Why Did Fedor's Prime End Early?

[Towerworld]

This is one of the most debated topics among Sherdog's martial arts experts today, Fedor suddenly became "past prime" just one year after the single greatest performance career vs Andrei Arlovski.

One idea is mileage; fedor had been through 32 fights when he lost to werdum and 35 when he lost to Henderson. This notion is completely invalid though as Hendo had been through more fights with 8 losses to fedors 2 at the time.
Lets compare Fedor's Mileage with other "high mileage" fighters:

Overeem: 65 mma fights, 15 brutal losses and 14 Kickboxing matches
But he just recently defeated Werdum, Hunt, Arlovski and JDS, just got better wins than fedor had during his entire career in 2 years.

Jeremy Stephens 41 fights, 14 losses but just put on some the best fights of his career

RDA- 37 fights same age as fedor when he was "past prime" but he's now the 1# contender at a higher weight class then he's ever fought

Michael Bisping- older than fedor had more fights when he beat Luke rockhold(who would kill fedor btw)

Examining the evidence , its clear that Fedor's mileage and age was very average when he lost meaning that there were other factors at work.

Was fedor scared or uncomfortable fighting in the US? Would Fedor have won if pride rules were used instead(even though fedor doesn't use soccer kicks ect.)? Did Fedor only perform so well because of certain medications?

What do you guys think was the reason Fedor lost?

 

[McSpikes]

MMA evolved. Fedor didn’t .

 

[mb23100]

Stopped reading at "Sherdogs martial arts experts"

 

[Stevanchez]

People age different.

But let's say Fedor wasn't past his prime when he lost. That means his legacy is, after going undefeated for 10 years(longest noteworthy streak in MMA history), being the #1 HW in the world for over 7 years(longest reign a top any division in MMA history), being a universally recognized top 3 P4P fighter for 2660 days(longest in MMA history), compiling more quality wins than any fighter not named Silva or GSP, more top 10 wins than any HW other than Nogueira, the most top 5 wins in HW history, the most wins over #1 & #2 HWs in history, and winning 7 #1 HW championship fights(most in HW history).

He lost to 2 top 10 HWs(one that is a UFC champion and universally recognized as a top 5 all-time HW and another that was a UFC championship challenger and that holds wins over top HWs Overeem, Arlovski, Browne, and a draw against Hunt) and a top 10 LHW(who just so happens to be universally recognized as one of the 10 greatest mixed martial artists of all-time). Those are his 3 legitimate "prime" loses. What a bum.

 

[RyuHayabusa]

Stopped reading at "Sherdogs martial arts experts"

 

[Steve-French]

He was only 33 when he lost to Werdum and didn't take that much damage throughout his career. His problem is that he got lazy with his training camps. While other fighters were training at gyms like AKA and Greg Jackson's, hiring S & C coaches, and nutritionists Fedor was eating ice cream and training with teenagers at his local YMCA. His ability was still there imo.

 

[sabretitan]

he had such an amazing run; i tend to think maybe it just started early.

 

[Steve-French]

I don't think Fedor ever really lost any ability. He just had shitty training camps and wasn't taking the right steps with his body and diet. He's also better at fighting in a ring vs a cage.

Imo his reflexes have always been there. He just got lazy with training as he started looking a little softer.

Lets look at the Gary Goodrich fight from 2003. Gary Goodrich was 36 years old. At that point Gary was a tough guy with a few good wins, but with a 17-14 record could probably be placed in the Journeyman's category with his best years arguably behind him.

Now Lets look at Fedor vs Pedro Rizzo from 2012. Pedro was 37 years old with a 19-9 record. He also had some really good wins in his day and even fought for the UFC HW strap three times; but his best years were behind him and he was also slipping into that Journeyman's category.

Keep in mind that these fights are 9 years apart with opponents that are pretty much the same age, The same skill level and at the same point in their career. Fedor looks a little softer in the Rizzo fight and is a little more hesitant to unload, but there isn't a noticeable difference in Fedor's Movement. Which leads me to believe that Fedor's ability has always been there.

Fedor 2003



Fedor 2012

 

[sabretitan]

He was only 33 when he lost to Werdum and didn't take that much damage throughout his career. His problem is that he got lazy with his training camps. While other fighters were training at gyms like AKA and Greg Jackson's, hiring S & C coaches, and nutritionists Fedor was eating ice cream and training with teenagers at his local YMCA. His ability was still there imo.

he just wasn't as hungry..
ps love your av!!

 

[ThatGuy7698]

His prime wasn't really anything that great to begin with.

When the majority of your wins are against a bunch of cans over in Japan it makes your record less impressive than what it actually is.

 

[CCA]

Fedor's style was based on speed and ferocity. During is prime years it was enough to overpower his opponents. but after so many wars he started to lose a little bit of both, just enough so the holes in his technique starting to show up, eventually each new opponent was able to do a little more and more damage than the previous one. That plus the video materials for the fighters to study and not adapting to the new training tendencies.

 

[Magnum1978]

Fedor didn't have his greatest performance against AA, not even close. His peak form was between 03 and 05, and you could argue it started to decline after then

 

[Bacco]

He relied a lot on speed and explosiveness, two first things you lose aging

You see a visible decline in performance before his first loss vs Werdum, and even before that he lost in Sambo

None of his opponents did anything incredible, younger Fedor will have likely fucked up all of them

 

[Les Vejtibals]

His best performance was not vs Arlovski. He was getting torched till he sneezed on him.

The answer: vodka.

And he was entitled.

 

[Towerworld]

His prime wasn't really anything that great to begin with.

When the majority of your wins are against a bunch of cans over in Japan it makes your record less impressive than what it actually is.

Very true, its so sad that "wins" over people like lindland, zuluzinho,valavicius, hongman choi, ricardo arona are even counted tbh.

 

[ThatGuy7698]

Very true, its so sad that "wins" over people like lindland, zuluzinho,valavicius, hongman choi, ricardo arona are even counted tbh.

Finally somebody that makes sense. You're one of the very few on here that get it.

 

[wrestlefan]

You guys weren't there. Living through Fedor's reign was unlike any other fighters.

 

[AminoAcid]

Stopped reading at "Why Did Fedor's Prime End Early".


Is 10 years of longevity at the very top not enough for you, bruh?

 

[IsNormal]

Those are his 3 legitimate "prime" loses. What a bum.

I don't think (correction: hope) most people who have some Fedor criticisms are claiming he sucks because of these losses.
I think they're just tired of fans who seem like they don't acknowledge the losses, saying "PRIME Fedor could not lose. That Fedor who lost was a different Fedor".
They'd probably be happy with people just acknowledging those as legit losses, and saying "Yeah, Fedor lost a few times, he's still great and still dominated more than anyone else".

 

[dittohead84]

He got lazy. Could see it in his physique