Fedor Emelianenko is the Greatest Heavyweight of all time and as well as still arguably the Greatest Mixed Martial Artist of all time (fans can still argue it's Jon Jones since he moved up to HW and won the title there after having the greatest UFC title reign of all time in the LHW division) but what would it take for a fighter to surpass him?
Like, for an example, to surpass Anderson Silva, The MW fighter has to at least tie his record for most MW title wins of 11 wins if not surpass that record, or to surpass GSP, The WW fighter has to at least tie his record for most WW title wins of 13 wins if not to surpass that record, same with Jon, DJ, Aldo, Khabib, Cruz, but for Fedor, what would it take since he hasn't fought in the UFC but for Pride?
He has 2nd most title fight wins in Pride FC history of 4 title fight wins and with 1 NC (due to the accidental headbutt between him and Big Nog), the UFC back then was like today's Bellator and Pride itself was like today's UFC or maybe just only with HWs or as well as an overall promotion, but now let's turn the tables, the UFC is the best MMA promotion, and whoever has 2nd most title fight wins in UFC history (we know it's GSP) has 13 title fight wins, so maybe that would it take for a HW fighter to surpass Fedor as the HW GOAT? that HW fighter should have 13 title fight wins in the UFC HW division? well yeah, it's ofc very hard to accomplish but who knows? also another thing Fedor did was that he had the longest winning streak in Zuffa HW history, 1 win in SF and was on a 15 win streak in Pride FC, maybe there will be a HW fighter that can may do it in the future.
But based on my logic about Pride FC title fight wins, so is Wanderlei Silva the best MMA fighter ever then since he has most title fight wins in Pride history of 5 wins which would be equal to Jon's 15 title fight wins in the UFC then? No, Wandy is one of the best MWs/LHWs in MMA but he lost to Rich Franklin x2 and was revealed who was the better fighter between both, both guys fought each other and weren't in their primes in competitive fights, and Franklin was the winner in both fights.
And now, let's get into Stipe and Fedor, sometimes, I think that Stipe could be better than Fedor cause people who still say Fedor is the HW GOAT over Stipe is like saying Barao is the BW GOAT over Cruz due to his long winning streak, or maybe HW Shouldn't be compared to BW? also another thing is that Fedor hasn't fought in the UFC, like after when the UFC bought Pride along with WEC and later SF, why Fedor didn't fight there? his run in rings and Pride FC was amazing but after Pride ended in 2007 and had his last fight on final day of 2006, he fought cans and names weren't good instead of signing with the UFC, Lindalnd, Hong-Man, Sylvia & Arlovski who both reigned in the worst era of the UFC HW division and Rogers, and after the 3 Ls in SF, he kept fighting nobodies and still didn't sing with the UFC, took 3 years off since 2012 and fought again in 2015, had his ups and downs until his retirement.
But for Stipe, he has an amazing resume, and when counting title fights, Fedor has been in 5 title fights, and won 4 of them, Stipe won 6 and had most consecutive title defenses in MMA HW history of 3 tied with Fedor and Bader (in Bellator but Bader doesn't have title wins in Zuffa history lol, so whatever, he doesn't count), it can be looked here in Heavyweight (MMA) in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavyweight_(MMA)
And as well as Stipe (tied with Randy) has most title fight wins in Heavyweight MMA history but due to quality>quantity, Stipe>Randy
This topic has been done so many times....let it go....its like comparing Babe Ruth to Mike Trout....there is no real way to know. There is no answer.
So who's the HW GOAT and what are your thoughts on the HW picture in MMA? discuss Sherbros.