with Vanderlei Silva and Mirko Filipovic. His battles with these two left him a damaged eye-socket and a shoulder injury. Many feel he has never fully recovered from the injuries and intense battles over the last two years.
In the interview he claims to be 80% healthy and he 'hoped' to be 100% by fight time on 3/16/03. The interview came off as Sakuraba being relaxed and easy going, but this could be bad going against 'Elvis' Nino Schembri.
Schembri is a technical machine when it comes to ground fighting. His standup is the questionable factor, but he should be able to challenge Sakuraba on the ground, especially if Sak isn't at 100%.
There is also word that Sakuraba's trainer and mentor, Nobuhiko Takada, was asked to take a much larger roll in Pride. With all the negative press around the death of Nayoto Mora****a, DSE and Pride execs has asked him to become the matchmaker but Takada turned it down.
Is Japanese star Kazushi Sakuraba seriously considering a move to heavyweight? The Japanese press reports that this could be the case. Stemming from comments made earlier this last week, Sakuraba is entertaining the thought of getting up to 215lbs to enter the PRIDE Grand Prix.
The PRIDE middleweight star, who has had personal problems in the past, stated that his much publicized drinking problem has caught up to him as of late. Sakuraba also admitted that he has been eating excessively. At one point in his career, he was around 175lbs when he fought Royce Gracie.
Some think his jump in weight is due to burnout. In the span of less than one year, Sakuraba faced 7 opponents. It is highly doubtful, anyone on the 'A' level matched this frenetic pace in the last three to five years. His opponents included the likes of Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, Vanderlei Silva, Igor Vovchanchin, Guy Mezger and Royce.
Show after show, Sakuraba asked for a break but was the key drawing card for Pride. The crossover audience he brought from pro wrestling made Pride the most successful show of the last several decades in Japan.
In his first 14 MMA matches, he had only lost one. That was to Vovchanchin who outweighed him by nearly 50lbs.
He won his next three matches but then met up with Vanderlei Silva and Mirko Filipovic. His battles with these two left him a damaged eye-socket and a shoulder injury. Many feel he has never fully recovered from the injuries and intense battles over the last two years.
In the interview he claims to be 80% healthy and he 'hoped' to be 100% by fight time on 3/16/03. The interview came off as Sakuraba being relaxed and easy going, but this could be bad going against 'Elvis' Nino Schembri.
Schembri is a technical machine when it comes to ground fighting. His standup is the questionable factor, but he should be able to challenge Sakuraba on the ground, especially if Sak isn't at 100%.
There is also word that Sakuraba's trainer and mentor, Nobuhiko Takada, was asked to take a much larger roll in Pride. With all the negative press around the death of Nayoto Mora****a, DSE and Pride execs has asked him to become the matchmaker but Takada turned it down.
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