- Joined
- Dec 8, 2014
- Messages
- 871
- Reaction score
- 0
First of all I am a huge huge Fedor Emelianenko fan. I discovered MMA thanks to him and I have watched all of his fights at least 15 times.
There has been a lot of debate on who is the GOAT, a lot of talks about how would Fedor do against the UFC fighters.
Some people think that UFC fighters would destroy Fedor, other people think that Fedor would destroy them.
I do not want to make this thread very long, so I will be as brief as possible.
Fedor Emelianenko is without any doubt an amazing fighter, very well rounded, very strong, very good cardio, and with a very powerful mindset.
He was the best of his time? Absolutely!
Would he defeat the likes of Cain or Jon Jones? NO!
Fedor was ahead of his time, he was a very well rounded and complete fighter, and destroyed many opponents, however unfortunately at that time MMA fighters were still very limited if we compare them to the fighters of today.
PRIDE FC was to me the greatest organization ever (way more entertaining than the UFC), however it is not a secret that they made tons of absolute freak fights to entertain the people, or simply to pad the record of the big Dogs.
If we look at Fedor's opponents, we can see some legit great HWs (Mirko, Nogueira, Arlovsky etc.), we see some absolute jokes (Zulu, Choi), and we see a lot of decent fighters, but very one dimensional (Coleman, Fujita, Hunt, Randleman, Ogawa, Goodridge etc.).
He defeated all of them because as I said, Fedor was ahead of his time. He was a very well rounded fighter in a time where most MMA fighters were still one dimensional.
And to be honest, even against some of those one dimensional fighters, he had some sorts of trouble (Almost got KOd by Fujita, was controlled in the ground by Mark Hunt!, was taken down and controlled by Coleman ((first fight)), got slammed by Randleman etc.).
He won all of those fights because he was the better fighter, however it showed that he had some weaknesses.
How would Fedor do against today's top fighters?
Would he be in the Top 10? Top 5?
I think that he would definitely be in the Top 10, and probably in the Top 5. But would he defeat Jones or Cain? The chances are slim.
He would for sure defeat the likes of Frank Mir or Stefan Struve though.
And I think that he would have destroyed Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar as well.
He was without any doubt the best of his generation, he was the best from 2003 to 2008.
If he went to the UFC after Pride died, for sure he would have won the UFC belt.
But the sport has evolved a lot, and the current Top fighters are very very well prepared and they are way better than the competition Fedor used to face.
After his Strikeforce run, Fedor destroyed Monson, Rizzo and Ishii. Those 3 are the kind of fighters that Fedor mainly fought at Pride. Good fighters but pretty one dimensional and "green", if we compare them to the UFC's top fighters.
Fedor destroyed them easily, showing that he was still at a high level.
However we saw what happened when he faced Werdum, BigFoot and Hendo.
We can say all we want about BigFoot having 50 pounds more, but look what Cain did to BigFoot. And Cain weighs the same as Fedor!
In conclussion, Fedor is one of the greatest fighters of all time. He was the best of his time, just like Bas Rutten was the best of his time, just like Royce Gracie was the best of his time.
However today's top fighters would beat Fedor if they fought. I say that as the huge huge Fedor fan that I am.
It is the same as Ronda Rousey. She is by far the best fighter, but why? Simply because the level of comeptition in her division is still very weak.
That is not her fault, she is fighting the best available, however all those women are very very limited.
If the sport continues evolving, in 10 years we will see female fighters that are much better than current Ronda Rousey.
It does not mean that she sucks, it simply means that she is ahead of her time.
There has been a lot of debate on who is the GOAT, a lot of talks about how would Fedor do against the UFC fighters.
Some people think that UFC fighters would destroy Fedor, other people think that Fedor would destroy them.
I do not want to make this thread very long, so I will be as brief as possible.
Fedor Emelianenko is without any doubt an amazing fighter, very well rounded, very strong, very good cardio, and with a very powerful mindset.
He was the best of his time? Absolutely!
Would he defeat the likes of Cain or Jon Jones? NO!
Fedor was ahead of his time, he was a very well rounded and complete fighter, and destroyed many opponents, however unfortunately at that time MMA fighters were still very limited if we compare them to the fighters of today.
PRIDE FC was to me the greatest organization ever (way more entertaining than the UFC), however it is not a secret that they made tons of absolute freak fights to entertain the people, or simply to pad the record of the big Dogs.
If we look at Fedor's opponents, we can see some legit great HWs (Mirko, Nogueira, Arlovsky etc.), we see some absolute jokes (Zulu, Choi), and we see a lot of decent fighters, but very one dimensional (Coleman, Fujita, Hunt, Randleman, Ogawa, Goodridge etc.).
He defeated all of them because as I said, Fedor was ahead of his time. He was a very well rounded fighter in a time where most MMA fighters were still one dimensional.
And to be honest, even against some of those one dimensional fighters, he had some sorts of trouble (Almost got KOd by Fujita, was controlled in the ground by Mark Hunt!, was taken down and controlled by Coleman ((first fight)), got slammed by Randleman etc.).
He won all of those fights because he was the better fighter, however it showed that he had some weaknesses.
How would Fedor do against today's top fighters?
Would he be in the Top 10? Top 5?
I think that he would definitely be in the Top 10, and probably in the Top 5. But would he defeat Jones or Cain? The chances are slim.
He would for sure defeat the likes of Frank Mir or Stefan Struve though.
And I think that he would have destroyed Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar as well.
He was without any doubt the best of his generation, he was the best from 2003 to 2008.
If he went to the UFC after Pride died, for sure he would have won the UFC belt.
But the sport has evolved a lot, and the current Top fighters are very very well prepared and they are way better than the competition Fedor used to face.
After his Strikeforce run, Fedor destroyed Monson, Rizzo and Ishii. Those 3 are the kind of fighters that Fedor mainly fought at Pride. Good fighters but pretty one dimensional and "green", if we compare them to the UFC's top fighters.
Fedor destroyed them easily, showing that he was still at a high level.
However we saw what happened when he faced Werdum, BigFoot and Hendo.
We can say all we want about BigFoot having 50 pounds more, but look what Cain did to BigFoot. And Cain weighs the same as Fedor!
In conclussion, Fedor is one of the greatest fighters of all time. He was the best of his time, just like Bas Rutten was the best of his time, just like Royce Gracie was the best of his time.
However today's top fighters would beat Fedor if they fought. I say that as the huge huge Fedor fan that I am.
It is the same as Ronda Rousey. She is by far the best fighter, but why? Simply because the level of comeptition in her division is still very weak.
That is not her fault, she is fighting the best available, however all those women are very very limited.
If the sport continues evolving, in 10 years we will see female fighters that are much better than current Ronda Rousey.
It does not mean that she sucks, it simply means that she is ahead of her time.
