Aggression vs. Control: Studying a Day of Sumo 

Bushozan also did a great job of pivoting quickly and staying slightly ahead of Kitanowaka attempting to escape around to the side. I'm really excited to see him settle into Makuuchi and continue improving.

@@Ganbarizer He seems like a very rare case of someone who was found out, whose opponents found a pretty solid way of beating him, and who has adapted to it and not been hog-tied into staying exactly the same because he ‘wants to show his brand of sumo’. I swear, the amount of rikishi who are found out and whose opponents have a huge upper hand on them because they refuse to change anything due to the fanatical adherence to the ‘my brand of sumo’ adage is stunning. It shows he wants to get better, he wants to win, and he wants to improve, which is commendable in my book.

I actually had some flashbacks to Magic when I thought up the idea and the title for it, and especially red vs. blue matchups.

It really is. Like, I don't want to take anything away from the defensive abilities of the guys who make these escapes. Not everyone can do it, especially when the openings aren't that big. But then you look at a match like Shishi's today and it's like, that. That is how you stay in front of a guy and not let him slip free.

yo never mind he just lost

Yeah, I've mentioned in other comments that Shishi's looked terrific, especially against Tokihayate. If Aonishiki's helped that much, it says a lot for what we might expect from both of them in the near future.

Heh, Abi is Abi all the time. That's just his game. I'm more focused on guys who might be able to change things.

This one's about the guys who slip. Hiradoumi's been on point with his game for... actually, he's been on point for a while, it's just that he wasn't quite big and strong enough for it to work at the highest levels before this year.

It's possible, but by the end he just looked beat. Fatigue is a thing, especially when you become one of the biggest guys in the division. I'm kind of astonished Oho weighs in a little bit heavier (180 kg vs. 178); Koto has always looked bigger to me.

@@sumospiffysbarandgrill Thats because Oho looks kinda proportionate and Koto rocks that very rare look of 3 sets of manboobs :^)

@@sumospiffysbarandgrill Since I just go you, whats your opinion on hoshoryu getting called back after his loss to Oho to bow properly (twice). It has always been kinda egregious how he "bowed" after matches, especially losses and I wonder how it even got to this point. He obviously has a very strong will to win and huge expectations weigh on him, but in my opinion this kind of behaviour will give the people in charge a reason not to promote him to Yokozuna on a equivalent performance because of lack of hinkakku (I believe its spelled like that). I kinda wonder what his master is doing too, he should really try go get him to behave like an Ozeki, much less a Yokozuna should. Whats your take?

@@maxmalten7749 This is kinda who he is. In terms of making yokozuna, I don't think this is going to make a difference unless he does it all the time. If he ever pulls together the wins and championships to merit yokozuna, he'll have no reason to be pissy towards his opponents, and as long as he's not acting this way at that time, I can't imagine they'd deny him if he meets the standard requirements.

He reportedly was still having issues from the injury at the end of July near the start of this tournament. It's sometimes hard to tell when injuries are affecting someone if there's no limp or obvious issues with a given part of their body.

@@sumospiffysbarandgrill True, would explain it

Ura's an obvious choice. So are Tobizaru and Midorifuji. If they didn't have pristine footwork, they wouldn't be where they are. Out of the bigger guys, Kotozakura might be too easy a pick, but he's an ozeki for a reason. Takayasu's movement is always amazing to me for a guy that big and round; I lost count long ago of the number of times I thought he was beat, then watched him swivel and take over a fight. It's hard to get to this level of the sport without at least pretty decent footwork, though. Gonoyama is currently showing what happens when you don't have it-he's 3-5, and all five losses have come from getting slapped down. When he's under control, his footwork is perfectly acceptable, but when athletes in any combat sport start to lose confidence in their approach, footwork is definitely something that can go south if it's only OK to begin with.