Fedor speaks up about about a fight with Cain Velasquez

[Toco]

y, prime fedor bro

lame ass hater

 

[cleber]

Actually everybody isn't that different. Shogun would be in his prime but injuries have held him back. Fedor never had that problem and he never lost his chin so "damage" had nothing to do with it.

youy conclussion is childish

fedor took heavy damage and standed it

afeter years of that, the body is not the same

wait until you grow up

when i was 16 i thought i was inmortal

father time is the same for all of us

 

[Got GOAT]

Fedor's hand speed when he was in his prime was truly something to step back at and marvel. He was one of the hardest punchers in MMA and still stands out as one of them to this day. He had crushing power in his hands standing up and with his brutal GnP and his reflexes were amazing. When he beat down Nog it did sound like a baseball bat hitting a buffalo, that was a great analogy. Fedor was very good off of his back at getting armbars and his hips were the best I've seen in MMA, very explosive and loose. His recovery was excellent too. Mentally, he was extremely tough as well.

Cain could present some serious problems, even for a prime Fedor. His wrestling is top notch and he has good power in his hands as well. His pressure and toughness are major attributes of his success. His cardio and overall conditioning is world class too.

A prime Fedor would be the rightful favorite against Cain and counting out either man would be ignorant in this hypothetical matchup. I wish this fight could've happened but it just wasn't in the cards. I'd take Fedor by UD or by T/KO though. These guys are my two favorite heavyweights of all time so, in a way, I'm glad that they never had to fight. Both have a very high degree of respect for each other's skills too.

 

[grecobjj]

I could see Fedor having to submit Cain after a pumbling.

Is "pumbling" retard for pummeling?

 

[berimBOWLoh]

cain almost got KOd by kongo. He would be KO in rnd 1 vs Fedor.

Fedor almost got KO'd by Fujita.... he would be KO'd on the way to the cage.



oh let me guess, Cain did get KO'd by JDS...... i guess thats worse than being KO'd by a MW.........

 

[DanaLovesTito**]

youy conclussion is childish

fedor took heavy damage and standed it

afeter years of that, the body is not the same

wait until you grow up

when i was 16 i thought i was inmortal

father time is the same for all of us

You can lose your chin from damage but not physical ability unless you sustain major injuries. And Fedor didn't have any major injuries. This is all fact. If you heard different then it's just made up bs that you were willing to believe because you needed a reason to understand why Fedor was losing in his apparent prime.

 

[Helmut Zemo]

I would favour Emelianenko in a ring or cage. I think his hand traps and hand fighting would do a great job of neutralizing Velasquez's jabs, and just harassing them in general, the wrists and hands, which is his main entry/threat of coming in and cutting off/initiating offence (I see Velasquez having much more problems in a ring, where I'd favour a prime Filipovic over him too). The hand traps and parries would also help him in landing bigger power shots than Velasquez. He's proficient with back-step punching and Velasquez tends to get overaggressive and shows some bad defence coming in at times (JDS was hitting him with some good shots at the start of their 3rd fight and in other similar sequences), which I think he'd capitalize on - showed great kicks in his career, counter low kicks, high kicks, but he didn't use them as much as he should have.

Some of the positioning problems Velasquez has when he comes in is his head sometimes is really outside his feet or really upright (open to straights), his back not always straight, the knees sometimes dramatically bent in close range, or having the back bent but not the knees. His feet should also stay somewhere near shoulder width apart the majority of the time but if you watch him cutting off, he's in some bad positions that JDS and even Kongo capitalized on. Velasquez sometimes comes straight in with his rear right there to be hit, not offline or lowered, and can get caught by a nice straight counter (a reason I think a prime Filipovic would do better than JDS with his side stepping and back stepping left straights). It's generally most defensively sound to make sure the lead hip and shoulder are the closest things to the opponent and the first to enter range, but he makes mistakes with his rear positioning. Although there are some advantages to having the weight and head farther forward provided he shouldn't stand like that in range because a guy like Emelianenko would pick up on that rather quickly (he's very intelligent about the fight game and I'd recommend reading his book if you haven't, very in-depth about his striking, grappling, workouts, etc.; you could tell he wasn't the same guy from the Sylvia fight). He also has a tendency to duck his head and take his eyes off the target which could be very deadly against some of his counters.

Emelianenko had fantastic footwork, head movement, counter combinations (which JDS lacks), and the speed to at least match the work-rake and shots. I think he was a better striker and grappler tbh, but Velasquez's level changes and wrestling would be tough to deal with, for some of his counters too. His dirty work in the clinch would be interesting too but Emelianenko's own great work in the clinch and judo (and sambo base) would make it difficult for him to get much going, I think. The ground fighting would be very interesting though, and I think that's Velasquez's best shot and his cardio/relentlessness would be there obviously. Emelianenko's the most complete HW ever and I definitely see him fighting well against the pressure pace style of Velasquez.

Emelianenko didn't have the volume g&p of Velasquez but he had more calculated and technical ground striking, cleverly used the threat of submissions and positional changes to create openings for his strikes (like striking on the pass), tricky baits to open up strikes and subs, etc. He masterfully mixed his strikes with his grappling while changing and gaining positions of leverage above his opponent, either by posturing down and up - from various positions, getting underhooks, transitioning, trapping their legs to force them into bad positions like giving up their back, getting to his knees, using his knees to neutralize wrist controls, controlling portions of their upper body, etc. He doesn't waste energy on it, nor did he have the work-rate of Velasquez. It's different styles but both have great top games. Velasquez's BJJ is fairly underrated but I don't think he'd be able to threaten Emelianenko with subs, cut through his defence, get dominant positions (like his back, or even advance past half guard), etc. Emelianenko had great escapes anyway, and I believe he'd find openings off his back if he's put there to get back up, sweep, threaten with subs, or get into more favourable positions. Velasquez might also fall for some of those submission baits he liked to use. Maybe Velasquez has a great guard (we haven't really seen him there) which he could stalemate from but I doubt Emelianenko would have trouble with it considering what he did in a peak Nogueira's guard.

 

[thetaylor22]

Cain kills any version of Fedor

 

[Stixx]

Fedor's hand speed when he was in his prime was truly something to step back at and marvel. He was one of the hardest punchers in MMA and still stands out as one of them to this day. He had crushing power in his hands standing up and with his brutal GnP and his reflexes were amazing. When he beat down Nog it did sound like a baseball bat hitting a buffalo, that was a great analogy. Fedor was very good off of his back at getting armbars and his hips were the best I've seen in MMA, very explosive and loose. His recovery was excellent too. Mentally, he was extremely tough as well.

Cain could present some serious problems, even for a prime Fedor. His wrestling is top notch and he has good power in his hands as well. His pressure and toughness are major attributes of his success. His cardio and overall conditioning is world class too.

A prime Fedor would be the rightful favorite against Cain and counting out either man would be ignorant in this hypothetical matchup. I wish this fight could've happened but it just wasn't in the cards. I'd take Fedor by UD or by T/KO though. These guys are my two favorite heavyweights of all time so, in a way, I'm glad that they never had to fight. Both have a very high degree of respect for each other's skills too.

Good post, I agree with everything. And they're my all-time favorite HWs too.

 

[Bones245n4847]

Fedor might have died if he fought Cain. Bigfoot sat on him and had him flailing like an amateur, and Cain proceeded to murder and maul Bigfoot twice. My MMAMAth tells me they would have skipped the stretcher and brought out the black Hearse.

 

[Perrichet]

I'd favour Cain at any point but you can't rule of Fedor

 

[DatSamboKid]

This is probably the best match-up I could perceive as an MMA fan.

This is on the level of a fantasy Ali vs Tyson fight.

Prime Fedor vs Prime Cain, no jokes, I would pay up to 500$ to see it on a screen.

 

[skombolis]

I would favour Emelianenko in a ring or cage. I think his hand traps and hand fighting would do a great job of neutralizing Velasquez's jabs, and just harassing them in general, the wrists and hands, which is his main entry/threat of coming in and cutting off/initiating offence (I see Velasquez having much more problems in a ring, where I'd favour a prime Filipovic over him too). The hand traps and parries would also help him in landing bigger power shots than Velasquez. He's proficient with back-step punching and Velasquez tends to get overaggressive and shows some bad defence coming in at times (JDS was hitting him with some good shots at the start of their 3rd fight and in other similar sequences), which I think he'd capitalize on - showed great kicks in his career, counter low kicks, high kicks, but he didn't use them as much as he should have.

Some of the positioning problems Velasquez has when he comes in is his head sometimes is really outside his feet or really upright (open to straights), his back not always straight, the knees sometimes dramatically bent in close range, or having the back bent but not the knees. His feet should also stay somewhere near shoulder width apart the majority of the time but if you watch him cutting off, he's in some bad positions that JDS and even Kongo capitalized on. Velasquez sometimes comes straight in with his rear right there to be hit, not offline or lowered, and can get caught by a nice straight counter (a reason I think a prime Filipovic would do better than JDS with his side stepping and back stepping left straights). It's generally most defensively sound to make sure the lead hip and shoulder are the closest things to the opponent and the first to enter range, but he makes mistakes with his rear positioning. Although there are some advantages to having the weight and head farther forward provided he shouldn't stand like that in range because a guy like Emelianenko would pick up on that rather quickly (he's very intelligent about the fight game and I'd recommend reading his book if you haven't, very in-depth about his striking, grappling, workouts, etc.; you could tell he wasn't the same guy from the Sylvia fight). He also has a tendency to duck his head and take his eyes off the target which could be very deadly against some of his counters.

Emelianenko had fantastic footwork, head movement, counter combinations (which JDS lacks), and the speed to at least match the work-rake and shots. I think he was a better striker and grappler tbh, but Velasquez's level changes and wrestling would be tough to deal with, for some of his counters too. His dirty work in the clinch would be interesting too but Emelianenko's own great work in the clinch and judo (and sambo base) would make it difficult for him to get much going, I think. The ground fighting would be very interesting though, and I think that's Velasquez's best shot and his cardio/relentlessness would be there obviously. Emelianenko's the most complete HW ever and I definitely see him fighting well against the pressure pace style of Velasquez.

Emelianenko didn't have the volume g&p of Velasquez but he had more calculated and technical ground striking, cleverly used the threat of submissions and positional changes to create openings for his strikes (like striking on the pass), tricky baits to open up strikes and subs, etc. He masterfully mixed his strikes with his grappling while changing and gaining positions of leverage above his opponent, either by posturing down and up - from various positions, getting underhooks, transitioning, trapping their legs to force them into bad positions like giving up their back, getting to his knees, using his knees to neutralize wrist controls, controlling portions of their upper body, etc. He doesn't waste energy on it, nor did he have the work-rate of Velasquez. It's different styles but both have great top games. Velasquez's BJJ is fairly underrated but I don't think he'd be able to threaten Emelianenko with subs, cut through his defence, get dominant positions (like his back, or even advance past half guard), etc. Emelianenko had great escapes anyway, and I believe he'd find openings off his back if he's put there to get back up, sweep, threaten with subs, or get into more favourable positions. Velasquez might also fall for some of those submission baits he liked to use. Maybe Velasquez has a great guard (we haven't really seen him there) which he could stalemate from but I doubt Emelianenko would have trouble with it considering what he did in a peak Nogueira's guard.

That was a well put together post. I was leaning towards Cain because anybody with good striking that can wrestle like he can and keep up that sick pace is just so hard to beat. Seems like the longer a fight goes the more and more the odds go in their favor. But Fedor did have some really tricky moves that could end a fight even if a guy thought he had a dominant position. If it came down to Cain's BJJ defense it stands to reason he would have trouble if Big Nog did. I'm wavering after your post. Either guy winning wouldn't surprise me

 

[IloveTHIS]

You can lose your chin from damage but not physical ability unless you sustain major injuries. And Fedor didn't have any major injuries. This is all fact. If you heard different then it's just made up bs that you were willing to believe because you needed a reason to understand why Fedor was losing in his apparent prime.

Go compete in top level pro fighting for 10 years and tell us how your body feels afterwards. Until you do that, just hush.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Ya I would like to know the same thing. A "prime" Fedor vs todays Cain would be the greatest fight of all time imo.

Its the biggest fantasy match-up in MMA... Cain VS Fedor.

Much like Tyson VS Ali for boxing.

 

[RoyCisneros]

fedor is the goat for a reason. I gotta go with him.

 

[mmaelitefan000]

fedor would be the underdog but not by much.

 

[Bob Gray]

Cain is a bad matchup for Fedor. Throughout his dominance, Fedor had never really faced a good wrestler with a good top game AND sub defense. Once he fought someone like Bigfoot, a strong guy with decent takedowns and good sub defense, he lost pretty handily.

Cain does anything Bigfoot does better, plus a whole lot more. Cain would be the big favorite over any version of Fedor and with good reason. I'm not sure what advantage Fedor is really gonna be able to utilize in the fight.

 

[Hauptstoss]

Prime Fedor in a ring destroys Cain. Octagon is a different story.

 

[dog y]

Wish he elaborated on the "technical difficulties". Did he mean his stand-up or his lack of submissions? I'd guess the former.

I'd say submissions. his striking looks like it has been improving in every fight. His subs are still non existent.