How good was Fedor really? Was he truly elite?

[Mind Mine]

Not too late.

I sincerely tried. Nobody comes into s sport wanting to be the ofdball laughing at the legends but that Bigfoot battering was probably the funniest beating of a legend ever.

 

[John Creed]

So with that being said, I am interested in what you believe would have happened between Fedor and Dan Henderson during their Pride days? We all saw what Dan did to him once he got the chance at 40 years old.

Henderson was an all-time great. He was not a better fighter than Fedor though, he just landed a great shot.

Back before Fedor developed that glass jaw I see no reason to believe he wouldn't have defeated Henderson. Regardless, just because Dan beat Fedor and lost to Silva doesn't mean Silva = Fedor. Silva was losing to Chael Sonnen until he caught him in that submission. What do you think Fedor would have done to him?

 

[HHJ]

I sincerely tried. Nobody comes into s sport wanting to be the ofdball laughing at the legends but that Bigfoot battering was probably the funniest beating of a legend ever.

Mods, take care of this alright.

 

[Fight Professor]

Henderson was an all-time great. He was not a better fighter than Fedor though, he just landed a great shot.

Dan beautifully reversed the position on the ground to land that shot. He also controlled Fedor against the cage for a while. It was definitely not "just landing a shot" situation.

 

[John Creed]

The Strikeforce era fans are not haters and undeniably not newbs. We cane into the sport being expected to bend knee to the greatness of a man we watched Brett Rogers piece up a bit. The beatings continued and continued for almost the entire time of fandom. I just don’t speak on Pride in fairness

When people praise Fedor they're referring to his Pride days. He was always over-rated in the sense that people thought he was unbeatable, which wasn't true. But he was legitimately the best heavyweight in the world for many years at one point. Since his time better heavyweights have came along but that doesn't mean he wasn't an elite fighter.

 

[John Creed]

Dan beautifully reversed the position on the ground to land that shot. He also controlled Fedor against the cage for a while. It was definitely not "just landing a shot" situation.

In fairness, I haven't seen that fight in years so you might be right. Dan had a powerful punch and was an Olympic level wrester, so it wasn't an ideal matchup for Fedor.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Here's how I always look at Fedor's "padded" record.

Top fighters nowaday fight 1-3 times a year against quality opponents.

Fedor fought at least 1-3 times a year against quality opponents, with some cans added on top of that.

The second one is more impressive, since at HW even some random can could knock you out with 1 lucky punch.

And still had time to medal in the national and world combat sambo championships almost every single year of his MMA career.

 

[Cartiac]

Henderson was an all-time great. He was not a better fighter than Fedor though, he just landed a great shot.

Back before Fedor developed that glass jaw I see no reason to believe he wouldn't have defeated Henderson. Regardless, just because Dan beat Fedor and lost to Silva doesn't mean Silva = Fedor. Silva was losing to Chael Sonnen until he caught him in that submission. What do you think Fedor would have done to him?

Especially knowing what I know now about what was really going on in Pride for a very long time combined with the fighting abilities Fedor showed outside of Pride, I think under fair fight conditions Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva, Randy Couture and probably a lot of other fighters beat Fedor.

 

[shanegotu11]

He was a elite fighter and one of the better HW's to fight. However, he also is over-hyped to me at the same time. Both can be true.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

You got all the mma greats singing praises for Fedor but fat losers on the internet say he's not good so i get it's settled.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Henderson was an all-time great. He was not a better fighter than Fedor though, he just landed a great shot.

Back before Fedor developed that glass jaw I see no reason to believe he wouldn't have defeated Henderson. Regardless, just because Dan beat Fedor and lost to Silva doesn't mean Silva = Fedor. Silva was losing to Chael Sonnen until he caught him in that submission. What do you think Fedor would have done to him?

Just because Fedor was knocked out by Henderson does not mean he had a glass jaw.

I don't understand the Chael Sonnen statement. Anderson Silva beat Chael Sonnen relatively easily, they fought twice. I don't get why the second fight never counts.

Chael Sonnen could definitely take down Fedor, so I don't see the shame in that. Fedor has been taken down by guys around Chael Sonnen's size (I can think of 3 off the top of my head).

 

[Juzie]

Pretty awful. The talent back then was not good at all. Elite oversized kickboxers with no grappling like Semi Schilt were dominating and multi division champions back then. In the current era everyone is so well rounded that it would never be that way.

 

[Mind Mine]

When people praise Fedor they're referring to his Pride days. He was always over-rated in the sense that people thought he was unbeatable, which wasn't true. But he was legitimately the best heavyweight in the world for many years at one point. Since his time better heavyweights have came along but that doesn't mean he wasn't an elite fighter.

I cannot and will not say he wasn’t great I WILL say what I witnessed and it was the truest embodiment of fighter cause boy oh boy Fedor got beat like a pinata at every last moment that was big damn near but he kept fighting. Imagine my humor to come into fandom into an elitist minded sport and to see the “unbeatable baddest man” some basic looking dude being throttled repeatedly lol. You Pride era dudes have no sense of humor because scale of 1-10 that shit moves the funny needle. Seeing him face down assed up by Hendo I may have belly chuckled then but definitely since. Things are all about timing. Mine was Kimbo videos to watching Strikeforce to watching Brett Rogers kinda piece Fedor up. Then I said Brett Rogers is a great fighter that just needs polish if he did that good against Fedor. BWAHAHAHA. At that point Fedor is a joke to me. He distorted my sense of reality on fighting. Some things can’t be undone. As a top tier Fedor shitter upponer I do not I repeat DO NOT have verbal communication about PRIDE. That’s for you to preserve as much as Strikeforce Fedor is dinner. I came in off Kimbo if he is a running joke and I realized it early Fedor got the same clowning from me because he was looking damn near as bad lol. Worse some nights lol. How can I hate a man that mastered the art of napping in such spectacular fashion for free on network cable. Fedor is alright by me.

 

[nonoob]

for you younger rascals, yes he was "that good". it gets tricky when you compare eras. just like with any sport. I watched ufc 1 live and have been a fan ever since. everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I do believe the sport has evolved so so much and continues to evolve. generally speaking, my believe is that the talent crop of this generation is the best ever. but you can't take away what fedor did. he did NOT have a padded record as some suggested here. he fought all the top dogs in pride (minus Barnett, and a few others), and he was 6-0 against former ufc champions. fedor was as good as it comes for that era

Era or Error ,just look at what Dana's Gift of Gane did for Jon./

 

[gracie_barra_samurai]

Prime Fedor doesn't get past 2025 Derrick Lewis and Shoe Beer Boi

 

[krelianx]

Reaching here. Cro Cop and Nog are top notch wins and hold his resume up. AA is his 3rd best win but when you actually watch the fight and see AA was better till his paperchin failed him yet again it becomes a lot less impressive. Tim was on the downside of his career having lost 2 of his previous 3 and the 1 was against a much undersized Vera who Tim hugged for 3 rounds and Vera moved to 205 shortly after.

The rest of the names you listed are quite subpar and we're not what I would call real contenders when Fedor beat them minus maybe Herring who was a contender more due to the weak nature of the HW class at the time. Herring obviously would not amount to much in MMA.

Although I think the TS is a bit harsh he isn't far off the mark, personally I would put Fedor right around Aldo/Cruz level so lower half of the top 10.

Signed guy who has been watching almost 20 years.

I think Coleman the first time around was still a relevant big win. Sylvia had a very strong performance with Nog until he got guillotined. Lost lost to Randy badly but to say he was subpar is reaching.

To say AA was better because of a three minute fight that ended with him getting knocked out is silly. We don't know what would have happened if Fedor attempted to grapple, and we know what happened on their feet.

Hunt went toe to toe with Mirko and bested him. HW has always been notoriously mediocre in relation to other divisions. I also wish Fedor had fought guys like Kharitonov, Barnett, Randy, Werdum...

Signed s guy who has been watching the sport for over 20 years.

 

[Pierced7681]

I think prime Fedor beats everyone under pride rules in a ring, only exceptions are Stipe and DC, those two are tossups due to their wrestling which is the one skillset Fedor generally struggled with over the years

 

[JBJ was here]

I think prime Fedor beats everyone under pride rules in a ring, only exceptions are Stipe and DC, those two are tossups due to their wrestling which is the one skillset Fedor generally struggled with over the years

Prime DC would likely have dominated prime Fedor in a ring. The ring provides grapplers an advantage against taller opponents, something Fedor used well - instead of pushing opponents up against the cage you can bounce them off the ropes for a takedown where they're in a harder position to defend than after a normal takedown. DC, however, is shorter and heavier than Fedor, with great takedowns and takedown defense - if you could design a heavyweight to take advantage of fighting in the ring, you'd design DC - and DC was a plenty good striker as well. DC was also simply far better at MMA than anyone Fedor ever faced in his prime.

 

[Pierced7681]

Prime DC would likely have dominated prime Fedor in a ring. The ring provides grapplers an advantage against taller opponents, something Fedor used well - instead of pushing opponents up against the cage you can bounce them off the ropes for a takedown where they're in a harder position to defend than after a normal takedown. DC, however, is shorter and heavier than Fedor, with great takedowns and takedown defense - if you could design a heavyweight to take advantage of fighting in the ring, you'd design DC - and DC was a plenty good striker as well. DC was also simply far better at MMA than anyone Fedor ever faced in his prime.

This is a good breakdown, but once DC gets Fedor down can he keep him there without being able to use elbows? Pride didn’t allow elbows on the ground, which meant you had to create space and posture up to punch. Imo this rule would favour Fedor on the ground, he’d be able to move much more freely off his back and he had a nasty armbar attack.

 

[Mind Mine]

Mods, take care of this alright.

He beat that man with malice. It was my first introduction to a “big brothering” from a giant. Straight up mongo style