Relatively new fan here, idk much about Fedor so...

[RichardN7]

Was he truly great, or was it that, at the time, the level of competition was very low and well-rounded fighters were absent?

 

[d3vil0ck]

He was truly that great.

 

[SherdogGoat]

He beat the best of that era. There is a reason why he is widely considered the GOAT. He was the only guy that was virtually considered unbeatable. People went into shock when Werdum subbed him.

 

[NuMe]

He was the baddest man on the planet (tied with Karelin), chubby MW who fought and destroyed HWs. He fought the best he could, he has 13 TOP 10 wins (only Gsp, Anderson and Big Nog have more), so no, competition wasn't very low, but of course MMA evolves every day and now you have more well-rounded fighters than in his time.

 

[Reason]

Just watch a couple of highlight vids. The long ones in as high definition as you can find.

 

[TheVenom]

He was great. Several top wins, plenty of finishes by KO and sub, could literally fight from any position, long winning streak( which is hard to do at HW ).

Even after he declined, he still has very few losses.

Coming out of retirement will hurt his legacy if he stays active long enough to get KO'd again.

 

[Dorkman]

There will always be generational differences as a sport grows. But he was truly that great, not only could he launch a torrent of hellish strikes to finish his opponents with, he'd rip your arm off just as fast if you present the opportunity to him. He was always dangerous, and always game. One of the most legendary streaks the sport will ever see. Even when he wasn't always the one being the hammer (Randleplex anyone?) he still found ways to win, while being an undersized HW on top of it all.

 

[Davem10]

His competition level isnt really relevant

He fought everybody that was about at the time and thats all any fighter can do, he destroyed them all, he had no equal

He beat pride champions, ufc champions, rings champions and was never defeated for almost a decade

 

[Aranha21]

I am so glad I got into MMA in time for the last few years of his prime. The aura around the guy was incredible.

 

[MEATAXE**]

Chubby, Russian and hard as fuck... divides opinion on sherdog.

 

[RaskeDanzig]

Its dumb to argue the level of competition was weaker during Fedor's era considering much of the current top 10-15 are littered with really old heavyweights. Fedor in his prime would at the very least be top 3 today, if not champ.

 

[KeiranMc]

Fedor by armbar

 

[Sakuraba7]

He beat the best of that era. There is a reason why he is widely considered the GOAT. He was the only guy that was virtually considered unbeatable. People went into shock when Werdum subbed him.

Fedor lost for the first time in Sambo before that as well, which had never happened before. So it was going to happen in MMA sooner or later. It just happened to be Werdum, a fellow pride veteran at that, might I add.

 

[SherdogGoat]

Fedor lost for the first time in Sambo before that as well, which had never happened before. So it was going to happen in MMA sooner or later. It just happened to be Werdum, a fellow pride veteran at that, might I add.

I was blinded with the fandom. There has never been any other favorite whom I considered unbeatable. It was a legitimate shock to me. I went out and got drunk after the fight

 

[The Penetrator]

Small chubby hw, not a man of many words, but a man of many ragdolls...

Ragdolled everyone that he faced for 10 years, and he faced top MMA guys, top kickboxers, top wrestlers, cans, freakshows, 300+ pound guys, tough street fighters, i mean back then fighters were fighting as much as 5 times a year, and when you fight that much there just isnt enough top level fighters to keep the level of competition constantly high, and most of todays fans cant understand that... And i would really love if stuff like that happened today , like lets say Cain threw in some Anthony Hamiltons and Curtis Blaydes in between those once a year JDS/Bigfoot fights, i really see no problem with it...

 

[Drenalin]

I'm surprised there's no can crusher gif yet

 

[Get_that_yayo]

Very good kickboxing, outstanding upper body wrestling, the best ground and pound of all time, and could submit off of his back. And he was essentially an out of shape 205'er fighting at heavyweight. When he was young he also had a great chin, so even if you did catch him (all fighters in any combat sport get hit), he was hard as hell to finish.

Tough MF'er, skilled in practically every area of martial arts, and fought the best no matter what size.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

What makes him so great, apart from being unbeaten for so long is how he fought. He wasn't afraid to fight standing up with prime Mirko or going to the ground with prime Nog. He always went for the finish, he didn't dance around like Anderson or played it safe like GSP. He also was a tiny HW. Also, he never talked trash and always seemed relaxed to the point of being bored in there.

 

[FadeLess]

Just search for what were the opinions about him, from all the top fighters during his era.

All hail The Last Emperor !!

 

[KhabibTheBeagle]

Great fighter, fought and beat many of the biggest names of the time. He also beat a lot of cans, but that's just how it was, in PRIDE. one minute, you're fighting a geriatric pro-wrestler, the next, Mirko Cro-Cop.