Prime Fedor wins this war. Back in 2005 Fedor's arsenal of techniques was enormous. His hands were sofast and strong. Prime Fedor has a lot of advantages over Daniel Cormier. - faster hands - stronger hands - better ground work - better submission and submission defence - russian hooks - hand traps - off balancing - kicks - body work On the other hand DS has only one advantage over Fedor - wrestling. Russian hooks By turning the fist all the way over when one throws a hook, so that the thumb is down as if one is checking the time, one can assure the punching shoulder rises to protect the chin, and lengthen the hook to an almost straight arm while still connecting with the hard, dense, knuckles rather than the brittle thumb and door knocking knuckles. When he stands to Goodridge's right side while pressing Goodridge's elevated left forearm into his head so that he cannot fire back the left hook from his squared up stance. This kind of thumb down hook is an excellent offensive weapon because it has all the reach of a straight but comes in from the side on an arc. Inexperienced strikers look at these hooks and claim there are large holes to be countered through, but really the holes are very small and exist only as the fist is approaching the centreline - the fastest part of the motion - and not once it has past it. This is due to the punching shoulder being raised to the chin by the over-rotation of the fist. Notice in the punch that Fedor misses at the end of his flurry that he takes it past his centreline, and his right shoulder is elevated. If Goodridge had tried to capitalize on the missed punch he would have only been able to strike Fedor's right shoulder or the top of his skull. Hand Traps The two main hand traps that Prime Fedor used are an inside hand trap and an outside hand trap, and he has used them dozens of times against top competition to land free power punches. Fedor was one of the best at landing power punches off the bat and he approached it in the following way. The inside hand trap consisted of bringing his lead hand across and slapping the opponent's left, lead hand down and outward to Fedor's right, then dipping his head to the left and throwing an enormous arcing straight through the gap. He did this numerous times to Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira in their third meeting and it was beautiful to watch. The outside hand trap or Zulu is more famous because Fedor has used it to take two wins in under a minute compound time. Tim Sylvia and Zuluzinho (for whom it is named) both lacked footwork and both suffered when Fedor realised this. Throwing his right hand as if to loop an overhand but in fact using the inside of his wrist to slap the opponent's lead glove down, Fedor then follows up with a beautiful left hook. Having removed the opponent's jabbing hand it is impossible for them to fire a counter fast enough to hurt Fedor as he leaps in. By ensuring that his head is on where the opponent's lead hand was, Fedor takes his head away from the opponent's free, right hand. This makes the outside hand trap a much safer entry.
Off Balancing Prime Fedor was famed for his right hand, but when it was defended, however, Fedor would collide with his opponent's raised forearms, then pressing their guard, pushed the opponent backward. This act of off balancing mid-combination proved an excellent technique for landing heavy strikes on a defensive opponent. Against Fujita, Emelianenko - still stunned from Fujita's Hail Mary punch - forced Fujita to cover against the ropes, before shoving him back on to them. Fedor's pushing of Fujita forced the latter to forget where his guard should be, leave an opening for the enormous kick that followed. Fedor immediately pushes Fujita again before landing his left hook. These small, constant pushes force openings in even the tightest of defensive shells as the human body is forced to use it's arms to correct violent changes in balance. Body Work Almost no-one in MMA uses body punches more effectively than Prime Fedor. Throughout the fight whit Cro Cop prime Fedor backed him up, knowing that Cro Cop could not kick while backpeddling. Further to this, Fedor chopped away at Mirko's torso with body shots. Notice the right straight to the body followed by a left uppercut with stuns Mirko and a left hook which catches him as he tries to exit. Kicks Prime Fedor does not turn his hip through when he kicks. Instead, Fedor choose to kick with a pushing forward of the hips and a snapping at the knee. He has even stated that he likes to connect with the inside of the shin on occasion, a particularly odd querk. Prime Fedor's kicks were fast enough to avoid being caught and were powerful enough to to wind Fujita, Cro Cop and Jeff Monson. This style of kick proved far more effective to defend from takedowns. Against Mirko Cro Cop, the greatest high kicker in MMA history, Fedor simply waited for Cro Cop to kick and hacked at his standing leg each time. By extending the arm on the kicking side, it is possible to block the opponent's kick with the upper arm and shoulder as you undercut their motion. Notice also, how Cro Cop's kick begins by rotating his whole body, where Fedor's kick is almost a straight line from the floor and forward more than round. A more linear than circular kick explains Fedor's getting his counter in before Cro Cop's lead, and demonstrates a degree of science to the Emperor's strange kicking as he stays on balance and relatively uncommitted to the attack throughout.
Well, to be fair TS, we haven't seen Cormier fight enough to make accurate comparisons of the two. Just based on your list, you can tell that your bias is clearly showing; 9 advantages for Fedor and 1 for Cormier is not exactly impartial. I love Fedor as much as anyone, he is my favorite fighter of all time but something tells me even a prime Fedor vs Cormier would look like Fedor vs Bigfoot, at it's best. Even if it is true that Fedor had a much sharper and broader arsenal, I think Khabib has clearly demonstrated that a powerhouse grappler does whatever he wants and does it when he wants to. We are talking about a whole new breed of athlete that is competing in MMA now. Even as much as I love Fedor, I don't know if he would have even been a contender in the UFC now a days. The athleticism of the commonplace UFC fighter is light years beyond that of which existed 10 years ago. Nearly every champion in the UFC has a rock solid wrestling foundation and they dictate what happens in the fight and when it happens. Fedor was good enough for the time to get by against kickboxers, jujitsu specialists, pro wrestlers and one dimensional wrestlers who often pushed him around. If Randleman almost broke his neck, I shudder to think what Cormier would do. Yeah, come to think of it, Cormier would hurt him very, very, very badly. Still, with all of this being said, Cormier wouldn't exist without the blueprint that Fedor laid down.
I just proved that Prime Fedor: - is far more flexible than DC - has faster hands than DC - strongel hands than DC - much better submssions skills than DC - faster eye than DC - better sense for reach than DC - better strikes combinations than DC
And the way Cormier was resting his arm on Hendo's chest, and next to his head...lol, Fedor would had armbarred him in about a minute.
I think he's trying to point at some advantages Emilianenko might have against DC if they were to fight prime vs prime I pretty sure the Thread topic says prime Fedor... The only problem I have with this thread is that all the things T.S. wrote are copied and pasted from a very nice article on Fedor's striking game. However no reference has been made which is wrong, cause the author took the time and the insight to write it. So, here: http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/5/31/3053056/fedor-emelianenko-striking-technique-pride Everyone who thinks Fedor's striking was not good or sluggish because his punches did not come from the angle that boxing would find as "the right angle" should get himself educated some. This article is all you need
