YMMV / Kiyoshi Tamura

• Badass Decay: Tamura's first fight against Minotauro Nogueira was an exciting grappling duel and one of the best fights of the year. Six years later, the rematch lasted two minutes and saw Tamura being curbstomped.
• Base-Breaking Character: Tamura's career in pro wrestling is liked enough by pundits for many to call him the best shoot-style wrestler ever, but his late performance in MMA is divisive - some think he was a good shooter who simply suffered from bad booking and lack of heart, while other think he never was that good to begin with and that his best victories are due to circunstances and not to skill.
• Broken Base:
  • Could Tamura have defeated Kazushi Sakuraba had they fought in their prime? The question is enough to open flame wars and pit a fandom versus the other. Most of neutral pundits will say Sakuraba would at least have got the decision against Tamura.
  • Similarly, his victory against Funaki is seen as controversial due to Funaki's known bad physical condition, even though Tamura was not a young, healthy fighter either (though he was healthier than the corpse-like Funaki). Never think the fight got finished before any of the two had time to be hindered by their possible injuries.
  • Was adequate his strategy against Gilbert Yvel, or he lost his mind and resorted to lay and pray when he should have gone to submit him?
• Fandom Rivalry: Against Kazushi Sakuraba's own, for obvious reasons.