Quote:
Originally Posted by georgejjr
Maybe, but its a pretty empty claim unless you've actually been there. The UFC tends to throw around terms like world class freely. Karo is called a world class judoka ... the best he ever did in judo was 3rd in the US, in a division where the US has no one ranked in the top 25. It means Karo probably wasn't in the top 200 in judo in his weight class - is that world class?
Same with most of the wrestlers in the UFC. Hughes simply wouldn't have made the US olympic team (and the US isn't even the best wrestling country in the world), GSP might make the Canadian olympic team if he trained wrestling full time for three or four years (he trains with the Canadian olympic team, and they say he's got the talent, just needs more practice). Randy's word is a lot more valuable, except that doing well in practice is much different than doing well in actual competition ... any athlete in any sport will tell you that. Coaches get headaches from the guys who look good until they actually get into a game situation.
Its a lot like people saying Anderson Silva has world class boxing skills - it might even be true (though I doubt it), but people aren't going to take it seriously unless he boxes someone who is a known world class boxer (say his fight with Roy Jones Jr goes through).
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the thing you have to keep in mind is that elite american wrestlers don't necessarily take up international styles (freestyle, greco), often practicing them in the off-season in high school or college.
i'd say an all-american or NCAA champion is pretty much world-class. how would a freestyle wrestler adapt to the american style? who knows?
IMO, greco is less competitive than freestyle given the smaller circles of competitors.
two greco medalists: Matt Lindland didn't even place in NCAAs in his best season (yet took a silver in the olympics). Couture took second place in NCAAs (yet medaled internationally and was an olympic alternate).