Fedor was a great fighter, yet the quality of Russian HWs hasn't declined so much

[milenss]

I think this is a slightly delusional and exaggerated misconception that there is no one but Fedor for Russia.
Yes, he's a legend, great fighter, the greatest, but the current new wave of Russian HWs is vastly underrated in my opinion.
You have Volkov and Minakov who have both cracked top 10, and indications are they have been there for a long time.
Minakov is 23-0. A staggering record for the HW division (in spite of the slightly lower level of competition.) Amassing such record is a rarity at HW.
Volkov proved he belongs in the top 10 of UFC and there are some really interesting fights for him. I think he will have a competitive fight with Werdum.. and why not winning?

All in all Russia still produces elite heavyweights, despite some promotional and contractual issues.

MMA has evolved a ton since the RINGS era, and you can't expect HWs on a dominant Fedor runs in times when the average level is way higher than in the past.

 

[milenss]

No one will ever have the mystic Fedor had
If you didn't know about it, you weren't there

The thing is I know, as Fedor is practically the only reason why I'm here and still a MMA guy.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

It hasnt declined..they were just ahead of their timw now the rest of the game has caught up and pasted them.. like royce gracie..

 

[Reach4theSky]

The UFC needs to sign some of these Russian heavy weights..

 

[OzoneX]

No one will ever have the mystic Fedor had
If you didn't know about it, you weren't there

Who was Fedor's mystic?

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I think it's because he was the best heavyweight in the best MMA organisation at the same time. There are UFC fanboys that will try to discredit him for not fighting in the UFC - but there weren't many heavyweights in that division worth fighting at the time.

It's hard to really find an equivalent because there is no big MMA org today outside of the UFC - Bellator is fairly popular but not to the same level of the UFC at that time.

Russia has always been pretty good as far as MMA is concerned, but Russia's also big on their judo, SAMBO and boxing - so they're not as focussed on the sport compared to a country like brazil

 

[tonni]

You joined in 2015
I have no time to explain, you
Won't get it

He is making a joke, referring to "mystic" as a person or profession instead of mystique, which is what you meant.

 

[tonni]

Who was Fedor's mystic?

Our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

 

[SavageAngel]

Russia seems to be the 3rd best country for producing great fighters.

1 USA (They make the majority of the great fighters)
2 Brazil (They come second in numbers, but first when it comes to trully GOAT-like fighters)
3 Russia

Third place I always thought it was Canada because of GSP, and then there were always some good Canadian fighters in the UFC. But Russia has produced 2 GOAT-like fighters (Fedor, Khabib) and a bunch of top 10 fighters.

 

[Werdun]

Russia seems to be the 3rd best country for producing great fighters.

1 USA (They make the majority of the great fighters)
2 Brazil (They come second in numbers, but first when it comes to trully GOAT-like fighters)
3 Russia

Third place I always thought it was Canada because of GSP, and then there were always some good Canadian fighters in the UFC. But Russia has produced 2 GOAT-like fighters (Fedor, Khabib) and a bunch of top 10 fighters.

You might even place Japan and Netherlands over Canada. But they are clearly second tier fighting countries

 

[JoeRoganade]

Fedor was great but to say he was a GOAT when he has never once competed in the UFC is ridiculous. Prime roided Fedor would be absolutely murdered by Jon Jones.

 

[Claude]

Fedor was great but to say he was a GOAT when he has never once competed in the UFC is ridiculous. Prime roided Fedor would be absolutely murdered by Jon Jones.

Here's the flaw in your argument young padawan: The UFC didn't have the best HW's.

Pride, Affliction, Strikeforce HW > UFC HW

Fedor actually fought better competition by staying away from the UFC. He's the GOAT.

And Jones would get armabarred.

/lesson

 

[LHWBelt]

Frankly I think Russia is 2nd in producing mma fighters now and have overtaken Brazil. They've easily overtaken Brazil at HW. There's a ton of guys the UFC could sign that could do well right now. I'm not downing the UFC though they've actually done a great job signing at HW lately. Sergey Pavlovich could fit in right now as well as a few others like Goltsov and a couple I'm not thinking about right now.

 

[Kirill Chernikov]

Minakov (33), Pavlovich (25), Goltsov (26), Mokhnatkin (27), Vakhaev
11 of the top 50 HWs according to Fight Matrix are Russian.

 

[Blazmo]

It's crazy how overrated Russian fighters are. I think the reason it happens so much is because of the media constantly portraying Russians as total badasses and people feel sorry for Russians for not being able to live up to the hype and so that happens.

 

[MCS]

Russia used to have Fedor, Aleks and Sergei as top HW's. It's not the same.

 

[milenss]

It's crazy how overrated Russian fighters are. I think the reason it happens so much is because of the media constantly portraying Russians as total badasses and people feel sorry for Russians for not being able to live up to the hype and so that happens.

Ok if its crazy. Tell me just ONE HW fighter with a record of 20+ wins and no losses vs. not some complete scrubs like Travis Fulton level opposition?
Can you name just one?

 

[milenss]

Russia seems to be the 3rd best country for producing great fighters.

1 USA (They make the majority of the great fighters)
2 Brazil (They come second in numbers, but first when it comes to trully GOAT-like fighters)
3 Russia

Third place I always thought it was Canada because of GSP, and then there were always some good Canadian fighters in the UFC. But Russia has produced 2 GOAT-like fighters (Fedor, Khabib) and a bunch of top 10 fighters.

You are completely delusional and biased.

 

[Ilovepizza]

HW + LHW is ded

 

[Chagaev]

Prime roided Fedor would be absolutely murdered by Jon Jones.

Just Jon Jones or roided JJ?

Would the latter be superfluous?