Firstly 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 moments of transitions from striking to grappling. He said watching Fedor go from throwing strikes to ragdolling his opponents was like watching an animal.
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.
A grappler who could spar with world class, hard hitting pro boxers like Lebedev and land a lightning fast right cross 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 and understood distance and timing but he could also hit the brawl button at any time if he needed to. This is rare because most fighters usually can only do one or the other.
Fedor had world class Sambo and Judo 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.
Once on the ground Fedor had the best and most fierce ground and pound we have 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.
On top of the striking, grappling and brutal GnP, Fedor had slick submissions and could armlock someone 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 examples of skills listed above Fedor had absurd reflexes. He checked Mirkos fastest and hardest low kick with no feel out process in the opening moments of the 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.
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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.
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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 unthinkable toughness and durability.
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All in all when you combine his skills, his speed, his toughness, his intensity, his 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. The only one that comes close is maybe DC but I don't think DCs submissions and speed were on Fedors level. I also think Fedors cardio was better than Cormier's.
When it comes to weaknesses, Fedor could be reckless at times which made his fights exciting. He didnt play it safe and rook risks often and this sometimes reckless approach has cost him later in his career. It's also important to point out that his grappling from his back wasn't as good as his other skills. He could still pull off amazing armlocks and explosive sweeps from his back and had some good scrambling ability but his top game was much better than his bottom game. For example against Arona he resorted to holding on to Aronas head to stall while Arona was on top in mount and half guard position. Fedor was strong enough to pull this off and get away with it but generally, this a low skilled technique in terms of grappling from your back.
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 in danger. This was by far his biggest weakness IMO 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.
Giving up underhooks and leaving his hands posted on the mat is something that has cost him. Sometimes he got away with it and other times he didnt. But overall Fedor is still the most skilled, most well rounded and mentally toughest HW fighter I've ever seen. 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. Truly a shame that most fans don't grasp how good he was because Dana White said so.
