Why does Fedor only have 3 title defenses in Pride?

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

Fedor became heavyweight champion by beating Nog early on in his Pride career, however since beating Nog, he only had 3 title defenses out of 14 fights with Pride.

And while some of it was because of tournaments, a lot of it also wasn’t.

why wasn’t Fedor fighting contenders most of the time? Did pride simply not have enough heavyweights to legitimize title shots?

 

[Hellowhosthat]

PRIDE just made title shots randomly it seems. One of the very few things I didn't like about them. Lead to silly stuff like Gomi defending the belt against a guy that beat him in the fight just before.

 

[J Danger]

None of the champions had more than a handful of title defenses. Fedor still fought the best in the organization, with the exception of Barnett. He beat everybody’s ass.

 

[loisestrad]

Pride was mostly/all about the entertainment.

It was definitely less serious than the UFC in terms of doing actual rankings and building up contenders and so on, and more leaning to the circus side of MMA.

 

[B0l0joe]

I found that strange about pride. Loved the org and the fights but it just seemed strange to have a champion fight without it being a championship fight.

The most obvious one being Auerelio choking out Gomi (champ) but the belt wasn’t on the line so he had to fight him again and ending up losing a close fight in the rematch.

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

Pride was mostly/all about the entertainment.

It was definitely less serious than the UFC in terms of doing actual rankings and building up contenders and so on, and more leaning to the circus side of MMA.

But....but....but Pride had better heavyweights than the UFC. H-h-h-how else could F-f-fedor be Goat?

 

[Greg House]

But....but....but Pride had better heavyweights than the UFC. H-h-h-how else could F-f-fedor be Goat?

Back then, the best heavyweights in the UFC were Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Frank Mir, Jeff Monson, Gan McGee and Paul Buentello.

Nobody ever talks about them with Fedor. It's the guys that showed up several years after Pride had died that people demand that Fedor should have fought like Lesnar, Carwin, Ubereem, Cain, JDS, etc...

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

Back then, the best heavyweights in the UFC were Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Frank Mir, Jeff Monson, Gan McGee and Paul Buentello.

Nobody ever talks about them with Fedor. It's the guys that showed up several years after Pride had died that people demand that Fedor should have fought like Lesnar, Carwin, Ubereem, Cain, JDS, etc...

There's no way Fedor could beat Arlovski, Sylvia, or Frank Mir.

 

[loisestrad]

But....but....but Pride had better heavyweights than the UFC. H-h-h-how else could F-f-fedor be Goat?

Fedor could very well have been the greatest HW at the time. Or of all time, who knows. He did beat his contemporaries in Arlovski, Sylvia.

Also lost to his contemporaries such as Werdum and Henderson.

I'm not really taking a stand here; Fedor is without question the only fighter in existense to have widely been considered the absolute best for more than a few years.

But at the same time it's obvious that Pride was part serious, part sideshow.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Back then, the best heavyweights in the UFC were Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Frank Mir, Jeff Monson, Gan McGee and Paul Buentello.

Nobody ever talks about them with Fedor. It's the guys that showed up several years after Pride had died that people demand that Fedor should have fought like Lesnar, Carwin, Ubereem, Cain, JDS, etc...

Yep, plus all the top ones that were around at the same time he beat when they left the UFC, with the only real exception of Randy.

 

[moreorless87]

Two issues, in latter 2003 he was in contract dispute with Pride after moving from RTT to Red Devil meaning Nog/Mirko was for an interim title with Fedor fighting on an Inoki NYE show, after the Mirko title defence he was dealing with a seriously broken hand which wasnt fixed until late 2006, when you consider he was only in Pride for 4 1/2 years and fought in the 2004 HWGP I think that explains it.

Really though titles are only as good as the fighters, if your the #1 your title is on the line every time you fight, if Fujita, Coleman or Randleman had beaten him he'd have lost the top spot.

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

There's no way Fedor could beat Arlovski, Sylvia, or Frank Mir.

Troll

 

[DarthChen731]

Because Fedor vs. Zuluzinho was clearly the highest caliber HW fight that everyone wanted to see

 

[Ozze]

Troll

Are you just gonna quote yourself until someone point's out the fail of your original quote?
Like, "let me just annoy Fedor fans"?

Not a very good job.

 

[J Danger]

But....but....but Pride had better heavyweights than the UFC. H-h-h-how else could F-f-fedor be Goat?

i don’t know why you typed this like an incel, but PRIDE definitively had the better HWs in the early to mid 2000s.

 

[blaseblase]

But....but....but Pride had better heavyweights than the UFC. H-h-h-how else could F-f-fedor be Goat?

Do you think Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture, and Frank Mir made up a better heavyweight division than Pride?

 

[Taric]

Because 99% of HW fights in PRIDE were classified as open weight.

 

[jko1355]

I heard the non title fights for champions were works.

 

[jeskola]

Do you think Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture, and Frank Mir made up a better heavyweight division than Pride?

Fedor was very afraid of Randy Couture. Randy would have beat Fedor at pretty much any stage of his career. Fedor got his ass beat in his prime in Strikeforce. he was great all juiced up in his 20s in Pride and thats it.

 

[blaseblase]

Fedor was very afraid of Randy Couture. Randy would have beat Fedor at pretty much any stage of his career. Fedor got his ass beat in his prime in Strikeforce. he was great all juiced up in his 20s in Pride and thats it.

Yeah, makes sense, considering Couture literally went to court with the UFC over them not allowing him to fight Fedor.