Conor McGregor or Fedor Emelianenko - Who's had a more impactful/bigger influence on MMA?

[OldBoy91]

Open and shut case, Wayne Weems.

Don't disrespect the TUF 5 GOAT.

 

[HHJ]

Yeah he's a cool guy, unless you try to question the matchmaking of Young Khabib.

 

[forsh]

Fedor by a lot.

 

[L0ki]

Oh, the LAWD HAVE MERCY.

Casuals wouldn't happen if there weren't a hardcore fan base.

 

[Kevster]

Go and ask 50 random folks who Fedor is and you’ll get 50 blank expressions staring back.

Was he better, absolutely, did he impact MMA more, not a chance.

 

[NoSmilez]

It's probably Mcgregor. The sport became mainstream with his fights. Dude was on CNN promoting his fights. He also crossed over to boxing. Fedor is the man but he is relatively unknown outside of people who followed the sport for a long time. Fedor also inspired a lot of fighters to start training. You can probably make the same case with Mcgregor. In terms of popularity there is no real comparison.

 

[Bob Sagat]

Conor had a far larger impact.
You old heads really have to put your bias aside and admit it.
This isn't about the best fighter, it's about reach. And Conor influenced and hooked more casuals than any other person in MMA history.
He changed the way fighters try to lobby and angle themselves for title fights. And he changed the way the UFC entertains their top stars (never the same way again).

 

[mjfan23]

For fighting? Fedor

For bringing attention and money to the sport? Conor > all

 

[Trabaho]

For the sport Fedor x 20.
For the hype and fame and fanboys and Clout Conor x 10

 

[Snoowpy]

While Fedor did more for Martial Arts and legitimizing it in the eyes of others fighters. Conor did more for the sport for not always the right reasons in the latter half of his career. He did grow the sport and he made fighters realize their worth. It was a good run up until Aldo. He was truly inspirational. If you ask any fighter who the GOAT was, Fedor is up there in that list, same can't be said for Conor.

Who truly had a bigger impact though? I might have to say Conor regrettably.

 

[DanDragon Machi]

Fedor is only know by hardcore fans

It's crazy to compare the biggest UFC's star with a Pride's star

 

[FrankDux]

It's Conor and it's not even close.

 

[Lee Danger]

Someone like Mirko Crocop is probably more influential than Fedor. It's just people conflict goodness with influence.

Crocop was more popular than Fedor in Pride, and his fighting style is more visible in more fighters today I think.

Crocop did not invent sprawling and "brawling" (Crocop was obviously not a brawler), but many strikers who got into the sport blue printed themselves after Mirko, and many fighters would base their styles off of that generation etc.

There weren't many guys who fought like Crocop, and there was a large amount of people who thought a style like Crocops was not viable until he did it. Chuck Liddell also to a lesser extent, but Crocop was more unique because he wasn't a wrestler at all, and was a technical striker.

This is true, at least for my experience: att i was a Mirko's fan as every other mma fan that i used to know.

 

[Subline]

Fedor had a bigger influence on the sport, Conor had a bigger influence on it's popularity.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

to casuals? canner macs.

to elite sherdog master race? Fyodor

 

[TheComputerGuy]

Go and ask 50 random folks who Fedor is and you’ll get 50 blank expressions staring back.

Was he better, absolutely, did he impact MMA more, not a chance.

Ask 50 random people who Conor is and maybe 1 will have head of him. What is your point? MMA really isn't that popular.

 

[MetalstormThrasher]

Tough choice.

 

[mudrubble]

Now that both are officially retired. ; - )

Who do you think had a more massive influence on MMA?

Or

If you'd said on MMA "viewers" (not even fans), it would be Conor.

But on MMA as a sport? Fedor is a legend and inspired almost every fighter for the next 10 years.

Conor has inspired fighters to act like douches, mostly. He hasn't inspired nearly as many fighters to fight better as Fedor did. Not even in the ballpark.

 

[Mike]

^^^^^^^This

I didn't even bother to think it over.

Same bro same. The only thought I had was to be annoyed someone had the audacity to ask such a thing. Where's that how dare you girl lmao.

 

[Mike]

Because you're all retarded?

Because I don't ride around with Conors balls in my mouth IIRC