Did Fedor duck/avoid any fighter in his career?

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Yeah he avoided Reem, he threw the Bigfoot Silva fight so he wouldn't meet Reem in the next tournament fight LOL.

Actually Cormier ended up replacing Reem for that fight, so now we can say FEDOR 100% DUCKED DANIEL CORMIER

That's great MMA math. lol

 

[HindustaniKush]

I am a Fedor and Overeem fan

And the truth is he ducked Ubereem and avoided the UFC once it became the best organization on earth

 

[chinarice]

You weren’t watching MMA back then. Bob Sapp became a can, but was FAR from it in the early 2000s. I’m not saying Fedor ducked him, but I wouldn’t blame him even if he did. He was juiced to the gills.

Since I allegedly "wasn't watching back then", I will wait for you to list these MMA wins Bob Sapp had at any point in his career worth a damn

Outside of beating Hoost in K1 solely because he was a giant roided out freak, what did he do?

 

[Fioretti]

Yeah he totally made Barnett pop for steroids days before their fight, because he wanted to duck Barnett. He feared the Babyface Assassin!! LOL

ffs, this shit is getting ridiculous. Nog was an easy matchup, and he ducked Barnett. People will say anything to discredit Fedor (or any fighter, really, Sherdog just fucking HATES fighters)

Is that what I said?

Barnett is the one who avoided the fight in PRIDE. He would’ve fought Fedor after beating Hunt, but said something about not being ready to fight Fedor. So Fedor fought Hunt instead.

Is that how it really went down? That's absolutely when they should've fought, at least the first time. I can't remember the exact reasons why it didn't go down. You have any interviews or anything like that? I know you were waiting for me to pop up in this thread, sugartits! Don't worry, I won't delve too deep. He definitely wasn't afraid. = )

Fedor fought on damn near every Pride card.

These fights were more like exhibitions to show off Fedor.

Did anyone ever defend a title 12 times a year in MMA?

Nope. Nobody has defended 12 times in a year. Especially not Fedor. He only defended his PRIDE title like 3 times total. Maybe Fulton defended some obscure Iowa cornfield title 12+ times? I'll have to look into it.

 

[Shaddows]

The rumors that I've heard is he avoided Bob Sapp and Overeem. What's the truth in that? And anyone else?

I personally don't think he was afraid to fight Sapp or Overeem. First off with Sapp, it would have been a freak show fight to appease the Japanese crowd. And Fedor was willing to be involved in freak show fights ie. HMC, Zulu. So I doubt he ducked Sapp.

As for Overeem, they were in the same side in the Strikeforce HW tourney. If Fedor beat Bigfoot, he would have ended up fighting Overeem if Overeem continued on after beating Werdum. I believe it's just one of those things just never materialized for some strange reason.

Does this man look like he fears anyone?

Fedor did not sign up with the UFC (who had a terrible HW division) and signed up with Strikeforce who was about to have a HW Tourney involving the very best active HW's on the planet.
Fedor, SIlva, Overeem, Werdum, Arlovski, Kharitonov, Barnett and Rogers (and DC).

If Fedor was afraid, why would he do that (sign up with Strikeforce)????

 

[Benoitthegr8]

As an Ubereem fan I agree with this statement, by 2010-2011 while Alister was at his peak, Fedor was falling fast. But as a Fedor fan I believe that 2004-2007 Fedor would’ve finished even the most Uber version or Alister, his hand speed, power and explosive TD’s would’ve been too much for Reem to deal with.

What's the best Fedor finish? Arlovski? But he would finish a super roided Reem in his prime? Come on, man. Submitted him? Maybe, but I just don't see that happening. Prime Reem by whatever he wants.

Prime Reem definitely isn’t known for defensive striking or head movement, if anything it was his offensive threat that usually was his best defense. He successfully used his bully rush followed by knees from the vicious clinch, however he had the terrible habit of dropping his hands when rushing in (see Reem versus Brawk or Duffey). He was notoriously known for attempting to use the 4 ounce gloves as if he wearing K1 pillows to block hands, also later in his career getting backed against the cage and attempting to use a rope a dope.

Anyway, IMO he would’ve been careful of Fedor’s power, problem lies with underestimating Fedor’s hand speed, explosiveness, and ability to cover distance., as we’ve heard from Fedor’s opponents in post fight interviews, this is what catches guys off guard, even while cognitively being aware and game planning around it’s an outlier. Fedor’s handspeed is somewhat like Ngannou’s power, you can be aware of and plan around, but in the end most just can’t understand until they realize that they were just KTFO.
@HHJ

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Fedor did not sign up with the UFC (who had a terrible HW division) and signed up with Strikeforce who was about to have a HW Tourney involving the very best active HW's on the planet.
Fedor, SIlva, Overeem, Werdum, Arlovski, Kharitonov, Barnett and Rogers (and DC).

If Fedor was afraid, why would he do that (sign up with Strikeforce)????

I agree totally, I don't think Fedor feared any man.

 

[Texan6533]

I don’t think Fedor feared anyone. If anything, his management feared his first lost…

 

[Hotora86]

Lots of cans and stylistically favorable matchups like Nog.

You've been here for 5+ years and this is your take?
Wow.

 

[Hotora86]

“Stylistically favorable matchups like Nog”?? Nog was the champ, dude. And the consensus best HW in the world when Fedor first fought him. Not sure how you could see that as an opponent worth criticizing.

And to the thread topic, no. I honestly don’t think Fedor gave much of a fuck who he fought, it was more about whether the terms made sense from his POV.

“Stylistically favorable matchups like Nog” is close to being the dumbest shit I've ever read on SD, bar obv trolling and johncola.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

No. Fedor is a different breed of human, he has zero fear and anxiety. He fought everyone that he was booked against. Sapp is laughable, Fedor would have dropped him hard within 20 seconds. Overeem vs Fedor was supposed to happen in Strikeforce tournament but because of the results and Overeems injury it didn't, nothing to do with Fedor at all.

 

[kingghidrah]

Outside of beating Hoost in K1 solely because he was a giant roided out freak, what did he do?

Nearly made Nog a quadriplegic with a body slam. No matter how bad Sapp was and how he couldn't take a punch there was always the chance he might kill somebody accidentally

Anyway, if Sapp was as bad as you say why should the champ fight him? You would just call it another "freak show fight" if he had, and it would be another blemish on Fedor's record for fighting an unworthy opponent.

 

[KinG]

They ducked ubereem

 

[FierceHitman]

I don’t know about ducked, but he delayed the Mirko fight for a while and was sending his henchmen to try to derail him like Magomedov and his brother Aleks.

To his credit he took the fight eventually and ended up winning it.

I remember hearing this too back then. They were also supposed to get matched in the owgp, but Wanderlei took Fedor's spot, no?

 

[BFoe]

Is that how it really went down? That's absolutely when they should've fought, at least the first time. I can't remember the exact reasons why it didn't go down. You have any interviews or anything like that? I know you were waiting for me to pop up in this thread, sugartits! Don't worry, I won't delve too deep. He definitely wasn't afraid. = )

Don’t you talk about my tits that way mister, I am more than my assets!
But yeah, that’s my recollection. I could dig around the internet and see if I can find something as a source, but that shit was like 15-17 years ago so who knows. In addition to that, Fedor happened to be injured the only time Barnett fought in a Grand Prix (the PRIDE 2006 GP) so they didn’t cross paths there either.

 

[TR1]

Zero evidence of it, unless you are a braindead UFC shill.

 

[Cooliox]

Not only did Fedor fight anyone and everyone, FEDOR FOUGHT THEM AT THEIR STRENGTH!

Fedor smashed Big Nog on the ground before smashing was cool, and out-struck CroCop on the feet...



Mad Man. Legendary 10 Years of dominance... that too he finally lost after jumping fearlessly into Werdum's guard.

#RESPECT

 

[TR1]

Overeem on roids would have KOd Fedor at that stage in their careers. My criticism of Fedor isnt who he didnt fight but who he did. Lots of cans and stylistically favorable matchups like Nog. No disrespect to the guy but he literally fought a guy that was 0-1. If that was any modern champ no one would take them seriously, but Fedor is considered the GOAT.

And yet, despite "many cans' Fedor still has a better HW resume than anyone since or after.

That should make you realize your argument is asenine.

Lmao @ Stylistically favorable natch-ups like Nog. Hard to take you seriously after that.

Fighting a random can in between legit opponents is fine as long as you fight enough good opponents- which Fedor obviously and beyond any doubt did.
I mean, fighting randos can be dangerous- that is why Anderson and GSP got destroyed by random cans.
Not to mention, most fighters have a bunch of cans on their record. Khabib fought plenty of cans, Stipe did too, Anderson has a bunch of cans on his record.

 

[chinarice]

Nearly made Nog a quadriplegic with a body slam. No matter how bad Sapp was and how he couldn't take a punch there was always the chance he might kill somebody accidentally

Anyway, if Sapp was as bad as you say why should the champ fight him? You would just call it another "freak show fight" if he had, and it would be another blemish on Fedor's record for fighting an unworthy opponent.

Correct. Glad he didn't waste time fighting another guy who has no business in there with him.

Did you just cite a loss in which he was finished as a way of trying to pass off Bob Sapp was good? Ok.....

 

[TempleoftheDog]

I really don’t think anybody in the real GOAT conversation ducked anybody. Despite the hate that flows through this place.

Yeah yeah.. Fedor ducked the UFC. GSP ducked Whittaker. Silva ducked Jones. And Jones ducked HW, etc, etc.

Imo, it’s only ducking if you talk massive shit, or just refuse to fight the next guy in line, in your division, but pick somebody else instead. And that definitely has happened. I won’t name names.