Danny Hodge versus Billy Robinson

[goose 5]

Who would win in a submission wrestling match ?

[HomicideHenry]

Very difficult to say because I think Billy Robinson was actually bigger than Dan Hodge but clearly Dan Hodge had the greater pedigree having gone to the Olympics twice. I think if Dan Hodge existed today he easily would have become the UFC champion.

Really I think a more intriguing fight perhaps would have been Dan Hodge versus Karl Gotch, but Billy Robinson was the greatest professional wrestler to ever come out of Great Britain as far as I'm concerned. Or at least he is the greatest of the legitimate shooters who were in professional wrestling to come out of England.

[gilgamesh]

Very difficult to say because I think Billy Robinson was actually bigger than Dan Hodge but clearly Dan Hodge had the greater pedigree having gone to the Olympics twice. I think if Dan Hodge existed today he easily would have become the UFC champion.

Really I think a more intriguing fight perhaps would have been Dan Hodge versus Karl Gotch, but Billy Robinson was the greatest professional wrestler to ever come out of Great Britain as far as I'm concerned. Or at least he is the greatest of the legitimate shooters who were in professional wrestling to come out of England.

Glad you qualified that right at the end. Best Wrestler out of the U.K. I don't know, but I don't think there's any question he's the best SHOOTER out of the U.K.

It's a shame MMA wasn't around for these guys to compete in back in those days because you know a lot of these guys who were legitimate shooters and badasses would've jumped at the chance to compete in something like that.

[HomicideHenry]

Well I'm reminded of a video I saw not long ago concerning the history of MMA in Japan and how it originated in the professional wrestling world because of men like Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson.



Which reminds me of people like Bart Vale, who claimed to be this full contact shoot fighting champion in Japan when in reality he was a strong style professional wrestler and he fooled a lot of people in America into believing he was the real deal because he got a big write-up in Black Belt Magazine, etc.

Really the birth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu started because of professional wrestling where you had people like the Zybysko brothers having tours in South America and the younger brother (Wladeck) had a 20-minute draw with Helio Gracie, the father of Royce Gracie. And to this day in Brazil you have this rivalry between Jujitsu and Luta Livre (catch).

Not to mention the fact that Helio Gracie also had a match with Japan's Masahiko Kimura, the Judo champion, and he was also from the world of professional wrestling. I don't think people really truly realize just how many disciplines in MMA or really the roots of MMA are grounded in professional wrestling.

[Baby Face Finster]

Not really familiar with Danny Hodge but Billy Robinson was one of my favourite wrestlers. I remember they used to call him "The Man of 1000 Moves".

[HomicideHenry]

Not really familiar with Danny Hodge but Billy Robinson was one of my favourite wrestlers. I remember they used to call him "The Man of 1000 Moves".

Danny Hodge was an excellent amateur athlete in wrestling and boxing. After he competed in the Olympics twice, where I think he had a silver medal, he was talked into becoming a professional boxer because he had already been the Golden Gloves champion where they thought he was good enough to compete with Rocky Marciano in no time at all.

I think Hodge had like eight professional matches and he ended up fighting Nino Valdes in a pretty brutal shootout which he lost by stoppage due to cuts, and he became disenchanted with the sport because he felt the entire boxing game was crooked so he shifted into professional wrestling and in no time at all became the NWA Junior Heavyweight champion.

The irony is he could have competed both as a wrestler and a boxer in the 1960 Olympics, and I think that's part of the reason why he felt a lot of grievances for his professional boxing career. Needless to say he was legitimately one of the toughest men to ever be in professional wrestling.

I don't think the world of professional wrestling would see a man of his caliber be in the profession until Kurt Angle came along. I know years ago I found a picture of the Valdes boxing match and posted it on BoxRec but it seems they took it off of his bio for whatever reason.

[gilgamesh]

Not really familiar with Danny Hodge but Billy Robinson was one of my favourite wrestlers. I remember they used to call him "The Man of 1000 Moves".

Hodge was considered a legitimate badass, and one of the all time great Legitimate Wrestlers ever involved in Pro Wrestling.

Apparently even a lot of guys who came after him who were legitimate shooters idolized him. A great deal of the success he had in Pro Wrestling was primarily based on the fact that he had become such a Local Hero for his achievements in Real Wrestling.

[goose 5]

The highest award in college wrestling is the Hodge trophy.

[margaret thatcher]

winning an olympic medal in wrestling and fighting nino valdez in pro boxing is pretty bad arse, will be a huge 'what if' when it comes to danny and his mma potential

there is a russian guy who was an olympian in wrestling or judo and is also 6-1 in pro boxing, does mma too https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/789816