Yusuke or Drew, Drew or Yusuke?

[m4tt3r0x]

Who is the best OVERALL competitor of the current time, Yusuke Morimoto or Drew Drechsel? I think it's pretty close

Personally I believe Drew can match or slightly best Yusuke on most things, dominate on speed, but can't quite keep up on grip based obstacles. I'd have to give the edge to Drew though due to his sheer persistence.

[Paragus]

I'd put Drew slightly ahead because he's much better with speed and agility and can almost match Morimoto in upper body and grip strength.

In other words, Drew is more well-rounded and has a more extensive athletic background while Morimoto has more pure strength.

[Kane-Not-Kosugi]

Drew is hands down the faster Ninja, but Yusuke is definitely the stronger of the 2. Now that both have a win under their belts, it's a legit discussion.

At the end of the day I'm gonna go with Yusuke. Put them in an NvN race and Drew crushes him, but Yusuke definitely has more speed than we're giving him credit for. Often times, he's one or two spots behind Drew and Jun, so he's got that burst necessary. His grip strength and endurance are INSANE and to me he's not the best of our time, but also all time. It comes down to technique.

Both are extremely efficient on obstacles, whether it be brute strength or technical obstacles. I always thought Yusuke's technique on certain obstacles (like Flying Bar, CCH, and VLK) were just more efficient than Drew's. I also think Drew is better on lower body obstacles (Rolling Hill, Warped Wall, Wall Lift).

At the end of the day, they both seem pretty even but Yusuke can still do the Stage 1 and 2 obstacles Drew can do better than him. He does consistently enough to make Stage 3 and from there he proves he's in a league of his own. I'm curious to see if my mind changes after Sasuke 37 cuz Drew will likely make Stage 3 again and not make a careless mistake. But overall Yusuke imo has the skills necessary to get him farther in the course moreso than Drew, and since we can't compare body types or mass and whatnot, I'm going by who gets farther and that's Yusuke.

[DeAndre]

I agree that now this becomes a legitimate debate since both have wins under their belts.

First of all, Drew is the better well-rounded Ninja. He's never had issues with anything really lower body, Tire Run aside this year, he's never fallen on a balance obstacle, whereas if I saw Yusuke on an ANW Stage One, I wouldn't be so confident that he would clear something like the Diving Boards. Yusuke has consistently struggled on jumping obstacles - the Butterfly Wall, the Swing Surfer (though to be fair that thing is terrifying); this in part is probably due to his size, although a certain shorter competitor (Tyler Yamauchi) did clear the more difficult latter. Essentially, Yusuke's lower body is slightly lacking.

However, just like Yusuke has the barrier for that 4th on Stage Two, Drew has also had his weaknesses on Stage Three in Japan. He's never even gotten close to beating the Vertical Limit, it's just a roadblock for him. I feel like this is also ironically due to Drew's height - at 5'9, to be decently muscular enough you would be about 140+lbs - Drew is 160lbs. Massive for something like the Vertical Limit. His agility, and overall hang is good, but in terms of 'crazy strength' Drew does not have it.

In short, they're both extremely strong and powerful athletes - to be honest, they are about level for the best in terms of power endurance. Yusuke, parttaking in the more general-fitness-esque Sasuke would be better at that (things like the Tackle for instance), whereas Drew also has good general fitness but is more technically gifted (I doubt Yusuke can lache 20ft on the wingnuts). The aforementioned factors also play a part - Yusuke has better 'crazy grip' (although general grip Yusuke probably only has a small edge over Drew in); Drew has better lower body. Depends on which stages you want them.

[cuoiriail]

New to these boards and thanks to a friend, to Sasuke, watched 36 recently and I've seen clips of Morimoto and Drew in various Sasuke and ANW competitions (probably missed loads of their fails).

I think I'd have to edge Morimoto just for his sheer grip strength, it's not all about speed, and though he isn't as fast as Drew that upper body strength is more critical, especially in the later stages.

But both are total beasts though!