Who here doesn't think Fedor Emelianenko is not ranked in the top 5 MMA fighters of all-time?

[BFoe]

Fedor winning a Strikforce or Bellator belt wouldn't have hekp him?

Are you high

lol are you? I think you misread.

Sure, winning a belt in Strikeforce or Bellator would’ve helped seal the deal.

 

[volcom5]

Strength of competition as measured by what, out of curiosity?

Lots variables, skill set, point of of career, opponents resume, were they champion in any major org.

How many ranked wins does Merab have? 6 or 7 maybe? And he’s already got 5 losses?

9 ranked wins and you emphasize losses like it’s a bad thing, losses will occur when you’re against consistent top skilled opponents, not fighters making their MMA debut.

You keep mentioning fights like Zulu, but Fedor’s run had 11-12 ranked wins, 0 losses.

Who were these ranked wins and where they consistent as in back to back

It’s difficult to compare totally different weight classes, especially when HW is involved— but not only has Merab not surpassed Fedor’s metrics, he’s not really even all that close.

He definitely has Merab defeated Moraes, Aldo, Yan, Cejudo, O’Malley, Nurmagomedov, O’ Malley, Sandhagen. That’s 5 former champions, 1 of those champions is a top 5 GOAT in the sport and of a weight class above and arguably the best 145lb fighter ever, in the span of 3 years, Back to back, consistently fought nothing but the best. Only time Fedor has ever fought consistent skilled top tier elite opponents were Sylvia and Arlovski, and the next time he did he started losing..

I don’t really see a good argument to see that he has except to just say “oh, I think fighters today are just better, therefore I don’t care if Merab is 4-5 ranked wins away and has 5 losses to Fedor’s 0,” and that’s just silly recency bias.

Fedors 0 is propaganda, like I mentioned above if he fought consistently skilled opponents that 0 would not exist. It’s not recency bias, I’ve said this for years about Jones in comparison to Fedor and people used the same old excuse of Jones defeating “out of prime” old opponents but praise Fedor for doing the same thing in worst circumstances.

I know you’re one of the better Fedor nuthuggers on this site, a honest one which only handful exist, but even you have to admit, his win streak that a lot of people use as placement holder is very questionable when it comes the straight of the competition and the consistent basis of it.

 

[GOATtalks]

Soy slop chump

Suck a dick

 

[Arqueto]

The first shoop I ever made was of Fedor. GOATed

 

[BFoe]

Lots variables, skill set, point of of career, opponents resume, were they champion in any major org.

Ok, I think skill set is a somewhat subjective criteria—by that I mean, Poatan is primarily a standup fighter with no real wrestling or grappling game, but has done well for himself regardless. Ditto for Gane. Khabib or Islam have strong grappling and maybe aren’t world class boxers, but that didn’t matter either.

I think when comparing Merab and Fedor, Merab has beaten 4 dudes who were champs in a major org if my count is correct (Yan, O’Malley, Cejudo, and Aldo), whereas in Fedor’s streak he beat 5 (Nogueira, Coleman, Randleman, Sylvia, and Arlovski), plus added Mir and Rampage later). So, edge to Fedor no matter which way we slice that one. And at least for the 5 champs he beat during his streak, they were in a good spot in their careers relative to their accomplishments.

9 ranked wins and you emphasize losses like it’s a bad thing, losses will occur when you’re against consistent top skilled opponents, not fighters making their MMA debut.

Who were these ranked wins and where they consistent as in back to back

I don’t see how Merab could have 9 ranked wins, but I’m open to being corrected. 9 wins ago was Cody Stamann, he wasn’t ranked in the top 10 at the time. So 8 ranked wins maybe?
The reason I say “11-12” for Fedor is because of Fujita, who had fallen out of the top 10 according to most MMA outlets, but MMA News still had him #10, and they’re a legit outlet. So it sort of depends on how one handles that.
But Schilt, Herring, Nogueira x 2, Coleman (first fight only), Randleman, Cro Cop, Hunt, Sylvia, Arlovski, and Rogers were unquestionably in the top 10.

He definitely has Merab defeated Moraes, Aldo, Yan, Cejudo, O’Malley, Nurmagomedov, O’ Malley, Sandhagen. That’s 5 former champions, 1 of those champions is a top 5 GOAT in the sport and of a weight class above and arguably the best 145lb fighter ever, in the span of 3 years, Back to back, consistently fought nothing but the best. Only time Fedor has ever fought consistent skilled top tier elite opponents were Sylvia and Arlovski, and the next time he did he started losing..

I’m counting 4 former champs, which one am I missing (honest question)?

So here comes a hot take of mine, lol: I don’t care about fighting quality opponents back to back, I care about not fighting quality opponents as often as other fighters. I am aware a lot of people disagree with me on this, but I’ll explain.

So, we know that American MMA doesn’t typically throw in squash matches like JMMA, so let’s assume that Merab is fighting quality opponents each fight. Let’s compare activity for a bit, by year. Here’s how often they each fought “good” opponents.

Merab

2019– 1
2020- 3
2021- 2
2022- 1
2023- 1
2024- 2
2025- 4 but lost a fight

So this assumes guys like Brad Katona, Casey Kenney, or Gustavo Lopez are good opponents.

Fedor

2002- 2 (Schilt and Herring) plus Haseman
2003- 1 (being generous and only counting Nog), plus Valavicius, Goodridge, Fujita, Nagata) Goodridge and Fujita could arguably be counted as good opponents, especially Fujita
2004- 4 (Nog twice, Coleman, and Randleman) plus Ogawa whom he fought on the same night as Nogueira
2005- 1ish lol (Cro Cop for sure, TK is borderline) plus Zulu
2006- 2 (Coleman, Hunt)
2007- 1? This is one year where Fedor can be criticized, although not his fault. Lindland is “ok,” plus Choi
2008- 1 (Sylvia)

So we can split hairs for both fighters as to what constitutes a quality opponent, but point is: Fedor fought good competition about as often as Merab (or anyone else), plus taking other fights in top of it, and he somehow gets penalized for that. And he was undefeated while doing it.

Fedor's 0 is propaganda, like I mentioned above if he fought consistently skilled opponents that 0 would not exist. It’s not recency bias, I’ve said this for years about Jones in comparison to Fedor and people used the same old excuse of Jones defeating “out of prime” old opponents but praise Fedor for doing the same thing in worst circumstances.

I know you’re one of the better Fedor nuthuggers on this site, a honest one which only handful exist, but even you have to admit, his win streak that a lot of people use as placement holder is very questionable when it comes the straight of the competition and the consistent basis of it.

I appreciate that, I really do try to have sincere, fact-based discussions on Fedor’s career and legacy.

It’s not propaganda though. For a heavyweight—especially a small HW—to fight across multiple different orgs and rulesets, ring and cage, 10 minute first rounds, stomps, soccer kicks, etc., and go on a run for a decade that consists of beating 11-12 ranked opponents and 5 UFC champs, is straight up insane. Unheard of.

Let’s look at Jones. Just recently, after 16 years, Jones finally surpassed Fedor in ranked wins (which Fedor accomplished in just a decade). With Jones’ win over Gane, he finally eclipsed how many UFC champs Fedor has beat—and Fedor never even fought in the UFC.

I think Jones has a fantastic resume. For me it comes down to PEDs. Some people say “meh, everyone is on them,” or “meh, Jones fought some guys who also used them,” and if you feel that way then Jones might be your GOAT. I do care, so I just can’t rank Jones above Fedor or GSP. Those are the top 3 though to me, in whatever order one likes best.

The TLDR of all this, is: I don’t fault anyone who doesn’t think Fedor is GOAT. I do take exception when people act like he’s a can crusher or had a shit resume, his resume is exceptional.

 

[Killer Whale]

Top 5 figure for sure

Top 5 fighter…… hell to the naw naw naw.

 

[BFoe]

Suck a dick

View attachment 1128574

Those fan voted rankings are hilarious. I mean, forget the Fedor part even, putting Islam Makachev over Jon Jones (or Silva) is fucking WILD.

 

[John makfresshi]

I’m late to this thread. Prime Fedor is obviously top 5. My issue is all the hype, and the chance to have the biggest fight of all time as a free agent, Fedor chose to fight Jaideep Singh in a professional MMA fight, then bounced back with a loss(a clear and obvious beatdown loss) to Fabio Maldanabo. That let me know that the p4p #1 king Fedor was long long gone and anything after that was just pay checks

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

He's as good a pick for number 1 as anyone else, but if someone had GSP, Anderson, Jones, DJ Aldo as their top 5, I wouldn't be too incredulous about it or anything.

Those 6 in any order more or less feels correct

My opinion too, those are the 6. I have Jones as my overall GOAT but like you wouldn’t argue against any of those names.

 

[HuskySamoan]

The demographics of MMA fans that don't like fedor would be interesting. I assume younger, or die hard jones fans. Definitely the UFC>MMA types.

In 2025 its mostly UFC>MMA. People have no idea about other promotions or how much talent is in the world. You got Luke Thomas saying "90% of the top talent in the world is in the UFC" and I think most agree with him.

 

[xMTDx]

DJ is GOAT. Never popped, multiple defenses, contentious split decision to Cejudo, goes to PED tastic One and still takes the tournament and takes the belt.

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

Unfortunately he was exposed.

Knocked out so many times.

Sad.

 

[GOATtalks]

Those fan voted rankings are hilarious. I mean, forget the Fedor part even, putting Islam Makachev over Jon Jones (or Silva) is fucking WILD.

Don’t forget that you’re just a fan too and their opinion is just as valid as yours.



Islam for sure has long surpassed Anderson. Islam matched his UFC win streak, won the 2nd belt, hasn’t popped for PED’s, hasn’t had a horrible losing streak and he’s the more well rounded and technically superior fighter.

Personally, I have Jon Jones above Islam, but I guess the PED issue for many pushes him down the ranks

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Don’t forget that you’re just a fan too and their opinion is just as valid as yours.

View attachment 1128592

Islam for sure has long surpassed Anderson. Islam matched his UFC win streak, won the 2nd belt, hasn’t popped for PED’s, hasn’t had a horrible losing streak and he’s the more well rounded and technically superior fighter.

Personally, I have Jon Jones above Islam, but I guess the PED issue for many pushes him down the ranks

You post like a left hand slap KO victim. Casual soy slop loser lmfaaaoooo

 

[GOATtalks]

You post like a left hand slap KO victim. Casual soy slop loser lmfaaaoooo

Lol, your only contribution to this discussion are insults. That says a lot about your mental capacity. Stay dumb, moron!

 

[BFoe]

Don’t forget that you’re just a fan too and their opinion is just as valid as yours.

View attachment 1128592

Islam for sure has long surpassed Anderson. Islam matched his UFC win streak, won the 2nd belt, hasn’t popped for PED’s, hasn’t had a horrible losing streak and he’s the more well rounded and technically superior fighter.

Personally, I have Jon Jones above Islam, but I guess the PED issue for many pushes him down the ranks

Dude… those people voted Islam the #2 fighter all time, in MMA history
I can’t even fathom how many different neurons have to misfire to cause the human brain to generate a conclusion like that.

Islam is a bad ass and all, but…geez. #2 all time is an insane take.

Side note, Anderson Silva’s win streak took place almost entirely at the championship level. Islam might have more wins, and that’s a great accomplishment and not easy to do, but his win streak is nowhere near as good as Silva’s. Not even close.

I don’t think Islam is more well-rounded either. Anderson had great wrestling and grappling; not at Islam’s level, but he was an elite grappler. Islam’s striking isn’t in the same galaxy as Anderson’s.

 

[GOATtalks]

Dude… those people voted Islam the #2 fighter all time, in MMA history
I can’t even fathom how many different neurons have to misfire to cause the human brain to generate a conclusion like that.

Islam is a bad ass and all, but…geez. #2 all time is an insane take.

Side note, Anderson Silva’s win streak took place almost entirely at the championship level. Islam might have more wins, and that’s a great accomplishment and not easy to do, but his win streak is nowhere near as good as Silva’s. Not even close.

I don’t think Islam is more well-rounded either. Anderson had great wrestling and grappling; not at Islam’s level, but he was an elite grappler. Islam’s striking isn’t in the same galaxy as Anderson’s.

How is it an insane take?

He’s the LW GOAT and double champ. Being the GOAT of division and having 2nd belt is GSP and Jones territory.

He never popped for PED’s and has more title wins than Fedor. It’s actually hard to argue that he’s not #2 TBH.

Of course Anderson’s fights were mostly title fights. The division was so bad that he got the title after one win over Chris Leben, ffs.

Anderson a great wrestler? LMAO, I didn’t know you’re a comedian now. Chael held him down for 20 minutes and DC took him down at will.

His BJJ was ok, but not in the same galaxy as Islam.

Islam’s striking is much closer to Anderson’s though. Islam KOed Volk by headkick.

Anyway, Islam has much better wrestling and grappling and maybe slightly worse striking than Anderson, so he’s definitely the more well rounded fighter.

Cope harder.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Great thread, I wonder who started this madness. : - )

 

[Here's Johnny!]

Ok, I think skill set is a somewhat subjective criteria—by that I mean, Poatan is primarily a standup fighter with no real wrestling or grappling game, but has done well for himself regardless. Ditto for Gane. Khabib or Islam have strong grappling and maybe aren’t world class boxers, but that didn’t matter either.

I think when comparing Merab and Fedor, Merab has beaten 4 dudes who were champs in a major org if my count is correct (Yan, O’Malley, Cejudo, and Aldo), whereas in Fedor’s streak he beat 5 (Nogueira, Coleman, Randleman, Sylvia, and Arlovski), plus added Mir and Rampage later). So, edge to Fedor no matter which way we slice that one. And at least for the 5 champs he beat during his streak, they were in a good spot in their careers relative to their accomplishments.


I don’t see how Merab could have 9 ranked wins, but I’m open to being corrected. 9 wins ago was Cody Stamann, he wasn’t ranked in the top 10 at the time. So 8 ranked wins maybe?
The reason I say “11-12” for Fedor is because of Fujita, who had fallen out of the top 10 according to most MMA outlets, but MMA News still had him #10, and they’re a legit outlet. So it sort of depends on how one handles that.
But Schilt, Herring, Nogueira x 2, Coleman (first fight only), Randleman, Cro Cop, Hunt, Sylvia, Arlovski, and Rogers were unquestionably in the top 10.


I’m counting 4 former champs, which one am I missing (honest question)?

So here comes a hot take of mine, lol: I don’t care about fighting quality opponents back to back, I care about not fighting quality opponents as often as other fighters. I am aware a lot of people disagree with me on this, but I’ll explain.

So, we know that American MMA doesn’t typically throw in squash matches like JMMA, so let’s assume that Merab is fighting quality opponents each fight. Let’s compare activity for a bit, by year. Here’s how often they each fought “good” opponents.

Merab

2019– 1
2020- 3
2021- 2
2022- 1
2023- 1
2024- 2
2025- 4 but lost a fight

So this assumes guys like Brad Katona, Casey Kenney, or Gustavo Lopez are good opponents.

Fedor

2002- 2 (Schilt and Herring) plus Haseman
2003- 1 (being generous and only counting Nog), plus Valavicius, Goodridge, Fujita, Nagata) Goodridge and Fujita could arguably be counted as good opponents, especially Fujita
2004- 4 (Nog twice, Coleman, and Randleman) plus Ogawa whom he fought on the same night as Nogueira
2005- 1ish lol (Cro Cop for sure, TK is borderline) plus Zulu
2006- 2 (Coleman, Hunt)
2007- 1? This is one year where Fedor can be criticized, although not his fault. Lindland is “ok,” plus Choi
2008- 1 (Sylvia)

So we can split hairs for both fighters as to what constitutes a quality opponent, but point is: Fedor fought good competition about as often as Merab (or anyone else), plus taking other fights in top of it, and he somehow gets penalized for that. And he was undefeated while doing it.


I appreciate that, I really do try to have sincere, fact-based discussions on Fedor’s career and legacy.

It’s not propaganda though. For a heavyweight—especially a small HW—to fight across multiple different orgs and rulesets, ring and cage, 10 minute first rounds, stomps, soccer kicks, etc., and go on a run for a decade that consists of beating 11-12 ranked opponents and 5 UFC champs, is straight up insane. Unheard of.

Let’s look at Jones. Just recently, after 16 years, Jones finally surpassed Fedor in ranked wins (which Fedor accomplished in just a decade). With Jones’ win over Gane, he finally eclipsed how many UFC champs Fedor has beat—and Fedor never even fought in the UFC.

I think Jones has a fantastic resume. For me it comes down to PEDs. Some people say “meh, everyone is on them,” or “meh, Jones fought some guys who also used them,” and if you feel that way then Jones might be your GOAT. I do care, so I just can’t rank Jones above Fedor or GSP. Those are the top 3 though to me, in whatever order one likes best.

The TLDR of all this, is: I don’t fault anyone who doesn’t think Fedor is GOAT. I do take exception when people act like he’s a can crusher or had a shit resume, his resume is exceptional.

Jones beat Shogun, Machida, Rashad, Rampage, DC ×2, Glover, Gane, Vitor and Stipe... thats 9 wins 1 no contest over 9 ufc champions.... and way more than 12 ranked wins...

You can't just change the numbers.... that said I love Fedor

 

[BFoe]

How is it an insane take?

He’s the LW GOAT and double champ. Being the GOAT of division and having 2nd belt is GSP and Jones territory.

He never popped for PED’s and has more title wins than Fedor. It’s actually hard to argue that he’s not #2 TBH.

Of course Anderson’s fights were mostly title fights. The division was so bad that he got the title after one win over Chris Leben, ffs.

Anderson a great wrestler? LMAO, I didn’t know you’re a comedian now. Chael held him down for 20 minutes and DC took him down at will.

His BJJ was ok, but not in the same galaxy as Islam.

Islam’s striking is much closer to Anderson’s though. Islam KOed Volk by headkick.

Anyway, Islam has much better wrestling and grappling and maybe slightly worse striking than Anderson, so he’s definitely the more well rounded fighter.

Cope harder.

The only thing I’m “coping” with are hot takes from noob fans who don’t know wtf they’re talking about.

Anderson was booked to fight Leben and then get a TS because he was a known champ from another org. He wasn’t an up-and-coming prospect, he had been SHOOTO MW (modern WW champ), had a successful PRIDE career, then won and defended the Cage Rage MW title before coming to the UFC. Somewhat similar to Jiri coming over as RIZIN champ and only needing 2 fights to get a TS.

Islam is an arguable, debatable LW GOAT, but nowhere in the same realm as Jones or Silva, that’s ludicrous. Jones ran the LHW division for like 9 years (suspensions notwithstanding), and Silva ran MW for almost 7 years. Islam was the man at LW for a measly 2 1/2 years (and does not have more title wins than Fedor). Beating the LW title defense record is good, although he had to defend twice against a FW to do it, and it’s always good to win a title in another weight class. But let’s keep things in perspective: JDM never had a single WW title defense, and Islam was nowhere close to cleaning out the LW division. People like GSP, Fedor, Jones, and Silva are light years ahead of Islam in all time rankings.

But hey, Islam headkicked that FW, so I guess he’s just like Anderson Silva!


He got planked by Adriano Martins FFS, meanwhile Silva is devastating with both hands, both elbows, both knees, both feet… his striking is miles and miles and miles better than Islam’s. Goodness sakes.

Jones beat Shogun, Machida, Rashad, Rampage, DC ×2, Glover, Gane, Vitor and Stipe... thats 9 wins 1 no contest over 9 ufc champions.... and way more than 12 ranked wins...

You can't just change the numbers.... that said I love Fedor

Pretty sure Jones has 13 ranked wins. Unless Stipe is #14? I can look when I have time, that definitely seems like something the UFC would do, with their janky rankings. Stipe hadn’t fought in 3 1/2 years, really had no business being ranked if he was.