Fedor Emelianenko defeated...
I had thought that for the past few years Fedor had been getting by on name recognition as he beat the hell out of the likes of big hitters like Hong Man Choi, (the former) Tim Sylvia, newbie Brett Rogers and the regressed (and old) Andrei Arlovski. Howeva...the fanboy brigade of Fedor supporters continued to identify the "Last Emperor" as the be all and end all of heavyweights in the world despite all evidence to the contrary.
Well, in an alleged upset Fabricio Werdum tapped him out tonight. Nice to see Gus Johnson and Mauro Ranallo look like they wet their pants following the result. I am wondering how Fedor's fanboy brigade plan on rationalizing this out. Dana White is currently giddy.
What's to rationalize? The man is getting old, and it was a hell of a run. Anyone who really knows the sport recognizes that he's easily the best fighter pound-for-pound in the history of the sport. Hard to believe he finally has a legitimate loss (as the loss in RINGS was due in part to his inability to proceed in that particular tournament), but he's human.
That seems like a pretty broad statement. Fedor was (is) great, a top heavyweight. But:
1) He fights in the weakest division in MMA.
2) He hasn't fought anybody decent in their prime since 2005. Dodged (his fault or not) Couture and Lesnar.
3) We live in a world with Penn, St. Pierre, and that douchebag Silva. That's what best P4P looks like, not a perpetually out of shape 230 pounder.
Fedor is one of the best heavyweights ever, and there's a very strong argument he is the best heavyweight ever (I'd agree). But best pound for pound ever??? Heard of Gracie, or any of the above guys???
With the exception to Penn, I completly agree.
I'm a BJ believer, and I think when he's motivated he's beyond the best at 155, he's the most talented guy fighting. But I mean, his results suggest a pretty doggone strong counter argument.
See that's the thing with BJ, sometimes he's all there and looks unstoppable others not so much. So to me, the best P4P is somone who always brings it, and always whoops ass. I dont know who was fighting against Frankie but it sure as hell did not look like Penn.
4) It is all soap opera and no one really cares.
do you realize mma isn't wwe?
Out of curiosity, what makes Anderson Silva a "douchebag" besides the media getting into your head...? As far as I'm concerned, he's the most entertaining fighter in MMA today. So what if he "showboats"? So does Evans, Hughes, Rampage, hell, even Forrest showboats. No one can beat Silva, and he proves it time and time again. Saying Silva showboats is like saying Desmond showboats. They are the best in the world at their time and they were showing it. Let them enjoy it.
BTW, Gracie is NOT the best P4P ever. Just because he's an originator doesn't make him the best. That's like saying Ken Shamrock is the best LW of all time.
Evans, Hughes, Rampage, and Griffin have never done anything approaching what Silva has done when it comes to "showboating."
Evans grabbing his nuts then blowing Forrest a kiss doesn't come close...? Umm... Ok...
Hughes strutting, Forrest's little chin punch, Rampage's jumping is on the same level. It's not Silva's fault that Maia couldn't KO his ass when he was touching the mat with both of his hands.
Silva does it all the time, constantly throughout a fight. Come on... Are you really going to argue that Forrest Griffin or Matt Hughes showboats as much as Anderson Silva?
I actually like Silva, I think he's the most dangerous guy in the sport, but he's a douchebag. There's clowning and taunting (see Roy Jones Jr. and Rashad) and then there's actively disrespecting your opponent, the fans, and MMA in general.
You don't have a duty to take risks when you're winning a fight, but you can't be surprised when you'd rather dance like a jackass for 5 rounds than bang and people think you're a dick.
There is a difference between disrespect or a healthy dislike for your opponents and Anderson Silva's behavior which borders between childish and offensive. Certainly, he is a great talent but after watching his fight with Demian Maia he confirmed that his talent level is more than matched by his status as a complete a-hole.
He does not fight in the "weakest division in MMA" -- such a statement is disingenuous to the nature of the sport. Strikeforce is weak, but there are plenty of smaller promotions that are weaker. It's far more accurate to say that no, at present, he no longer fights in the strongest federation of fighters, because yes, at one point, he fought with PRIDE and handily defeated the top competition in that promotion.
You'll get no argument out of me that after PRIDE folded, he hasn't fought as strong of competition as he used to. But with what he has done over time and how dominant he was in his prime, I have no problem standing behind Fedor as the greatest MMA fighter of all-time. Yes, pound-for-pound. What does appearing to be out-of-shape have to do with it? Fedor has always had a thick build, but he certainly is not out-of-shape. P4P means sheer dominance, not looking like you could model underwear. Fedor was dominant, and for a long time. That's P4P. Sure, the Gracies were great in their prime, but let's not forget that UFC was essentially an infomercial for Gracie BJJ at its inception. Let's not pretend that the cards weren't stacked in their favor.
Strikeforce is weaker than UFC by some margin and has mediocre heavyweights, but that's irrelevant, since nobody would call a "company" a "division." The heavyweight division is the weakest in the sport in all companies. Guys like Cain, Carwin, and Lesnar (and JDS) are changing that.
I'm not discounting Fedor's Pride career, when he was plainly the best heavyweight on earth (you'll note I said that above). P4P, however, means being dominant against top competition for some period of time. That time for Fedor ended five years ago. It also means, literally, for each pound you weigh, you're the best. Gracie was stopping guys no problem who doubled his weight. Silva can probably beat everybody at three weight classes - that's unreal. While Silva, GSP, and Gracie are alive, considering Fedor the best P4P ever is ridiculous based on any measurement other than "I love Fedor."
And in all honesty, Fedor is still a young guy in what should be his prime. Beating Big Nog and Mark Coleman before age 27, then doing nothing meaningful whatsoever, makes you the best P4P all-time? Only a completely biased fan could believe that.
If only a "completely biased fan" could believe that, then I suppose that you must think there is some kind of media driven-conspiracy to crown Fedor as such, since most major MMA publications seem to share that opinion about Fedor.
His recent domination of the likes of Mark Hunt, Hong Man Choi, Tim Sylvia, Arlovski and Rogers speak to his lack of desire to test himself against the top guys. Let's face it, Fedor protected his "legacy" and it finally caught up to him against, at best, a B list UFC fighter.
Fedor ran to Strikeforce secure in the knowledge he wouldn't have his "legacy" broken like so many former PRIDE champions. I hate to admit it, but that idiot Brock Lesnar was right about Fedor...the greatest champion of all time "in his own little world".
I think the best pound for pound fighters might be trying to find better fights than Hong Man Choi...some legend.
While I do not agree he is a B list fighter, he has only fought B list fighters for the past several years. I believe he's on record for saying that essentially, he has nothing to prove fighting what people agree are better fighters in the UFC but he said he wanted to retire undefeated and obviously his best chance at that was fighting in Strikeforce with UFC castoffs.
I was meaning that after getting cracked by Dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum was cut by the UFC making him basically a B List heavyweight to the UFC. Fedor, obviously, would have come in for the Cro Cop treatment were he to ever appear in the UFC...A list all the way.
As for Fedor, it's sad to see such an accompolished fighter seek to protect his legacy fighting mostly cans for half a decade. Just a thought, but wasn't the Ranallo/Johnson announcing team behind the desk for the Kimbo Slice/Seth Petruzelli (former giant upset of all time) fight?
I see a trend here.
I have been arguing with my friend all day about how I thought Fedor would lose and he just told me how stupid I was. There are just to many ways to lose an MMA fight, was only a matter of time before it happened. When Fedor jumped into his guard I just stood up and said it was over, you don't just jump into a world renowned BJJ guy's guard and expect nothing to happen.
Looking at the video of the fight, that was an absolutely stupid decision by Emelianenko. Great idea to dive headfirst and chin up into Werdum's legs. Werdum didn't even have to work to get that triangle choke set up.
Best HW ever. This is not an opinion, but a fact. People sometimes mistake that statement to mean best current HW.
Its debatable whether he still is the best current HW. IMO he beats Werdum 9 out of 10 times. Does anyone think Frankie Edgar is the best current LW in the world. No. Its still Penn, who like Fedor got caught on a bad night. Another loss and I`ll listen to him not being best current HW.
Who is there for him to fight in Strikeforce that anyone cares about? Nobody much cared about the Werdum fight excepting the apparently surprising result.
At the end of the day Fedor hasn't fought anyone of significance in the division in about five years; if ducking the best competition makes you great then Fedor is the greatest ever.
he is the best current HW, just that he`s in the discussion with maybe 3 other guys. It could easily be argued that he is still the best, though definitly with some more arguments for the neysayers.
Im with you here, like it was said before, if this fight were to happen 10 times Fedor wins 9.
anyone know how to fix my laptop keyboard so that I can use question marks, backslash and apostrophe`sÉ
It was only a matter of time. It's a lot easier to stretch this aura of invincibility out by fighting once every 10 months for the last few years against questionable competition. He's a great champion, but he would've eaten this first loss years ago and moved on if he would've just joined UFC when everybody else did.
Took me about 4 posts to figure out what sport everyone was talking about, clearly I don't watch much MMA.
Video.
I was really looking forward to the day where Fedor would destroy Lesnar. Now even if by some miracle the match happens I would have to give the heavy edge Lesnar. Even though he's the biggest dbag on the planet.
Could be a good thing. For all we know, this loss might be what spurns Fedor to work harder to reestablish himself as the preeminent name in MMA. You can't have a comeback without having first failed.
The hate for guys like lesnar and Anderson is hilarious.
Now, if you hate Lesnar because he brought the WWE "soap opera" into it, then I understand to a point you want to see him lose. All the guy is doing is selling tickets and PPV's, nothing wrong with that at all.
It's the same thing that Floyd Mayweather does in boxing, he makes you want to see him get knocked out, problem being is no one on this earth is good enough to get close to doing that.
Anderson Silva on the other hand, since he took out Hendo a few yrs ago has been given nothing but bums to fight at MW. Stop giving Anderson guys who wont engage with him. If you want his belt bad enough go and get it.
If you want the best Anderson Silva give him what he wants and thats a permanent move to LHW where there is at least legit competition for him to face. Problem is Dana's ego wont allow Anderson to go run through LHW anytime soon.