Fedor strengths and weaknesses and his skillset in the UFC today (Long Thread)

[The Last King]

MMA fighters peak later because there are so many different things to learn, so that is an epic fail. Also, lets see where the stats and research is on peaks of UFC fighters, because if you pulled that out of your ass, it is even more meaningless.

No, you don't get to run and hide by bringing up the UFC as "the only relevant sport." You made a claim with zero research to back it up, and zero real life examples of sports with the kind of late peaking you are talking about. We peak in our 20s which all of those articles showed you which you hid from with cheap and uneducated excuses; those articles are a reflection of a thing called science. Stop
the nonsense and offer the proof or go home.

Lol I appreciate your efforts but the two trolls youre arguing with are just that, trolls. Neither of them really ever trained or know anything about fighting. In their eyes Sugar Ray Leonard was still in his prime at 33 even though hes never won another fight after turning 33. These type of people often spend their time sitting on the couch while guzzling saturated Fats until they fall asleep then come on sherdog to preach about an athletic peaks and physical prime. Ignore them.

 

[The Last King]

You’re hurting people and causing meltdowns. Love it.

You didn't contribute anything to this thread. You didnt give a single breakdown of the fighting or the skills. You spent god knows how long reading through every page of this thread and didn't contribute anything until you found a comment from some passive aggressive troll who came here to disrupt the thread and only then did you comment in the thread, praising him and telling him "this is hurting people, I love it"

Bizarre behavior. Jeffrey Dahmer creeper vibes in full effect.

 

[omawho402]

+1 for Fedor teh GOAT

 

[TJ177]

I've long thought 40 year old Fedor would beat 25 year old Fedor.

Bizarre passive aggressive behavior. In one post you talk about how great Fedor was in another post he was some "doughy guy in the infancy of the sport who couldn't beat father time"??? What's with the bi polar swings?

Cain, DC and BJ Penn were doughy fighters who were are incredible champions and way ahead of their time.

Babe Ruth came around in the infancy of baseball and was still better than 90% of players for the next 50 years. Shaquille O'Neal is the most dominate center ever and there won't be another center who is more athletic and physical than him for the next 100 years, if ever. Fedor was no different than them. Could he have lost to peak Cain or peak Ngannou? Sure. Was he still more skilled than almost every fighter in MMA today? Yes. And there is no theory which can prove otherwise. Only shillish speculation and dishonest stories of "evolution "

Babe Ruth is the perfect example - on that we are in agreement. Virtually every one agrees that he's the best baseball player ever. No one who understands baseball thinks that he would be competive 50 years later. He played in an era where he could swing a 40 Oz bat, with 250 foot fences, in a contact oriented game in a league that banned half of the best players in the world.

Babe Ruth trying to hit current major league pitching would end the same way that most of Fedor's fights did post Pride.

 

[The Last King]

I've long thought 40 year old Fedor would beat 25 year old Fedor.


Babe Ruth is the perfect example - on that we are in agreement. Virtually every one agrees that he's the best baseball player ever. No one who understands baseball thinks that he would be competive 50 years later. He played in an era where he could swing a 40 Oz bat, with 250 foot fences, in a contact oriented game in a league that banned half of the best players in the world.

Babe Ruth trying to hit current major league pitching would end the same way that most of Fedor's fights did post Pride.

First of all no one said anything about Babe Ruth vs current pitching. But Ruth would absolutely still be crushing the pitchers from the 40s, 50s and possibly the 60s. Ruth was hitting homeruns to center field where the fence was 450ft and calling those shots. In 1921 one of his home runs was measured at 575ft. He was a monster and he was easily two or three decades ahead of his generation. Just like Fedor was.

Secondly 27 year old Fedor would knock 40 year old Fedor out cold, out wrestle him, out grapple him and out scramble him all day.

 

[drbolony]

Fedor is a badass in any era, that said, the exception is not the rule. MMA has come a long way since Fedors time in Pride/his prime.

 

[The Last King]

You have a source for Couture being on TRT? I have never heard of him having an exemption, and he always spoke out against it.

40+ year olds don't look like this without sauce



The funniest thing about Handy was nickname being "The Natural"

 

[drbolony]

I've long thought 40 year old Fedor would beat 25 year old Fedor.


Babe Ruth is the perfect example - on that we are in agreement. Virtually every one agrees that he's the best baseball player ever. No one who understands baseball thinks that he would be competive 50 years later. He played in an era where he could swing a 40 Oz bat, with 250 foot fences, in a contact oriented game in a league that banned half of the best players in the world.

Babe Ruth trying to hit current major league pitching would end the same way that most of Fedor's fights did post Pride.

Based on what? His slow reaction time? His inability to take shots?

 

[Lee_]

40+ year olds don't look like this without sauce

View attachment 956036

The funniest thing about Handy was nickname being "The Natural"

I think this is what they meant by "natural."

 

[The Last King]

Ngannou beat Stipe in the rematch because he improved leaps and bounds, not because Stipe suddenly got washed. It was evident from Ngannou’s pacing, shot selection and his greatly improved offensive and defensive wrestling.

Ngannou beats new generation guys in their prime with the same was he beats legends. Blaydes x2, Gane and Rozenstruick all suffered the same fate as the rest.

DC would be a tough fight for Ngannou. His boxing is good enough to close the distance and he had elite wrestling skills to take Ngannou down and a real chance of finishing him on the ground.

Cain was reckless when closing the distance, prime Cain would get clipped just like he did when Ngannou actually beat him.

There’s a good chance that Fedor would be dumb enough to brawl with Ngannou. That’s an express ticket to shadow realm right there. Fedor’s grappling is greatly overrated as well. He struggled with guys like Hunt and CroCop ffs. He ain’t doing shit to Ngannou with his primitive trips and armbars, MMA has moved on.

Your recency bias and desperate UFC shilling are ridiculous lol. Everything in your post screams of a guy who started watching MMA in 2013.

Stipe is 40 years old and has been in nothing but wars the last 3 years. The guy has been knocked out in the UFC 2x before he even fought Ngannou.

Ngannou showed some improvements in the rematch, particularly with his jab and his pacing but you're giving him way too much credit for out wrestling a badly rocked, 40 year old CTE Stipe. Imagine thinking that version of Stipe was in his prime lol. Such desperate shillery.

Blaydes nearly got knocked out by a 50 year old Mark Hunt, got slept by bummy one dimensional brawler Lewis and was so tired after wrestling around with Volkov he couldn't even catch his breath enough to do an interview. He's a good fighter but nothing special and Ngannou beating him doesn't do anything for Ngannous legacy as an all time great HW.

So far everyone Ngannou has knocked out in the UFC had already been knocked out in the UFC multiple times. Reem had been knocked out in the UFC like 4x by the time he fought Ngannou. AA had been knocked out like 4 times too before he ever fought Ngannou. Rozenstrike is literally a borderline can with an early 2000s skillset. None of these wins are special.

Prime DC would be a tough fight for Ngannou. Prime Cain would be a tough fight for him too but he didn't fight prime Cain, he fought a Cain that was coming off a 2 year layoff and was so washed up that he never fought again after losing to Ngannou.

Fedor was faster than Ngannou and could def brawl with him and clinch with him and make him work. I'm certain Fedor could beat the shit out of the Ngannou who lost to Stipe and Lewis. Current Ngannou is improved and would he a tougher fight for Fedor for sure but that doesn't change the fact that today's HW top 10 is weaker than the top 10 HWs of the last two generations.

Fedor didn't struggle with Cro Cop. He dominated Cro Cop. It's funny seeing shills like you say Fedor struggled with Cro Cop but you applaude Ngannou for struggling on the ground with Gane, doing literally zero damage and lay and praying.

Fedor had Hunt taken down and mounted and nearly armlocked in the first minute, then got ahead of himself, lost position and Hunt laid on him for a few minutes and then Fedor still submitted him in the first round anyways. What shills call "struggling" lol

 

[The Last King]

Honestly, there seems to be some nostalgic bias in here.

Don’t get me wrong, the Last Emperor is a legend and one of the very best GOAT candidates, eternal respect for what he accomplished and for many of his top abilities, but historical prime Fedor would certainly not easily “crush everybody” today the way he did in the 2000s, for two main reasons.

1 – The technical level is better

We often read that heavyweights now are less technical or more one-dimensional than in the 2000s Pride era or the 2010s UFC : this is globally pure bullshit. Actually, one of the reasons Fedor could shine so much was because he fought in a technically super-uneven division.

View attachment 955864
How many of his basic armbars do you think Fedor could pull off nowadays ? Probably not so much considering almost nobody falls for armbars now as they are super-known and drilled, while for some Pride fighters they were apparently very esoteric and startling feats.

Clearly, one of the reasons (not the only one) why Fedor was so good in Pride was because he was one of the most (probably the most) complete fighters of all. With his sambo, he had a polyvalent skillset and a great understanding of all aspects of MMA, enhancing his other abilities (aggression, speed, etc.).

In short, Fedor appeared even more as a demi-god because he faced many guys, particularly big ones, who were in the “MMA technical stone-age”, and while it was normal for the time, it would be very different today, aggravating the size factor.

View attachment 955865
One of the peak MMA athletes of the glorious year 2005 that Fedor had to face, before elite HW MMA dramatically declined.

2 – Everyone is bigger

“Heavyweight” can mean a lot of things, and the standard has totally inflated from Pride to 2022. If we speak in today’s terms, the functional and complete “HW” of the prime Fedor era were mostly blown-up MW and LHW (HW Cro Cop and LHW rehydrated Prochazka are roughly the same size, minus some fat).

There were big guys in Pride sure but, with some exceptions, they were not complete MMA fighters, either unathletic freaks (Zulu, etc.) or pure kickboxers with minimal grappling (Hong-Man Choi and some others were 100x more unidimensional than the Ganes and N’Gannous some like to deconsider).

Today HW are way bigger and often more athletic than the average functional “HW” Pride fighter (N’Gannou and many others cutting weight to fight jacked at 265 lbs) and the difference it makes in striking and grappling is enormous.

First, the one punch KO power they display is nothing to laugh at, particularly when you see how Fedor was sometimes put on skates in his prime or KOed by Henderson in 2011 when he was far from being a greybeard (good luck boxing aggressively against 265+ lbs, 83 inches-reach counter-puncher N’Gannou and his underrated precision).



Cro Cop had KO power with his high-kicks sure, but now many HWs can do equal or more damage just with their fists, which tells of the power evolution and also explains why wrestling reigns less supreme than in other divisions, as it is much more risky to implement.

Talking about the wrestling/grappling, Fedor’s throws worked against guys who had no clinch game (today cage fighters work it a lot, and I highly doubt Fedor could toss Stipe, MT Gane or N'Gannou), were his size or less, but against big guys with a bit of technique, his abilities were often nullified, which is totally normal and why we have weight divisions in the first place.


By the way, if we apply to the Silva fight the same logic many apply to Gane/N’Gannou, we should conclude that Fedor has complete shit grappling for getting stuck in mount.

And what if…

Fedor was in his prime today and adapting his game to another era ? That's a good question, even if there are many reasons to think that size would remain a big problem for him at HW.

Still a legend.

Nice recency bias and shillish semantics. Talking about "technical level is better" today at HW? Based on what lol? Such recency bias. Smh. The top 10 HWs in Fedors era and Cain and JDS era were more skilled than the top 10 HWs are today. This is a fact.

You claim Derrick Lewis "isn't a good representation of the HW division" because it suits your strawman argument. The reality is he fought for the title twice and was in multiple title contender eliminator matches and has multiple wins over today's top 10 HWs.

The fact is Lewis wouldn't be in the top 5 in 2013 and he wouldn't be in the top 5 in 2005. He'd have a hard time holding a top 10 slot in both generations. If that's not an indicator that there has been a massive decline in talent in the HW division then shit, i don't know what else to say.

Secondly you claim everyone today is "bigger" as if that means something. Today's biggest HWs minus Ngannou are Gane, Volkov, Lewis and Tuivasa.

Gane is a regional Muay Thai promotion fighter with limited grappling. Submitting two cans in the UFC doesn't mean he would have an answer for the grappling of guys like Fedor, Nog, Barnett from or Cain, Brock, Bigfoot, Ubereem from 2011-2013 who were are all much better and more dominant grapplers than him.

Ganes grappling is probably close to that of a 2005 Mirko Cro Cop. Only Mirko wasn't some shitty regional Muay Thai guy, he fought in the best and most stacked era of K1 where he beat guys who were much, much higher level than Gane. Guys like Aerts, Hunt, Lebanner, Bernardo, Feitosa, Greco and Sefo.

Gane is a fun fighter but he's had nothing but favorable match ups in the UFC against washed up legends, one dimensional strikers and one dimensional brawlers, none of which had any grappling. Of course he's going to shine against washed up JDS, one dimensional Rozenstruik, one dimensional Volkov, one dimensional brawlers like Lewis and Tuivasa.

If Gane had to fight the likes of Fedor, Nog, Barnett, Randy, Brock, Ricco, Mir, Werdum you think he would look so good? I doubt it. Id expect him to be on his back a lot and if he had to fight guys with legit striking skill like prime Mirko,young JDS, prime Sergei, prime Aleks, and Ubereem he would look a lot more human.

Lol Gane would have his hands full with Semmy Schilt who wasnt even top 10 back then. With that said I still like Gane but his skillset is vastly overrated and the quality of his wins is overinflated. Those guys he beat were lower level than the elites of the last two generations of HWs.

Guys like Fedor, Barnett, Nog, Randy, Brock, Cain, Werdum would all put grappling clinics on the Volkovs, Lewis's, Tuivasas, Ganes and Rozenstruiks of the world and anyone with any experience in this sport will admit that.

You bring up Fedors basic armbars lol. Look up how many times Lindland was armlocked. Look up how many times Coleman was armlocked and by who. Coleman went to the UFC many years later as a decrepit old man and spent countless time on the ground with legitimate BJJ black belts like Cristiano Marcelo Black belt Shogun Rua and Renzo Gracie Black belt Bonnar and never came close to being submitted or armlocked by them.

Fedor armlocked Coleman in slicker fashion than Big Nog did and Nog was a De La Riva black belt and BJJ world champion at the brown belt level.

You say Fedors trips and takedowns wouldn't work on Stipe lol why would he need to trip and takedown Stipe and Blaydes? Fedor was a lot faster than Stipe and Blaydes with better striking and superior punching power and could have easily knocked both of them out.

Stipe loves to brawl and walks into punches. Got dropped by washed up, post Cain JDS and got dropped by old ass Econoreem. Peak Fedor could def KO him.

Blaydes is a solid wrestler but he has proven to be a weak tactician. He got knocked out by the one dimensional Lewis and got nearly KOd by a 47 year old Mark Hunt who brushed Blaydes' clinches off multiple times.

Fedor woudlnt need to use offensive grappling against guys like Stipe and Blaydes- instead hed use his defensive grappling to keep them off of him and use his striking to knock them out.

Fedor would use offensive grappling on guys like Volkov, Rozenstruik, Lewis, Gane, Tuivasa and Pavlovich who have all been smashed on the ground by less talented guys than peak Fedor.

Then you bring up guys like Pavlovich who is obviously a good fighter but there is absolutely zero evidence that he's in any way superior or more technically advanced than a prime Kharitonov, prime AA or prime Aleks E.

His best win is a washed up , bummy brawler in Derrick Lewis and he got absolutely smashed by Overeem who had been stopped in the UFC like 5 times before he beat Pav.

I like the kid but need to see more before Id assume he'd be in the top 5 in 2013 or in 2005. And that's the point: it's not that Pavlovich sucks it's that there were guys 18 years ago who weren't in the top 5 (AA, Aleks, Sergei) who were easily as good or better than him.

Guys like Pavlovich, Blaydes, Volkov and Tuivasa are good fighters but they're not GREAT and not one of them make a case for being a clear cut top 5er in 2013 or 2005. If anything they prove that the sport at HW has hardly evolved, if anything they prove that the talent at HW is declining.

Ngannou is great but his best wins are mostly over washed up fighters. Now he's 36 years old and coming off knee reconstruction so we will see how he performs but even then he's the only guy who could truly be considered a legitimate top 5er in 2013 and in 2005. The rest of the guys are less well rounded and less skilled than the top 10ers in the prior generations.

The narrative today is that the HWs today are "bigger" and better trained which is utter bullshit and UFC shill propaganda. You claim this thread is full of nostalgia, I think your post is full of recency bias and shilling.

Thanks for your UFC recency bias filled, well thought out, shillish post though- posting pics of Fedor vs Bigfoot in a fight where Fedor was 5-6 years past his peak. I see you.

 

[Grappler111]

Your recency bias and desperate UFC shilling are ridiculous lol. Everything in your post screams of a guy who started watching MMA in 2013.

Stipe is 40 years old and has been in nothing but wars the last 3 years. The guy has been knocked out in the UFC 2x before he even fought Ngannou.

Ngannou showed some improvements in the rematch, particularly with his jab and his pacing but you're giving him way too much credit for out wrestling a badly rocked, 40 year old CTE Stipe. Imagine thinking that version of Stipe was in his prime lol. Such desperate shillery.

Blaydes nearly got knocked out by a 50 year old Mark Hunt, got slept by bummy one dimensional brawler Lewis and was so tired after wrestling around with Volkov he couldn't even catch his breath enough to do an interview. He's a good fighter but nothing special and Ngannou beating him doesn't do anything for Ngannous legacy as an all time great HW.

So far everyone Ngannou has knocked out in the UFC had already been knocked out in the UFC multiple times. Reem had been knocked out in the UFC like 4x by the time he fought Ngannou. AA had been knocked out like 4 times too before he ever fought Ngannou. Rozenstrike is literally a borderline can with an early 2000s skillset. None of these wins are special.

Prime DC would be a tough fight for Ngannou. Prime Cain would be a tough fight for him too but he didn't fight prime Cain, he fought a Cain that was coming off a 2 year layoff and was so washed up that he never fought again after losing to Ngannou.

Fedor was faster than Ngannou and could def brawl with him and clinch with him and make him work. I'm certain Fedor could beat the shit out of the Ngannou who lost to Stipe and Lewis. Current Ngannou is improved and would he a tougher fight for Fedor for sure but that doesn't change the fact that today's HW top 10 is weaker than the top 10 HWs of the last two generations.

Fedor didn't struggle with Cro Cop. He dominated Cro Cop. It's funny seeing shills like you say Fedor struggled with Cro Cop but you applaude Ngannou for struggling on the ground with Gane, doing literally zero damage and lay and praying. Fedor had Hunt taken down and mounted and nearly armlocked in the first minute, then got ahead of himself, lost position and Hunt laid on him for a few minutes and then Fedor still submitted him in the first round anyways. What shills call "struggling" lol

But he was defeated by older mw Hendo and Arona.

 

[Deleted member 504083]

But he was defeated by older mw Hendo and Arona.

Ngannou lost to Zoumana Cisse and Derrick Lewis.....

 

[The Last King]

But he was defeated by older mw Hendo and Arona.

Fedor beat Arona. Special rules in RINGS where if the fight resulted in a draw and went into the sudden death round then the winner of that round wins the fight. Fedor clearly won that round.

Fedor lost 3 in a row when he lost to Hendo. A fighter who went undefeated for 10 years and suddenly loses 3 in a row is clearly not at his best and past his peak. It's clear that Fedor was on a downslide: both physical and mental.

I'm guessing he was tired from 10 years of training and injuries and mental stress and needed a break. Its no coincidence he retired after the Bigfoot fight but there was too much invested so he had to keep going.

Going into the Hendo fight, Fedor was coming off a really bad loss to Bigfoot where he took an insane amount of damage. Fedor shouldn't have returned so soon and I think it played a role in the loss to Hendo.

Hendo at the time was surging and on the best run of his career. He was 40 years old but was using TRT and training as hard and fighting with the intensity of a 30 year old.

Going into the Fedor fight Hendo knocked out Babalu who had just beat Lawler, knocked, knocked out Feijao who had just knocked out King Mo and Romero and then Hendo knocked out Fedor who was past his prime and going through bad time but it was still an amazing win.

After beating Fedor, Hendo went to the UFC and beat the hell out of Shogun and then got a title shot against Jon Jones but unfortunately Hendo injured his knee in training and the fight never took place.

It's pretty clear Hendo was knocking the shit out of people and was going through a resurgence. If he wasn't peaking then how the hell would he get title shot against Jon Jones?

Hendo wasn't some old MW. He was a juiced up all time great in MMA and Olympic level wrestler with P4P KO power in both hands.

That version of Hendo was no joke and Fedor haters like to pretend Fedor lost to some old MW because it makes Fedor look bad. Hendo was a monster at that moment and caught Fedor at the right time.

Nobody who understands fighting would bet on Hendo to beat 2005 Fedor so Fedor haters pretend that old MW Hendo beat 2005 Fedor in 2011 to diminish Fedor. It's a bizarre desperation which in the end shits on Fedor and on Hendo- two all time greats.

Old MW:

 

[Yrat]

You hear a lot of talk about "evolution" which has merit to a degree, but the reality is that it's significance is over exaggerated. Fedor had a more well rounded and comprehensive skillset in 2005 than any HW in the UFC has today. He was arguably more skilled than any fighter in the UFC today.

Fedor was the fastest HW that theres ever been. Big Nog said he was the fastest fighter hes ever fought. Chael Sonnen said he was blown away by how fast, old, Bellator Fedor still was. Yuji Shimada the legendary Pride FC ref whos refereed hundreds of fights said Fedor was not only the fastest HW hes ever seen but the fastest fighter hes ever seen. He said he noticed Fedor's speed the most during his transitions from striking to grappling. He said watching Fedor transition from throwing strikes to ragdolling his opponents was like watching an, "Animal. "Wow." -Yuji Shimada

On top of being the fastest HW ever, Fedor was the most well rounded HW ever and had the most dynamic and comprehensive skillset this sport has ever seen at HW and maybe even across all weight classes, depending on who you ask.

Fedor was a grappler but would spar competitively with world class, hard hitting, pro boxers like Denis Lebedev and land a lightning fast right cross on them like a pro boxer would. Nobody in the HW division today has a cross this good and this fast and this was old Strikeforce Fedor. Not only was he technical, but he understood distance and timing and he could also hit the brawl button at any time if he needed to and brawl with ANYONE. This is rare because most fighters usually can only do one or the other.



Fedor had world class Sambo and Judo skills and was on the Russian national Judo team. He had no problem with ragdolling a 250lb man. He took down prime Mirko almost easily with finesse while Olympic level, powerful wrestlers like Coleman and Randleman couldnt. Fedor had a lifetime of knowledge in throws and takedowns and even in his later years was pulling off shit like this:



You won't see any HWs in the UFC today pulling off anything like this. It requires years and years of training, experience and expertise in grappling and again, this was old, Strikeforce Fedor.

Fedor had the best and most fierce ground and pound this sport has ever seen. I could post gifs of him bouncing prime Nogs head off the mat like a basketball but what he did to Herring is still slept on in terms of speed and ferocity. Just listen to the sound of these GnP shots.



Besides the striking, grappling and brutal GnP, Fedor had slick submissions and could armlock his opponents from his back with the hip-speed of a break dancer like he did to Coleman. Coleman has spent lots of time on the mat with high level grapplers. Not even Big Nog subbed him with such swiftness. Even a Renzo Gracie black belt in BJJ like Stephan Bonnar never came close to submitting 50 year old Coleman. Even Shogun who is a Cristiano Marcelo black belt in BJJ and who has spent multiple camps training with Demian Maia never came close to submitting old Coleman. It shows how swift Fedors armlocks were and how ahead of his time he was by pulling off such slick subs back in 2004.



Besides the skills, Fedor had absurd reflexes. He checked Mirkos fastest and hardest low kick with no feel out process in the opening moments of their fight like it was nothing. You don't see those kind of checking reflexes in MMA, you see it in professional kickboxing and professional Muay Thai.

View attachment 955522

It's wild to think that a grappling based fighter like Fedor had enough skill, ferocity and durability in the stand up department to trade with prime Cop for extended periods of time and even get the better of him and actually walk him down and make him run away. This was truly unprecedented even by today's standards. Cro Cop was a lot higher level than someone like Gane. Mirko was elite in the best and most stacked era of K-1. Fought and beat guys who were much higher level than Gane. Guys like Hoost, Aerts, Hunt, LeBanner, Feitosa, Greco, Bernardo and Sefo. These guys were on a much higher level than Gane who is a regional Muay Thai organization level fighter.

View attachment 955523

You can't forget Fedors toughness and durability that came with all that skill and athleticism. He got thrown through the air and slammed on his neck by Randleman and recovered moments later and submitted him. Most people would die if this happened to them. Truly remarkable toughness and durability from the GOAT.

View attachment 955525

All in all when you combine the skill, the speed, the toughness, the endurance, the intensity, the durability and his well roundedness there is no doubt that there has never been anyone close to him and there probably never will be. Easily the greatest and most well rounded HW fighter ever and one of the best fighters to ever live. More skilled than any UFC HW today even with all the so called "evolution"


When it comes to weaknesses, Fedor could be reckless at times which made his fights exciting. He didnt play it safe and often took risks and this reckless approach has cost him.

His grappling off his back wasn't as good as his other skills. He could still pull off amazing armlocks and explosive sweeps from bottom and he had great scrambling ability, but his top game was much better than his bottom game. For example against Arona he resorted to hold on to Aronas head to stall while Arona was on top of him in mount and half guard position. Fedor was strong enough to pull this off and get away with it but generally, this was primitive technique.

Another weakness I saw in him was his tendency to get a little bit lazy when it came to giving up underhooks which resulted in him giving up his back and him being put into dangerous situations. This was by far his biggest weakness and it resulted in him being KOd by Hendo and him getting slammed on his neck by Randleman. Below is an example of this tendency in a grappling session with Gegard Mousasi.



Sometimes he got away with it and other times he didnt, especially as he got older. Overall Fedor is still the fastest, most skilled, most well rounded and mentally toughest HW fighter I've ever seen with the best reflexes.

The fact that he had such an advanced and comprehensive skillset 17 years ago speaks volumes of how good he was and how ahead of his time he was. The #1 P4P fighter in the world for 7 consecutive years. There are few fighters in the UFC who are more skilled if any. Maybe prime GSP. Maybe prime Anderson. Maybe prime Aldo but I think Fedor was more skilled than all of them with all things considered.

Vadim Nemkov is the best LHW in the world. He's beaten the likes of Phil Davis 2x, Ryan Bader and Corey Anderson who would all be top 5 in the UFC today, using Fedors 2005 skillset. That says a lot about how complete this skillset is and how these talks of "evolution" are extremely exaggerated as a marketing gimmick to make casuals feel like the product they're consuming is superior to anything else they may have missed in the past and thus it's created a very toxic, what have you don't for me lately fanbase.

Question

Would Fedor do well in ufc 2003-2006?

 

[Fioretti]

MMA fighters peak later because there are so many different things to learn, so that is an epic fail. Also, lets see where the stats and research is on peaks of UFC fighters, because if you pulled that out of your ass, it is even more meaningless.

No, you don't get to run and hide by bringing up the UFC as "the only relevant sport." You made a claim with zero research to back it up, and zero real life examples of sports with the kind of late peaking you are talking about. We peak in our 20s which all of those articles showed you which you hid from with cheap and uneducated excuses; those articles are a reflection of a thing called science. Stop the nonsense and offer the proof or go home.

MMA is the only relevant sport. Endurance sports are the next closest, as MMA is an endurance sport. Hilarious that you're too dense to realize the arguments you're attempting to make contradict what you and others are trying to pass off as truth in order to save face for your favorite fighter that you've never met, who doesn't know you exist. Now you're claiming that you've done some "research", but all you did is recently google articles that you believe agree with what you're saying, and combat what I'm saying. Problem is, you're not intelligent or competent enough to understand what I'm saying, nor are you able to conceptualize the difference between the two. You still think that performance reviews are as good as science in regards to physical development and the deterioration of muscle and bone mass. It's not. One of the big arguments that another guy thinks helps his case is :

• The age of peak athletic performance depends upon the key functional element required of the successful competitor. In events where flexibility is paramount (for example, gymnastics and brief swimming events) the top competitors are commonly adolescents.

How do you think that applies here? You just kinda shot yourself in the keyboard there, buddy boy, didn't ya? These "arguments" you're trying to make, have already been made by other users (years ago) and were shot down then as well. The other guy thought that this exact statement meant gymnasts were in their physical prime. It doesn't. I'll cite some of the science I cited back then that shows you peak athletic performance does not equate to physical prime. Maybe you can try to comprehend how and why they are different? Doubtful, but give it a shot:

A study done by Robert Kail and John Cavanaugh and featured in the book, Human Development: A Life-Span View, stated that men reach their physical peak between their late 20s and early 30s. These findings are further substantiated by a report found in the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science: AGING AND EXERCISE (sportsci.org)

The Human Development: A Life-Span View study concluded that by the time a man reaches their late 30s their physical strength, flexibility, and muscle mass begins to decline and will continue declining. However, you can combat this by participating in regular sporting and fitness activities which will allow you to maintain your peak for at least 20 years longer if you don’t have any debilitating injuries.

Here are some highlights from the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science that are most relevent:

• Young adulthood typically covers the period from 20-35 years of age, when both biological function and physical performance reach their peak. During young middle-age (35-45 years), physical activity usually wanes, with a 5-10 kg accumulation of body fat.

• Strength peaks around 25 years of age, plateaus through 35 or 40 years of age, and then shows an accelerating decline, with 25% loss of peak force by the age of 65 years.

• Muscle mass decreases, apparently with a selective loss in the cross-section if not the numbers of type II fibers. It is unclear whether there is a general hypotrophy of skeletal muscle, or a selective hypoplasia and degeneration of Type II fibers, associated with a loss of nerve terminal sprouting.

• There is a progressive decrease in the calcium content and a deterioration in the organic matrix of the bones with aging. However, the dividing line between normality and pathology is unclear, and it is also uncertain how far a decrease of habitual physical activity contributes to the age-related calcium loss.

• The calcium loss can begin as early as 30 years.

• Regular load-bearing exercise can halt and sometimes even reverse bone mineral loss through the eighth decade of life. Such a regimen is particularly effective when accompanied by a high calcium diet (1500 mg/day).

• The age of peak athletic performance depends upon the key functional element required of the successful competitor. In events where flexibility is paramount (for example, gymnastics and brief swimming events) the top competitors are commonly adolescents.

• Because of a longer plateauing of muscle strength, performance in anaerobic events declines less steeply, and in pursuits such as golf and equitation, where experience is paramount, the best competitors are aged 30-40 years.

• Caution is needed in drawing physiological inferences from athletic records, since the pool of potential competitors decreases with age.

Current MMA Champions by age - The average age of current UFC Champions is 33.55, the average age of Bellator Champions is 32.33, and the average age of all champions from both organizations combined is 33. I've been keeping track and updating this for roughly a year or so. You can see the updates and the failed argument of the other guy in that thread. I've also done every champion from every male division in UFC history, with links in the OP of that thread to each divisional thread, and you probably won't like the results. Just for shits and giggles, I'll link you the HW thread, but I'll make you click on it to see the average.

UFC Champions by age - HW


Do you think the people at the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science might know a thing or two about science, biology, and physiological development? Maybe a bit more than you do? Will you just concede and acknowledge that you were at the very least confused by what I was saying? More realistically, will you admit that you're just emotionally fueled by fanaticism and were talking about shit you didn't know about? This isn't me making shit up, boy, it's me trying to help you understand the difference. These aren't my theories, this is science vs event-based peak individual performance. It just so happens that MMA peak performance aligns almost perfectly with physiological science. Nobody is "past prime" at age 33. This is when their body is naturally at its highest level of physicality.

 

[The Last King]

Question

Would Fedor do well in ufc 2003-2006?

Fedor was a machine from 2003-2005 and would have obviously been the champion in the UFC too. Pride had much more depth but the UFC had some decent talent at the very top of their division. There were some fun fights for Fedor in the UFC during that time. AA, Tim, Randy, Mir and Ricco.

Fedor would have dominated this division for sure and been the KING there. Things would get really interesting around 2007-2010. By then Fedor was past his peak, he had lost in SAMBO and the pressure of each fight was getting heavier and heavier.

2007-2011 would mean he'd fight prime Brock, prime Cain, prime JDS and if he somehow made it through this gauntlet he'd probably face prime DC coming out of the Strikeforce HWGP.

It's hard to imagine Fedor would gave made it through 2007-2012 without losing at least once.

 

[Can’t Handle My Riddum]

You didn't contribute anything to this thread. You didnt give a single breakdown of the fighting or the skills. You spent god knows how long reading through every page of this thread and didn't contribute anything until you found a comment from some passive aggressive troll who came here to disrupt the thread and only then did you comment in the thread, praising him and telling him "this is hurting people, I love it"

Bizarre behavior. Jeffrey Dahmer creeper vibes in full effect.

I just find it truly fascinating how certain MMA fan sub-sets react to being challenged. Fedor fans being one of the most hilarious. You completely fit the stereotype of Fedor fanboy and the amusement you gave me in this thread was incredible.

I thank you for the entertainment. I really mean that. Thanks.

 

[The Last King]

I just find it truly fascinating how certain MMA fan sub-sets react to being challenged. Fedor fans being one of the most hilarious. You completely fit the stereotype of Fedor fanboy and the amusement you gave me in this thread was incredible.

I thank you for the entertainment. I really mean that. Thanks.

Okok Dahmer

If I fit the stereotype of a "Fedor fanboy" you fit the stereotype of a serial killer who wears velcro shoes. Typical Fedor hater vibes.

I'm on an MMA forum talking MMA. You're on an MMA forum, not talking MMA, but instead looking for "amusement" by screening through 30 page threads in hopes of finding some person you dont even know who is "hurting people" by disrupting the thread so you can tell them "I love it" The clown in your avatar is fitting for such behavior.

An interesting existence. Can't imagine what else creepers like you do for "amusement"

 

[Can’t Handle My Riddum]

Okok Dahmer

If I fit the stereotype of a "Fedor fanboy" you fit the stereotype of a serial killer who wears velcro shoes. Typical Fedor hater vibes.

I'm on an MMA forum talking MMA. You're on an MMA forum, not talking MMA, but instead looking for "amusement" by screening through 30 page threads in hopes of finding some person you dont even know who is "hurting people" by disrupting the thread so you can tell them "I love it" The clown in your avatar is fitting for such behavior.

An interesting existence. Can't imagine what else creepers like you do for "amusement"

You are not “talking MMA”. You are having meltdowns and calling people autistic every time someone disagrees with you.

Your performance is probably the funniest of the year on Sherdog. And when I say “thank you,” I really do mean it.