How good was Fedor really? Was he truly elite?

[Takes Two To Tango]

If Fedor not elite, than who is?

 

[MotorCityCobra]

On the eye test alone Fedor in PRIDE may be greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

Drug usage, different rules, and post PRIDE performance might DQ him from GOAT conversation, but he was definitely elite.

 

[Blastbeat]

Another shit thread from the p4p shit thread starter on this forum
It's impressive how bad his takes are

 

[ocfightfan]

He was ok. I beat him a couple of times too via sub.

You are a Sherdogger so of course. I mean, which of us hasn't beaten Fedor?

 

[Laheys'Liquorland]

2025 in a few days and the streak of Fedor greatness threads in a UFC forum tells us everything we need to know.


GOAT!!!

 

[mjfan23]

You are a Sherdogger so of course. I mean, which of us hasn't beaten Fedor?

If you add in “beaten off to” it would make the question rhetorical

 

[cburm]

How good was Fedor?

I have a hard time genuinely believing that Fedor is truly elite and up there with goats such as

GSP
Anderson
MM
Jones
DC

Fedors record was too padded he fought in such a different weak era and when Fedor came up against semi modern MMA fighters he got beaten badly and could not hang

Some say that he could not hang because of his age. I do not believe this one bit. The real issue was he came up against modern MMA fighters. Isn't is such a coincidence he only started to lose once he faced true elite HWs and all of a sudden he was "out of his prime."

Anderson wrecked Hendo, Fedor a HW got wrecked by Hendo.

Werdum stopped Fedor

And I believe prime Fedor would lose to

Poatan
Anderson
Cain
DC
Aspinal
Gane
Nganu
Black Beast
Jones
Overseen


Fedor has such a padded record and had huge holes in his game

Fedor had poor Boxing, poor fight IQ, poor bottom game. Jones would take him down and elbow him to oblivion.

Fedor was a good fighter but should not be compared to the true elite.

Fedor's myth is more folk lore and myth. His best wins are Cro cop and Nog. Cro cop and nog are good but have glaring holes in their game.

First of all let's state the facts..

All of the greatest fighters have came from pride ..

And you can watch pride today.. and all of fedors and pride hw fights....

And see for yourself...

Yes fedor was more than legit.. and he kod the UFC hw champion Sylvia in round 1 years later when he was out of his prime ... Then went to dominate strike force.. out of his prime ... Had a few loses sure but in his era he was insane.. and hold the most impressive and longest hw champion win streak and record..

 

[cburm]

Alot of people argue the Tim Sylvia and Arlovski wins, but at that time both fighters were still ranked. Some places rank Arlovski #2 to #5 when he fought Fedor.

Big Nog was the legitimate HW goat at the time, until Fedor. How Fedor handled Big Nog and CroCop was amazing.

My only complaint was I felt Fedor fell in love with his hands later and should have stuck with his sambo more often, but that's easy to say now.

So yes, he was that good.

Argue Silvia .. argue what tim was the current UFC hw champion lol and fedor smoked him..

 

[John Creed]

Fedor was the best of his era though there were a few people who would have been challenging who he never fought. Randy Couture and Josh Barnett, for example. If we're referring to all-time rankings, I wouldn't put Fedor at #1 but that wasn't your question. Was Fedor truly elite? Dumb question. Of course he was. He was the best during his era.

There are a ton of people who over-rate Fedor but just as many seem to under-rate him too. If you believe Anderson Silva (a MW who fought during the same era as Fedor) would have wrecked him then you don't know anything about MMA.

 

[DanDragon Machi]

Fedor Emilianenko tier list:

Better than Fedor: Anderson, Jones, Khabib, Makhachev, Topuria, GSP, Volkanovski, Chimaev, Cain, DC, Conor, Demetrious, Aspinal

Same level than Fedor: Miocic, Holloway, Adesanya, Whittaker, Cejudo, BJ, Romero, Gustafsson, Rumble, Poatan, Ngannou

Inferior but close to Fedor Level: Liddel, Machida, Shogun, Charles, Aldo , Cruz, Yan, Merab, TJ, Cigano, Poirier

 

[samoajoe]

He beat Babalu, Arona, Schilt, Herring, Nog x 2, Coleman x 2, Randleman, Mirko, Sylvia, Hunt, Arlovski.

If that's not elite then nothing is.

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.

 

[John Creed]

Fedor Emilianenko tier list:

Better than Fedor: Anderson, Jones, Khabib, Makhachev, Topuria, GSP, Volkanovski, Chimaev, Cain, DC, Conor, Demetrious, Aspinal

Same level than Fedor: Miocic, Holloway, Adesanya, Whittaker, Cejudo, BJ, Romero, Gustafsson, Rumble, Poatan, Ngannou

Inferior but close to Fedor Level: Liddel, Machida, Shogun, Charles, Aldo , Cruz, Yan, Merab, TJ, Cigano, Poirier

None of that makes any sense whatsoever. I feel second hand embarrassment for you. Was that post a joke?

 

[John Creed]

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.

People like you show how much conservation in this forum has dropped over the years. It was always bad but now it's ridiculous. Lower half of the TOP TEN is not elite? You're brainless.

 

[HHJ]

I mean even people who hate Fedor, I dont think question that.

 

[JBGuy420]

No question he was elite. Grandmaster in Sambo and Judo. His grappling was incredible. But he overestimated his striking later on in his career. And he underestimated truly elite grapplers (like Fabricio Werdum who was far better a jiu jit su specialist than Big Nog).

I don't know if he was as good as Cormier though.

 

[JKS]

Minus the 0-1 fighters on his record, he had average resume. Maldonado put him on Queer Street for Christs sake at like 33 years old.

LOL, come on. Fedor was 40 when he fought Fabio.

 

[Cartiac]

There are a ton of people who over-rate Fedor but just as many seem to under-rate him too. If you believe Anderson Silva (a MW who fought during the same era as Fedor) would have wrecked him then you don't know anything about MMA.

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.

 

[Mind Mine]

I mean even people who hate Fedor, I dont think question that.

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

 

[HHJ]

We cane into the sport being expected to bend knee to the greatness

Not too late.

 

[OldNick]

Argue Silvia .. argue what tim was the current UFC hw champion lol and fedor smoked him..

No he had just lost the belt to Big Nog prior.