Sorry Fedor But Number 1 You Are Not
Posted by Sean Frick
I’ve been a strong supported of Fedor Emelianenko for as long as I’ve known of him. He has always been everyone’s little secret. The casual fan would know Roger Huerta and Micheal Bisping but the die hard fans knew of the great Fedor. We thought we were the only ones who knew about him. How he could never be beaten. How he would fight men 50 lbs heavier and dispose of them in minutes. Fedor was the man. Fedor was King. But Fedor, as of today you are no longer number one.
UFC President Dana White may be right in his assessment of Emelianenko. He says Fedor can’t be considered number 1 because he doesn’t fight the best fighters consistently. And you know what? He is right.
Something that is rarely brought up is the fact that Fedor’s chances of one day losing are far greater if he fights the best in the world each time out. But he simpley doesn’t. Georges St. Pierre does this, Miguel Torres does this. There is no question BJ Penn has done this.
Fedor’s fight schedule is the following: Tomato Can, Average Fighter, Good fighter. Repeat. This would be like GSP doing the following:
Tommy Speer, Kevin Burns, Josh Koshceck then maybe back to Drew Fickett. It would look ridiculous, but also increase his odds of never losing. Emelianenko has technically never lost, but if his last 8 fights were against the number 2 opponent in the world then would he still be? If he had fought Josh Barnett, Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir instead of Zulu, Matt Lindland and Hong Man Choi would he still be undefeated?
Fedor is going to fight sub par competition in Strikeforce. Not talking anything away from these guys, but Brett Rogers? He is barely a top 10 Heavyweight and has all of 10 fights. Fabricio Werdum? Another decent fighter, but he was knocked silly in his last fight in the UFC and will now face journeyman Mike Kyle August 15th. Mike Kyle to Fedor? It doesn’t make sense.
The fights for Fedor in Strikeforce are endless, but the competition is not. The odds of him losing would be greatly increased if he fought the next best challenger every time out. St. Pierre, Penn and Torres all do this and have for years. Fedor? Not a chance.
And until Fedor signs a contract to consistently fight the best heavyweights in the world, his stock will continue to drop. If he should lose any of those mid tier fights, it will plummet.
While the rest of the fighters on the top 5 pound for pound list are off fighting the number 2 challenger time and time again, Emelianenko is setting himself up to fight very average fighters.
It appears as though our little secret is finally getting exposed.
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August 4th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Fedor is thinking about his long term goals and doesnt care about fighting the best. He is slowly turning into a joke. Very slowly, but it’s happening.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:08 am
What about Anderson Silva? Does he fight the best each time out? No he fights Cote and Thales.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
people just have to get off his penis already…
August 5th, 2009 at 2:16 am
this is not his age
August 5th, 2009 at 5:34 am
“What about Anderson Silva? Does he fight the best each time out? No he fights Cote and Thales.”
Silva has completely CLEANED OUT the middleweight division. I’d be willing to say a good 80% of the world’s best middleweights are UFC fighters, and I don’t think Anderson Silva is going to jump ship from the best game in town to roam around looking for the remaining 20%. Middleweights want the crown? They know where to find the king.
Fedor on the other hand - there’s no reason to turn down great money against great competition. Unless, y’know, you’re scared.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Fedor’s decision to sign with strikeforce was not based on talent. This decision was a business decision. He is co owner of M1 Global and he wanted UFC to co-promote it and Dana White said no. Strikeforce agreed.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
the only reason fedor isnt fighting in the ufc is because of his manager. he been having the same manager for like 12 years and the dude dosent care about him fighting the best all he cares about is making money and fedor is a loyle person and isnt gonna jump ship on him, even tho he should.
August 5th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
So Serra was the best of WW when he ktfo St. Pierre?
You act like Arlovski wasn’t the #2 HW and Sylvia wasn’t top 5.
Who’s he supposed to fight in the UFC besides Brock? Carwin? What makes Carwin so different than Brett Rogers?
Mir? The same Mir who was TKO’d by Cruz and Vera? Laughable, Mir was highly overrated by beating Nog who was suffering from a staph infection.
Now we have Brock’s rating inflated too. And for what? Beating a journeyman 6 years out of his prime in Herring? Beating a 46 year old man in Couture? Mir? C’mon.
If the Nog loss wouldn’t have entered the picture, most of these fighters would be making up the bottom of the top 10 - let alone putting Brock in the top 5.
Realistically Barnett is a better fight for cementing Fedor’s legacy than 4-1 untested Brock Lesnar. Oh and let’s not forget Overeem.
Garbage article.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Say what you want about Fedor’s opponents, but he finishes the job; unlike a GSP who was TKO’d by unranked Matt Serra. GSP did avenge his loss to Matt Serra, who is still ranked outside the top 10…doesn’t that this loss look bad? GSP would get a pass if this loss happened years ago, at the beginning of his career, or against an opponent in a higher weight class; however, it was recent and came when most were questioning how long his reign as champ would be. Anderson Silva has looked a little less dominant as of late, and Torres’ last few fights have been wars. Fedor’s last two fights were against the #4 and #2 ranked Heavyweights (beat them both in under five minutes combined), and he was scheduled to fight the #2 HW (until Josh tested positive). How can Fedor not be considered #1 if he’s been fighting (or scheduled to fight) the best? Within Strikeforce he still has options to face off against top 10 fighters Overeem, Rogers, and potentially a rematch against Arlovski. Fighters just outside the top 10 like Werdum and Monson are also possible opponents. Who counts as “the best fighters” when referencing the UFC’s HW division? Fedor already has wins over Nog, Cro Cop, and Herring. Brock is 4-1!! Does Fedor need to fight him to legitimize his career?? Randy is approaching 50 and is 2-2 in his last four fights. Mir is 3-2 in his last five fights with a couple of bad losses. Kongo has now been beaten by Herring and Velasquez. Gonzaga has been finished by Randy, Werdum, and Carwin.
I’m sorry, but Fedor is Number 1.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Dont you ****ing morons understand that FEDOR HAS A CONTRACT WITH M1??? Why dont you check the facts before you write this piece of **** article?! Remove Dana Whites **** from your trap before dissing the greatest HW in the world. Still the fight everyone wants to se is Fedor vs Barnett, and if it was not for Barnetts roiding ass we would get that. What has the UFC for Fedor? Brock, a guy with a 4-1 record and MAD hype just because Joe Rogan sucks his **** every time he is commentating this one dimensional supermutant?! You know **** about MMA so i hope you get shot in the face rather sooner than later.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:37 am
If you really think guys like Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and James Irvin are the best you need to desperately reevaluate your appraisal ability
August 6th, 2009 at 5:34 am
10 Fedor Facts:
1. Fedor has held 5 MMA championships, and never lost them.
2. Fedor holds the best win streak in all MMA, 26.
3. Fedor has never been knocked down by any type of strike.
4. Fedor has a finishing percentage of 77%.
5. No fighter has ever stopped Fedor in a fight. But 1 doctor has.
6. Fedor has defeated 5 different HW champions, 7 times.
7. Fedor has 70 total take downs in mma, 41 of which upper body take downs.
8. Fedor has 22 victories in the first round.
9. Out of those 22 fights, 12 wins under 2 minutes.
10. And 4 wins under 1 minute.
There is only ONE fighter that has beaten:
5 different UFC champions:
Mark Coleman x2
Kevin Randleman
Tim Sylvia
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira x2
Andrei Arlovski
4 kick boxing champions:
Semmy Schilt
Mark Hunt
Garry Goodridge
Hong Man Choi
-Honorable mention, Mirko Cro Cop
7 different MMA champions:
Mark Coleman x2
Kevin Randleman
Tim Sylvia
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira x2
Gary Goodridge
Mirko Cro Cop
Andrei Arlovski
2 silver olympic medalist:
Matt Lindland
Naoya Ogawa
1 ADCC open weight champion:
Ricardo Arona
There is only 1 fighter that has gone 30+ fights that has
- Never lost a decision.
- Never been sub’d.
- Never been knocked out.
Only one fighter that has ever won 5 different mma championships.
- WAMMA HW belt
- PRIDE HW belt
- PRIDE Grand Prix tournament
- RINGS king of kings tournament
- RINGS world class tournament
All while finishing 77% of his opponents.
A current 26 fight win streak
22 victories in the first round
4 victories in the first minute
12 victories in the first 2 minutes
No other fighter in all MMA has any where near the list of his accomplishments. What competition did Lesnar faced? Randy the great? His best win in HW is Tim Sylvia. UFC best HW division? Sir, you fail…
August 6th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Wow, this article really sucked. I’ve seen this sort of trash written on internet forums, but never by a paid journalist.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:22 am
If not fedor, then who?
August 6th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
what about brock he’s 4-1 and i am pretty sure fedor did a good move dana white is not an angel he will force your hand if he has the chance just like john fitch who refuse to give the rights to his ressemblance in ufc undisputed anyways you can say what you want but 30-1 is something look in the heavyweight division nobody has a record like that
August 6th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
ps: Your a bad reporter for making a lousy article like this get a new job
August 7th, 2009 at 8:55 am
when will people understand the difference between “the best competition” and “the ufc HW division”. “fedors not fighting the best, therefore he cant be considered the best” is the cry you hear time and time again, like in this article. but come on. hes beaten nog twice, randy is gettin too old, mir is overated after beating a nog that looked like he was gonna pass out before the fight started and as for carwin/cain, they show promise but are no different from brett rogers. lesnar is the champ so that would be a good fight, but apart from that the UFC dont have ****!!! fedor has been beating top 5 HWs (sylvia and AA), the top 2 HW tested positive for roids (not fedors fault) and now he can fight overeem/rogers/maybe werdum if he starts to look better. the UFc has convinced everyone that 99% of decent fighters are in the UFC, and while that is truer of some divisions, in HW it couldnt be further.
August 7th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
lol wow that was the funniest article i ever read. The author should really go through it more then twice and think about what he wrote. “Fedor is going to fight sub par competition in Strikeforce. Not talking anything away from these guys, but Brett Rogers? He is barely a top 10 Heavyweight and has all of 10 fights”. Ok, so Rogers is not a qualified opponent because he has only 10 fights but Brock is because he has 5 fights with one loss???? wow….Fedor has fought and beat the best time after time….the author obviously either doesn’t know much about mma or is a dana white nuthugger
August 7th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
are you guys out of your mind??? if fedor is not the best then who is???
lesnar?? did you see the guys who he beat>?? pathetic ****
he could not even finish herring…
who is 1 then? he beat randy who is like 70 yo.
this article smells with UFC, fedor is number 1 and live with it.
UFC HW division sux.
i have been fighitng all my life, but i have never ever seen a person like fedor, he moves like an animal , always thinking!
never have i seen a fighter like him
August 7th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
the reporter needs to get a clue about mma, i should freaking write an article or smth like that
get a new hobby mate, mma aint for you
August 7th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
It’s funny how the author conveniently left out Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski as recent opponents of Fedor. If the Josh Barnett fight would have happened he would have fought 3 top 5 fighters in a row.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Did you guys even read the article? He didn’t say Fedor wasn’t the best HW. He said he’s not the best Pound for POund and he ****ing isnt!
August 7th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Anderson lost to a bunch of Japanese cans.
GSP has two losses and yes they were against UFC champions, but Fedor is 7-0 against UFC champions.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
This author was obviously paid by Zuffa to write this ****. Fedor is number 1 and will remain #1 until he retires or until someone beats him.
August 8th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Sean Frick i recommend you watch more MMA before writing articles.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Wow, do you seriously believe anything that comes out of Dana White’s mouth?
You’re almost as big a tool as he is if you do.
August 15th, 2010 at 8:21 am
Woah guys the expendables the movie will be awesome
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