"Fedor ducked the ufc"

TheNinja said:
You are usually a decent poster so not sure if this is a pure troll thread.

Fedor didn’t duck the UFC. It was just 2 groups that couldn’t come to a deal that both parties liked. Sometimes that just happens in business.

if anyone thinks Fedor is or was scared of any other human being they are a moron. Fedor wouldn’t duck anyone. He fought the biggest and baddest in the sport including TRT Bigfoot who was probably 290 for that fight.
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Did you read the op? Because I feel like you only read the title lol.
 
Really fights like Fedor/Randy and Fedor/Brock had hype at the time but looking back had he taken them and won I don't think people would now be holding them up as the reason why he's the GOAT.

Randy especially I still think he'd have had nothing for Fedor the same way he had nothing for Nog except he'd be fighting a much more dangerous striker/GnP fighter who probably wouldnt let him survive to a decision.

Brock might have been different, partly because Fedor himself was worse post Affliction but when people talk about Cain's career its the JDS fights that they mention now not Brock.
 
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3 or 4 quality opponents?

Big Nog, Cro-Cop, Schilt, Hunt, Coleman, Randleman, Big Tim, Andrei, Lindland...all of them being elite fighters in major MMA organizations.

Try harder, bro.
 
Mike said:
Did you read the op? Because I feel like you only read the title lol.
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lol - sorry dude, I skimmed it. You were right in your OP. That's what threw me a bit b/c I always noticed you to be a pretty decent poster.....not a troll to bring up a "Fedor ducks......UFC is better than everything" thread ;)
 
TheNinja said:
lol - sorry dude, I skimmed it. You were right in your OP. That's what threw me a bit b/c I always noticed you to be a pretty decent poster.....not a troll to bring up a "Fedor ducks......UFC is better than everything" thread ;)
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Us Fedor Supremacists got to always have the knife out and ready for the nonbelievers
 
Mike said:
Look most of us wanted to see Fedor in the ufc, but this myth that he ducked the top guys by fighting elsewhere is exactly that. After leaving pride he fought Lindland, Choi, then he fought two top HWs in Arlovski and Sylvia before going to Strikeforce.

At that point in time, the top hw in the ufc was Brock Lesnar. A guy that went on to go 5-3-1 in his mma career. Lesnar is not an ATG or goat contender in the hw division. Just a footnote. Cain and JDS had not risen to the top of the ufc at this time

When Fedor opted for Strikeforce over the ufc, they had the following in their hw division: Arlovski, Reem, Bigfoot, Rogers, Werdum. DC, Barnett, Kharitonov. You know, most of the top hws in the world at the time. I'm sure the goalposts will be moved to how poorly a past prime Fedor did in Strikeforce, but let's at least get one thing straight: Fedor chose the best hw division in the world and it isn't close at all.
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Fact of the matter is that Fedor and his management and the UFC just couldn't come to terms plain and simple. The people who say he ducked the UFC are complete morons lol. Fedor at the time was the most sought after fighter and came from a different promotional system, he had complicated management and that is what made his deal so complicated and hard to come to terms with. There was the issue of him being with M1 etc.

People that understand the circumstances just know that they simply couldn't come to terms on the business.

And yes......Fedor did go to a better HW division in SF
 
TFK20 said:
No one with any sense claims Fedor ducked the UFC

His unwillingness to fight Reem in Strikeforce was uncharacteristic though
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He wanted no part of Reem and Fedor fans know it too.
 
Mike said:
Look most of us wanted to see Fedor in the ufc, but this myth that he ducked the top guys by fighting elsewhere is exactly that. After leaving pride he fought Lindland, Choi, then he fought two top HWs in Arlovski and Sylvia before going to Strikeforce.

At that point in time, the top hw in the ufc was Brock Lesnar. A guy that went on to go 5-3-1 in his mma career. Lesnar is not an ATG or goat contender in the hw division. Just a footnote. Cain and JDS had not risen to the top of the ufc at this time

When Fedor opted for Strikeforce over the ufc, they had the following in their hw division: Arlovski, Reem, Bigfoot, Rogers, Werdum. DC, Barnett, Kharitonov. You know, most of the top hws in the world at the time. I'm sure the goalposts will be moved to how poorly a past prime Fedor did in Strikeforce, but let's at least get one thing straight: Fedor chose the best hw division in the world and it isn't close at all.
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He ducked UFC and ducked top opposition for much of his career. He has more wins over Chois and Zulus than quality opponents.
 
PizzaandBeer said:
He had no reason to, he pretty much fought ufc level guys his whole career
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and this is what happen when a guy from ufc
 
ExitLUPin said:
Fact is when Fedor wasn't completely washed up he was always in the orgs with the best HW talent at that respective time and the early to mid 2000s era in particular remains by far the best HW era
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These are the top guys he fought in that time frame: Werdum, Sylvia, Arlovski, Rogers, Bigfoot, Hendo - losing to three of them.

These are the top guys he didn't fight, despite being in the same org: DC, Reem, Barnett, Sergei

These are the top UFC guys he didn't fight: JDS, Cain, Couture, Bork, Murr, Gonzaga, Carwin

He fought 6 out of 17 of the "top" HWs of that timeframe. Hendo wasn't a top HW and Rogers barely just made the top 10 after beating Arlovski, so in actuality 4 of 15, but we'll count those as top guys to be fair. Nog and Mirko fights were prior to the timeframe we're talking about, so I don't think they're applicable. I also don't think it should count against him either, so we'll leave them out. So, 6 out of 17 - that's just over a third - and he went 50% against them.

One big factor for me is that he didn't fight Reem, Barnett, or Sergei despite being in multiple orgs with them. Opting to fight Lindland and Hong Man Choi after PRIDE was acquired by the UFC is another big factor for me. He should've immediately went to the UFC. Fedor is undoubtedly great, but his resume is extremely overrated by his fans, and extremely padded with no names and freakshow fights. No other fighter considered in the GOAT talks (Silva, Jones, GSP) have even a fraction of the number of unranked and irrelevant opponents that Fedor does. The very first time in his career that he fought 4 top 10 guys in a row, he lost. Then he lost two more in a row after that. It speaks for itself in my opinion.
 
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Dana White publicly insulted Fedor, told him he couldn't do the activity he loved most (sambo, MMA was just his day job). No one with any self-respect would take a boss like that when he had other options. Seriously, would you work for a guy who told everyone you weren't any good.

Beyond that, Fedor was taking the same chance that everyone who tries to make their own startup does -- its what Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did when they started Microsoft and Apple instead of going to work at IBM. In Fedor's case M1 didn't go anywhere -- like most startups it didn't work, but it was a worthwhile gamble, one that worked for Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, who started their own promotions and made a lot more than they would have fighting for some established promoter.

Basically, both self-respect and gambling on making it big made not signing for the UFC a good choice for Fedor. And my guess is that ultimately it was the money (ie the chance to own a promotion and rake in the really big money) that drove Fedor's decision. Money talks.
 
He's one of all time greats and everything, but he indeed ducked UFC. There is no way to spin it.

I don't care how he did vs UFC talent outside of UFC. Is it the cage, the attention or rising to the moment - who knows - but fighting in UFC is different. You didn't prove your MMA skills at that level when your contemporaries did - you lack MMA cred.
 
Lmao at the Fedor detractors.

Nothing you can do. The footage is already on the internet. Anyone with a pair of eyes and any knowledge of mma at all knows what a beast that dude was.
 
JKS said:
Fact of the matter is that Fedor and his management and the UFC just couldn't come to terms plain and simple. The people who say he ducked the UFC are complete morons lol. Fedor at the time was the most sought after fighter and came from a different promotional system, he had complicated management and that is what made his deal so complicated and hard to come to terms with. There was the issue of him being with M1 etc.

People that understand the circumstances just know that they simply couldn't come to terms on the business.

And yes......Fedor did go to a better HW division in SF
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People focus on 2009 but really the important time was 2007, thats when Fedor signed with M-1 and from that point onwards it was them and the UFC unlikely to come to terms.

I mean you look at what guys like Nog, Shogun, Wand and Crocop were getting from the UFC back then and whilst it was certainly decent money it was along way off of "millions" and the kind of numbers that M-1 contract(which importantly was garenteed, the UFC deal most likely could be terminated whenever they wanted) was offering. I strongly suspect the issue was Fedor(and a few others like Barnett) saw that the UFC was actually lowballing fighters depending on the idea they were the only game in town.
 
Fedor knocked out one UFC champ in a matter of seconds, and another in the 2nd greatest MMA knockout of all time.

He did just fine without selling his soul to the Fertittas.
 
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