The argument people use against Fedor in regards to his PRIDE days.

[Jim Gleason]

I'm not a huge Fedor fan, but I appreciate his skills and what he's done for the sport.

The one argument I hear people make in regards to Fedors PRIDE run where he built his legacy is that Fedor was fighting lesser fighters and I'm sure they say that strictly because he was not fighting in the UFC.

IMO the PRIDE HW division was a lot better than the UFC HW division at that time.

Mirco, Big Nog, Coleman, Randleman, Herring. Those are just some of the HWs he faced. And he was undersized.

My favorite moment was when Randleman slammed Fedor on his head and Fedor kept his composure and subbed him. How can you nor think that's just amazing.

I'm not saying the UFC had a weak HW division, but please let's not make the rediculous argument that Fedor was fighting lesser fighters, it's simply not true.

If you disagree state your argument.

If you agree, support.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I don't think very many people that were either around at the time, or have since done their research, claim that Fedor wasn't fighting most of the world's best HWs during his Pride days.

On top of which, he took out Sylvia and AA as well, and nobody other than haters discredits those wins.

Also, the UFC DID have a pretty weak HW division. It had Mir, Sylvia and AA, after whom the dropoff was precipitous. The next tier was seriously guys like Monson, Assuerio Silva, Cabbage, Pe de Pano and Buentello.

Had there only been one of Sylvia, AA or Mir in play at the time, they would have run the table like Anderson Silva.

 

[giusti825]

All the UFC had that was promising during Fedor's run was Arlovski, Sylvia, Mir and Couture.

He demolished Arlovski and Sylvia.

Couture tried to fight him but the UFC didn't want to run the risk of Couture losing.....Mir knew better....

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

He was the same size as Coleman and Randleman and both where on the down side of there careers, good name wins not that great when you actually delve a little deeper

 

[Namek]

I'm not saying the UFC had a weak HW division,

Why are you afraid of speaking the truth, brother?

Justin Eilers, Gan McGee, Paul Buentello, Jeff Monson fought for the UFC belt, I mean, come on.

Arlovski and Big Tim were the best HW in the UFC at the time, Fedor dusted them both in one round.

 

[Claude]

Pride's HW division >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> current UFC HW division

 

[BisexualMMA]

Pride's HW division >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> current UFC HW division

I think the current UFC HW division has caught up to the Pride HWs. But the difference during Fedor's heyday was substantial.

 

[touchedbyjab]

Nobody thinks UFCs HW division was more talented, wtf. Fedor GOAT.

 

[molest]

He was not undersized against those guys at all, the only guy who was bigger was Herring.

 

[awymore]

Why are you afraid of speaking the truth, brother?

Justin Eilers, Gan McGee, Paul Buentello, Jeff Monson fought for the UFC belt, I mean, come on.

Arlovski and Big Tim were the best HW in the UFC at the time, Fedor dusted them both in one round.

Haha, I was going to say the same thing. I thought everyone considered HW in the UFC to be weak back then. Hell, is it really considered that much better now? The most exciting thing in that division is a 38 year old professional wrestler.

 

[phatron]

The one argument I hear people make in regards to Fedors PRIDE run where he built his legacy is that Fedor was fighting lesser fighters.

No one has ever made that arguement lol.

Fedor already beat 2/3 guys that were UFC champs during that time anyway.

 

[kflo]

I'm not a huge Fedor fan, but I appreciate his skills and what he's done for the sport.

The one argument I hear people make in regards to Fedors PRIDE run where he built his legacy is that Fedor was fighting lesser fighters and I'm sure they say that strictly because he was not fighting in the UFC.

IMO the PRIDE HW division was a lot better than the UFC HW division at that time.

Mirco, Big Nog, Coleman, Randleman, Herring. Those are just some of the HWs he faced. And he was undersized.

My favorite moment was when Randleman slammed Fedor on his head and Fedor kept his composure and subbed him. How can you nor think that's just amazing.

I'm not saying the UFC had a weak HW division, but please let's not make the rediculous argument that Fedor was fighting lesser fighters, it's simply not true.

If you disagree state your argument.

If you agree, support.

I get what your saying but you list a bunch of guys he wasn't undersized against.

It's not that he fought lesser opponents because he wasn't in the ufc. It's because he fought a lot of lesser opponents. That doesn't mean he didn't fight a lot of good / great fighters. But few who were the top contender, and many who were not very good.

But yeah, he was great.

 

[zach lasseter]

In that era Pride had the deepest HW division, no doubt.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Anyone who followed the sport knows the PRIDE HW division shit on UFCs, wasnt even close. That era was the best HW division ever

Fedor, Nog, Mirko, Barnett wouldve all been the best HW in the UFC at the time by far. Then u had Sergei (who at his peak wouldve beaten anyone in the UFC), Aleks, prime Hunt, Fab, Coleman, Semmy, Randleman, Igor etc.

VS Murr, Sylvia, Handy, Vera, Buentello, Arlovski, Allers?? LMFAOOOOO FOH

Strikeforce has better HW talent as well

and arguably Affliciton as well (Fedor, Andrei, Barnett, Sylvia at the top, Aleks, Roy, Ben, Rizzo compare very favorably to Randy, Nog, Brock, Mir, Fab, then Herring, Kongo, pre prime Cain, Gabriel).

 

[Claude]

I think the current UFC HW division has caught up to the Pride HWs. But the difference during Fedor's heyday was substantial.

Disagree.

Pride's HW division had 2 top P4P fighters with Fedor (#1) and Nog. Crocop was widely regarded the best striker at the time. Overall it's easily one of the toughest divisions ever.

 

[SingerAuto]

Anyone who followed the sport knows the PRIDE HW division shit on UFCs, wasnt even close. That era was the best HW division ever

Fedor, Nog, Mirko, Barnett wouldve all been the best HW in the UFC at the time by far. Then u had Sergei (who at his peak wouldve beaten anyone in the UFC), Aleks, prime Hunt, Fab, Coleman, Semmy, Randleman, Igor etc.

VS Murr, Sylvia, Handy, Vera, Buentello, Arlovski, Allers?? LMFAOOOOO FOH

Strikeforce has better HW talent as well

and arguably Affliciton as well (Fedor, Andrei, Barnett, Sylvia at the top, Aleks, Roy, Ben, Rizzo compare very favorably to Randy, Nog, Brock, Mir, Fab, then Herring, Kongo, pre prime Cain, Gabriel).

You lost me at the dumb Affliction comment. Theres no doubt PRIDE had a deeper, more talented HW division. And Strike force, ATT, had Fedor, Werdum, Overeem, Barnett, Bigfoot, DC compared to Cain, JDS, Lesnar, Mir, Kongo, etc.. Its a lot closer than PRIDE/UFC but Strikeforce/UFC can be reasonable either way.
But Affliction? WTF? That's simply insane.
Sure they had Fedor, AA, Barnett, but after the top 3-5 guys there's nothing but nobodies. You could argue that Affliction had more talent at the top, but the UFC clearly had a bets HW division.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Disagree.

Pride's HW division had 2 top P4P fighters with Fedor (#1) and Nog. Crocop was widely regarded the best striker at the time. Overall it's easily one of the toughest divisions ever.

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Mirko Cro Cop
3. Josh Barnett
4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
5. Tim Sylvia
6. Andrei Arlovski
7. Fabricio Werdum
8. Aleksander Emelianenko
9. Mark Hunt
10. Sergei Kharitonov

It was an impressive lineup. But you could argue for Cain, Werdum or Stipe as top 10-15 P4P guys if you wanted, and that's still ignoring fighters like JDS.

Today's AA (#7) is no worse than Pride-era Hunt or Aleks. Today's JDS (#5) would fare quite well against the Barnett, Big Nog, Timmeh and AA of that era.

I think the overall list is in the same range. Today, Roy and Struve are around #15 ranked. They aren't world beaters, but they'd probably do well against the #15 guy of the Pride era. Who would that have been, James Thompson?

 

[Lakroy]

No one who was around at the time (some 10 years ago) would ever take anything away from Fedor. His run was incredible and what he did to the best HW's in the world is legendary.

Fedor is the GOAT.

 

[myjohnson9]

Fedor was fighting tough competition right away like Arona and babalui n his 4th and 7th fights. Nobody else did that...

Also, fedor didn't lose rounds during his unbeaten streak. Truly the best run ever accomplished in mma so far

 

[Claude]

It was an impressive lineup. But you could argue for Cain, Werdum or Stipe as top 10-15 P4P guys if you wanted, and that's still ignoring fighters like JDS.

Today's AA (#7) is no worse than Pride-era Hunt or Aleks. Today's JDS (#5) would fare quite well against the Barnett, Big Nog, Timmeh and AA of that era.

I think the overall list is in the same range. Today, Roy and Struve are around #15 ranked. They aren't world beaters, but they'd probably do well against the #15 guy of the Pride era.

Fedor & Nog weren't top 10-15 P4P, they were top 5. Fedor was #1. Pride had the best HW's ever in their primes while the UFC's top 10 has been filled with old Pride veterans in recent years.