Frank Mir says Fedor never lost his ability, the game just caught up to him as the sport evolved.

[Steve-French]

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

<{cruzshake}>

Has he seen Fedor recently?...his style and skills are completely disintegrated from what it used to be. Sad but true.

 

[Mga223]

Fedor didnt evolve


Went from game plans to rock em sock em robots.

His losses weren't due to losing his speed, power and reflexes.

It was from becoming lazy.

 

[Reach4theSky]

Sounds like he's trying to rep Fedor to make his fight with him more meaningful..

Fedor is a shadow of his former self. The dude lost to Maldonado for fck sakes. Regardless how the ''judges'' scored it..

 

[Sdeev]

He obviously got older and instead of being a more "complete" fighter resorted to head hunting ONLY as his ONLY gameplan.

His older fights show that he would be too small for today's heavyweights, not because they are bigger than his earlier opponents but they are similarly situated with their overall skills levels.

 

[Dogo1]

Frank gets hit in the head for a living

 

[Bartinho]

Yeah, that explains 50 yrs Hendo loss. What?? lol

 

[maxi diablo]

A litle bit of both. Fighters are more skilled than before and Fedor just got old.

 

[Toxxus]

Fedor didnt evolve


Went from game plans to rock em sock em robots.

His losses weren't due to losing his speed, power and reflexes.

It was from becoming lazy.

This has been my feeling all along. And I'm saying this about my 2nd favorite fighter of all time. I love Fedor's old fights. But by the time he showed up in Strikeforce he was clearly not in his usual shape and his tactics shifted too hard towards headhunting. He shouldn't have ever lost to old man Hendo and if had had the sense to stay on his feet he would have defeated Werdum.

Combination of letting his physique go and not keeping his game sharp. Claims that he was suddenly shot/old/worn out by 33 weren't very believable.

 

[tenniswhiz]

A litle bit of both. Fighters are more skilled than before and Fedor just got old.

I’d agree with any other divisions besides HW, and to some extent, LHW.

I don’t think fighters are more skilled or better at anything in those two divisions.
With VERY few exceptions.

Prime JDS, Fedor, Barnett, Cro Cop, Big Nog, Sergei, Aleks, are a bunch of monsters that could handle almost anything out there today.
Werdum lost to 2 of those prime guys, as well as to Arlovski...and now he rolls through HW in the UFC with his piss poor standup.

 

[manboy<3]

Mir is a retard

PRIDE's heavyweight division was the most skilled heavyweight division ever and one of the most skilled divisions anywhere

Basic summary for people who forgot

Cro Cop - K-1 legend, MMA legend
Kharitonov - Boxing Champ, K-1 competitor, Elite MMA
Werdum - ADCC champ, Elite MMA
Barnett - Catch wrestling god, Elite MMA
Nog - BJJ great, Excellent boxing, legendary MMA
Hunt - K-1 champ, Very good MMA
Coleman - Olympic level wrestling, PRIDE GP and UFC champ
Fujita - Almost an Olympic wrestler, Elite pro wrestler
Fedor - Sambo legend, Ranked Judoka, God level MMA

PRIDE heavyweights were not only elite MMA fighters but had supreme skills in at least 1 combat sport

Compare this to the UFC

Micocic - Golden gloves champ (LOL) and College wrestler
That African Guy - Nothing and gases in 3 minutes
Cain - the son of Mexican farmers..Huge and good stamina but what else is there? Yeah he wrestled in college but who didn't ?

The "Fedor didn't evolve arguement" gaff that people keep repeating is just plain wrong

Fedor had nowhere to evolve, he was part of one of the most highly skilled divisions in history IMO.





There was nm

 

[campbecc]

Saying Prime Fedor couldn't be champion now is an opinion; maybe it's true maybe it isn't. We'll never know.

Saying Prime Fedor wouldn't easily beat the living hell out of Fedor in 2018 is absurdly stupid.

 

[Ol'Ironhead]

He obviously got older and instead of being a more "complete" fighter resorted to head hunting ONLY as his ONLY gameplan.

His older fights show that he would be too small for today's heavyweights, not because they are bigger than his earlier opponents but they are similarly situated with their overall skills levels.

Lol you clearly are a vegetable that has no clue what you’re talking about.

A prime pride fedor would not have any problem with a size discrepancy. God damn some people are clueless

 

[welcometohavoc]

<{cruzshake}>

Has he seen Fedor recently?...his style and skills are completely disintegrated from what it used to be. Sad but true.

I disagree completely. Fedor was always a wild striker and grappler he just managed to get away with it but now that guys are more skilled and better trained he isnt

 

[ColombianFist]

Nope.as much as i like fedor, he got old. even if he improved his overall game that won't help him overcome age and size since most HW right now are bigger and more complete than him. technically, fedor is a LHW-MW, but he was sooo good he murked top HW like Minotauro at the time.

 

[Zeppeling]

This has been my feeling all along. And I'm saying this about my 2nd favorite fighter of all time. I love Fedor's old fights. But by the time he showed up in Strikeforce he was clearly not in his usual shape and his tactics shifted too hard towards headhunting. He shouldn't have ever lost to old man Hendo and if had had the sense to stay on his feet he would have defeated Werdum.

Combination of letting his physique go and not keeping his game sharp. Claims that he was suddenly shot/old/worn out by 33 weren't very believable.

That’s seriously thr start of a hw peak. 33-36 are the money years

 

[Steve-French]

This has been my feeling all along. And I'm saying this about my 2nd favorite fighter of all time. I love Fedor's old fights. But by the time he showed up in Strikeforce he was clearly not in his usual shape and his tactics shifted too hard towards headhunting. He shouldn't have ever lost to old man Hendo and if had had the sense to stay on his feet he would have defeated Werdum.

Combination of letting his physique go and not keeping his game sharp. Claims that he was suddenly shot/old/worn out by 33 weren't very believable.

Good post.

I think fighting in a cage had a little bit to do with it as well. He could cut angles better in a ring and just seemed to have an overall better awareness.

I don't think Fedor ever really lost any ability. He just had shitty training camps and wasn't taking the right steps with his body and diet.

Imo his reflexes have always been there. He just got lazy with training as he started looking a little softer.

Lets look at the Gary Goodrich fight from 2003. Gary Goodrich was 36 years old. At that point Gary was a tough guy with a few good wins, but with a 17-14 record could probably be placed in the Journeyman's category with his best years arguably behind him.

Now Lets look at Fedor vs Pedro Rizzo from 2012. Pedro was 37 years old with a 19-9 record. He also had some really good wins in his day and even fought for the UFC HW strap three times; but his best years were behind him and he was also slipping into that Journeyman's category.

Keep in mind that these fights are 9 years apart with opponents that are pretty much the same age, The same skill level and at the same point in their career. Fedor looks a little softer in the Rizzo fight and is a little more hesitant to unload, but there isn't a noticeable difference in Fedor's Movement. Which leads me to believe that Fedor's ability has always been there.

Fedor 2003



Fedor 2012

[/QUOTE]

 

[Zeppeling]

Nope.as much as i like fedor, he got old. even if he improved his overall game that won't help him overcome age and size since most HW right now are bigger and more complete than him. technically, fedor is a LHW-MW, but he was sooo good he murked top HW like Minotauro at the time.

Minotauro is a lhw in the same way fedor is. See...his identical twin at lhw...oh

 

[WalkenWouldOwn]

Well his chin and speed aren't what they used to be clearly.

Not evolving doesn't really hold up. This is a guy who out struck the best he striker around and out grappled the best he grappler around. He's just old IMO should have stayed retired.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

I disagree completely. Fedor was always a wild striker and grappler he just managed to get away with it but now that guys are more skilled and better trained he isnt

So he's the same fighter as ever? Bro, you are talking about the man with the most feared ground and pound attack in MMA by far.... and who made 'fedor by armbar' into a sherdog meme...

He has attempted one takedown in his last 9 fights and that was against Singh heart Jaideep.

Compare the Rogers, Maldonado and bigfoot fights to the crocop fight....his striking skill as gone.

The fact of the matter is that Fedor didn't train properly later in his career, and he got old, which makes you go downhill fast as long as you are a clean athlete.

 

[welcometohavoc]

So he's the same fighter as ever? Bro, you are talking about the man with the most feared ground and pound attack in MMA by far.... and who made 'fedor by armbar' into a sherdog meme...

He has attempted one takedown in his last 9 fights and that was against Singh heart Jaideep.

Compare the Rogers, Maldonado and bigfoot fights to the crocop fight....his striking skill as gone.

The fact of the matter is that Fedor didn't train properly later in his career, and he got old, which makes you go downhill fast as long as you are a clean athlete.

It happens. Look at crocop when he came to the ufc. He was supposed to be hw champ in 2 fights and ended up getting ko’d by the likes of Gonzaga and Schaub. The game evolved fast.