Coming full circle on Fedor
It is just amazing to me that one fight could so significantly change one person’s viewpoint on a fighter, but that same fight has no effect on the thoughts of the same fighter in the eyes of other fans. I freely admit that Fedor Emelianenko made a believer out of me. Not only has Fedor convinced me that he is the best fighter in the world, I am now coming to his defense since there are still people out there that don’t believe in his dominance as a fighter.
Before his fight with Tim Sylvia, I questioned Fedor’s list of opponents. I thought facing a true challenger in Sylvia would show the deficiencies in Fedor’s arsenal. It took Fedor only 36 seconds to blow those thoughts out of my mind. Fedor showed lighting quick hands and great power by dropping Sylvia so easily. He then showed a dominant ground game by submitting the much larger Sylvia quite easily.
After the fight some people still questioned Fedor’s level of opponents. How can you possibly do this? Fedor beat a former UFC heavyweight champion in Sylvia. Sylvia fought for the UFC title in February against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and was dominating Nogueira until Sylvia was caught in a guillotine choke. Sylvia was pounding Nogueira’s face for over 10 minutes and if it wasn’t for the momentary mental lapse that caused him to get choked out, Sylvia was on his was to a decision victory. Sylvia has also beaten the man who will get the next title shot against Fedor, Andrei Arlovski, twice.
Sylvia was and still is an upper-level heavyweight contender who will beat 90% of the heavyweights that he’ll face. His only problem was he ran into the buzz-saw known as The Last Emperor.
Once Fedor gets by Arlovski, he will fight his traditional New Year’s Eve bout in Japan. That should lead to the super-fight everyone has been waiting for against Randy Couture sometime in early 2009. That would be four fights in roughly nine months against at least three of the top eight or nine heavyweights in the world. There should be no doubt about Fedor’s greatness now but wins over Sylvia, Arlovski and Couture should erase doubts from even the most skeptical fight fan.
It is true that I have gone from a Fedor hater and have been converted to a huge fan of Emelianenko. I would advise anyone that still questions his talents and abilities to take the same steps I have and re-think your position. Fedor is a great ambassador for the sport, a true champion of it and quite possibly the greatest fighter of all-time. If you have a problem with Fedor, you really have a problem with you and should look in the mirror. Long live The Last Emperor!
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 7:20 pm and is filed under In the Cage, Affliction, Andrei Arlovski, Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE AUTHOR
POLL
ARCHIVE
5 Responses to “Coming full circle on Fedor”
July 24th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Dear Jesse,
I was one of the guys that laughed at you when you going against Fedor, but i must admit you sucked it up and got on the Fedor train very well. Most people would stay stubborn but you honestly accepted it well, WELL DONE. This is how sports writers are supposed to be WRITING THE TRUTH. You thought he sucked so you said so, you found out otherwise and you changed your mind, RESPECT.
P.S. Everyone laughed at Fedor vs Hong Man Choi but let me tell you that fight showed that he is human. He actually broke a sweat, and the way he jumped up biting on his bottom lip, that was the first time i seen him show his emotions.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:00 am
People should really give Barnett his credit. I don’t know why Couture is higher on the threat-to-Fedor-list.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Fedor is undefeated in 6 matches against former or current UFC champions. No offense, but it was rather silly to be against him when he was “only” undefeated in 5 matches.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
He is the best fighter ever, pound 4 pound or any other way around. Anyone thinking otherwise is just kidding himself. He is really has a light heavy weight size and frame, yet he has seems so comfortable against opponents of any size, at just 6ft and 230lbs.
How is Anderson Silva the top P4P in the world when he only fights folks his size and weight…
July 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
After reading some of your articles after the article bashing Fedor, I have come to like your writing style. I can appreciate someone that doesn’t defend their previous statement just cause they were proved wrong. I think I just may subscribe to your blog. Have a good one!
Leave a comment