The climate of the HW Division and where Fedor fills in

[Benoitthegr8]

*sigh*

Excuse me for a your vs you're while I'm pecking up this thread at 7am drinking my first cup of coffee before work 😃

 

[Bacco]

at 38 speed might not be his main weapon anymore anyway.

Yeah no matter if Gorilla Fedor, Chubby Bear Fedor, Tiger 8-pack abs Fedor or whatever

At some point your prime become a thing of the past, no matter wich training plan you apply to counter it

Plus some styles just age bad, Fedor's is one and imho Cain is another.
JDS was one probably able to age better if he had some safer striking defence, but he's just taking too much damage

Styles that age better at HW are probably ones based on power/strenght, technique, experience because are the gift that left you for last

Probably Fedor is trying to do that, wich is likely his best option avaible at 38

 

[HHJ]

i dont think Fedor's style neccesarily has to age badly,yes hes fast,but he is also smart,technical and strong,good chin and ko power,can go a long way. The jury is out if Cain cant regain the title. He has obv holes in his game but it took a long time and so far only one guy to really exploit it,and I dont think its outside realm of possibility for him to regain the title.

 

[HHJ]

one thing to note about BOTH Cain and Werdum in their fight was that they had no defense. they took hits to give hits,stand right in front of each other. Im sure this didnt escape Fedor's notice.

 

[Bacco]

i dont think Fedor's style neccesarily has to age badly,yes hes fast,but he is also smart,technical and strong,good chin and ko power,can go a long way. The jury is out if Cain cant regain the title. He has obv holes in his game but it took a long time and so far only one guy to really exploit it,and I dont think its outside realm of possibility for him to regain the title.

I think this Fedor can be good, to very very good, to even Champ eventually.
A combo of him being good and current UFC div being not as scary... more good HW, but less treat potential as absolute best, imho UFC touched that with Cain-JDS at theyr peak

What i'm saying is just that he will not be the same Fedor that was able to explode in crazy striking blitz or out of subs or applying one, or the one that had crazy reflex/reaction time "much faster than (prime) Crocop" said by Nog

 

[TheJackal]

In b4 Redhawks100 "Fedor was never any good u guise".

 

[HHJ]

I think this Fedor can be good, to very very good, to even Champ eventually.
A combo of him being good and current UFC div being not as scary... more good HW, but less treat potential as absolute best, imho UFC touched that with Cain-JDS at theyr peak

What i'm saying is just that he will not be the same Fedor that was able to explode in crazy striking blitz or out of subs or applying one, or the one that had crazy reflex/reaction time "much faster than (prime) Crocop" said by Nog

well he showed in his last 3 fights after strikeforce he can be measured and careful again. Obvioulsy monson,ishii and especially rizzo wins are nothing to write home about,but he didnt fight with the same uncharacteristic urgency and nervousness that came with trying to regain his spot as the king. He isnt the king anymore,and he can just fight without that ridiculous pressure he had before.

 

[ncboy]

Fedor is hurting his legacy. I don't think anyone really knows where he stands.

 

[GordaoPreguico]

I would love to see Fedor make a name off of Browne in his first match. Then a title shot because why the hell not. Its not like the HW division has 10 guys on 5 fight win streaks.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

This topic is very subjective,

Some of the new breed HW's have looked very beatable.

The gap in talent between the top 3-10 HW fighters is very small.

Could he beat these guys, sure, will he beat these guys, doubtful.

i doubt he could go on a 5 win tear against the 3-10 guys. but as you say, highly subjective. no one knows. but between the age, the time away, and guys like Rothwell getting only better over the years, i doubt he could win 3 and earn a title shot. but i'll watch to find out, if the stars align and this actually happens. which i highly doubt.

 

[olimpicus]

Obviously Pride Fedor won't come back. But the Dutch styled standup primarily Fedor can mame waves forma surf. Maybe even be a new kind of GOAT

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

I think he beats at least half the top 10, HW is not a good division.

This is the top 10 according to Sherdog.

Werdum - 50/50 Werdum by submission or Fedor by TKO/decision, he just has to fight with the Big Nog 3 gameplan IMO.
Cain - 50/50 Cain either wins a decision or gets KOed or submitted.
JDS - I lean to Fedor winning this fight just cause JDS has massive holes in his game in his clinch game and ground game. 60/40 in favor of Fedor.
Miocic - Probable edge to Miocic, he's about as fast but has reach and size on Fedor while probably having a wrestling edge 65/35 in favor of Miocic.
Arlovski - I think Fedor beats him again, he will time a punch and finish him.
Browne - Similar to Rothwell.
Rothwell - Fedor wins this, Rothwell is just durable and hits hard.
Hunt - Fedor should win IMO he's faster and can mix up the strikes into clinch takedowns, can finish off his back or on top.
Overeem - Toss up fight Overeem is super well rounded but his cardio and chin could fail him again, Fedor is faster and a bit more well rounded, 50/50.
Mir - Fedor has better striking, is faster and has a much better clinch game, should win, 80/20 in favor of Fedor.

I personally don't think Fedor is much worse than he used to be, I think he was slacking on training between late 2007ish-2011, yes I realize the last 3 guys he fought weren't as good as the 3 he fought in Strikeforce but he also fought completely differently.

 

[screaminleeman]

Fedor is not coming to the UFC FFS. Nothing has changed since the last go round guys and girls.

Not sure if any other MMA fighter has had a 15% controlling interest as a co-owner of a relatively successful MMA organization.

One thing for sure is that Fedor is extremely well off financially and is not coming back out of financial desperation.

It is widely speculated that he earned in excess of UFC salary NOT FIGHTING from just his share of theM-1 Global.

He may no longer be tied to this company, but his compensation was massive when it was there. He is NOT going to work for peanuts FIGHTING in the UFC for way less money than he made sitting on his backside as a co-owner of M-1.

I just don't see Dana and Zuffa thinking that he has PPV draw in the USA to make him head and antlers the highest paid UFC fighter.

IMO he easily fits into the top 5 UFC HW's if he did indeed sign.