What’s hilarious is that generally, I agree with the majority of what you’re saying, and am, too, a Japanese MMA fanboy.:lol: That still doesn’t change the fact that Kawajiri hasn’t beaten anyone recently worth beating, and shouldn’t have been anywhere near a title shot with just a victory over Thomson.
You can try to proclaim my ignorance all you want, and try to pretend that you have the high-road option, but unfortunately for you, that doesn’t make you more correct. I know all about the Dream LW, and was hyped as hell for it. I still think that it was one of the best gatherings of fighters of a certain weight class, ever. Kawajiri lost, though. In fact, the only people he beat are two relative nobodies. He had a fucking easy route to the semis, and I’m pretty sure we can both agree to that. Sure, anything can happen in MMA, but he was supposed to get as far as he did. Anyway, you remember who won that tournament? Fucking Joachim Hansen. Most people don’t even remember he exists now. IMO, he got a serious bye when he fought fucking Black Mamba to get back in after getting his ass beat by Alvarez, and then fought an exhausted Aoki (who showed later that that shit was a major fluke).
Anyway, my point is that the past is, well, the past. The best LWs were in Japan before, and the USA pretty much *did *only have BJ. No doubt. That doesn’t change the fact that it is the exact opposite now. It’s strictly opinion, and disregards the instability of MMA and the fact that “anything can happen at any time”, but IMO, in general the best Japan has to offer will not beat the best USA has to offer at this current time. There are tons of great LWs, and Kawajiri, IMO, just no longer shows up on that radar, as was recently shown, as was shown when Melendenz dominated him. He may still register as a “good” LW, but to raise him up nowadays as something special just seems silly, even before the Melendez fight.
If you don’t consider almost every Japanese fighter coming to America and getting grapplefucked repeatedly as an exposure, then I don’t know what to say to you. In general, there are significant flaws in their game. That is not to say they will not adapt (anyone that has been a fan pre-TUF generally agrees that there is an apparent ebb and flow to MMA), but right now, it is apparently not “their time”. Not every time someone says exposed, they mean “HAHAHA FUCKING LOSER OVERRATED BITCH”. Most of the time, but not every time. As of right now, though, you appear to be clinging to Kawajiri’s wins way back in the past, which… well, it’s simply not a good look. IMO, his last, truly significant win was against JZ, and even that is highly arguable.
RE: BJ - if you don’t think his legendary takedown defense is more questionable now that he is fighting the highest caliber of wrestlers (and getting thrown around on the regular), then I have to disagree with you. I still think he’s a good fighter, he’s just been exposed for his weaknesses against certain types of fighters. This is not an insult to BJ - this is an observation of what happened. Could the majority of LWs take down BJ? Fuck, no. Could the guys who are fighting for the belt take down BJ? Well, the answer to that is pretty obvious.
RE: Diaz: While I felt that Diaz would dominate him, the majority of the MMA world (idiots, granted) felt that if he stood with him, he would get dominated. Wasn’t quite the case, from what I’ve read. Like you, I feel that he was favorite for a reason, and that is because while I consider Diaz a great fighter, I also consider Daley an overrated, one-dimensional fighter. Now it appears that even that dimension is questionable. “Puncher’s chance” is seemingly apt.
edit: TL;DR: opinion in, opinion out. The past is not the present.
