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- Sep 12, 2007
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New fans are unlikely to understand just how complete, calculated, and terrifying of a fighter Fedor was in Pride and even up until his loss to Werdum. When he lost to Werdum, he lost that impossible, empowering ocean of confidence that few fighters will ever know: The kind achieved only by fighters elite enough to not just go on extended win streaks at the highest level, but also to accomplish spectacular feats of brutality and toughness that set them apart from your average winner. That moment when Fedor tapped to Fabricio's triangle, his age both in human years and in MMA years, caught up to him. We saw the same thing happen to Anderson Silva when his moves finally failed him.
Before that, though, he had everything. He fought and dominated in the deepest HW division this sport has ever seen. Those monsters were roided to the gills with no regulation, and he was the runt of the litter in terms of physicality. Still yet, he had the striking to outmatch test subject Cro Cop Prime on the feet. He had the ground game to submit the best wrestlers in the division. He had the submission defense to shut out the best HW BJJ artist of his time with ease, twice. He never gassed. He never looked scared. Never showed weakness. Even when he caught the kind of shot that would kill a lesser man, like the Fujita Punch or the Randleplex, he calmly recovered and wrapped things up in decisive fashion. In his final run of greatness, Emelianenko even came over to the US and made a joke of top-ranked HW fighters for good measure. There is no denying the reign of The Last Emperor.
In the end, he fell and fell hard. I'm not the kind of fan that will tell you that the triangle was a fluke, that he wasn't KOed by Hendo, or that he could have continued against Bigfoot. It wasn't, he was, and he couldn't have. His time at the top is over, and I'm okay with that.
I just wanted to share with fellow fans how I remember one of the true greatest of the greats.
Before that, though, he had everything. He fought and dominated in the deepest HW division this sport has ever seen. Those monsters were roided to the gills with no regulation, and he was the runt of the litter in terms of physicality. Still yet, he had the striking to outmatch test subject Cro Cop Prime on the feet. He had the ground game to submit the best wrestlers in the division. He had the submission defense to shut out the best HW BJJ artist of his time with ease, twice. He never gassed. He never looked scared. Never showed weakness. Even when he caught the kind of shot that would kill a lesser man, like the Fujita Punch or the Randleplex, he calmly recovered and wrapped things up in decisive fashion. In his final run of greatness, Emelianenko even came over to the US and made a joke of top-ranked HW fighters for good measure. There is no denying the reign of The Last Emperor.
In the end, he fell and fell hard. I'm not the kind of fan that will tell you that the triangle was a fluke, that he wasn't KOed by Hendo, or that he could have continued against Bigfoot. It wasn't, he was, and he couldn't have. His time at the top is over, and I'm okay with that.
I just wanted to share with fellow fans how I remember one of the true greatest of the greats.
