The Fedor Debate
Unless you’ve been living on the moon for the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed that the drama surrounding Fedor Emelianenko’s validity as a worthy fighter has been one of the hottest topics on MMA forums. Major publications like ESPN.com, MMA Weekly and Sherdog have considered Fedor “The Best Heavyweight Fighter in the World” for several years in a row now. Countless numbers of die-hard Fedor fans (especially you guys on the Heavy Hands facebook site) point out his epic battles, numerous victories and championship titles held, as proof that he is the real deal.
However, there are some that disagree. The Fedor bashers (again, especially you guys on the Heavy Hands facebook site) make claims that he’s all hype now and that his fans have placed him on a pedestal, or he hasn’t fought anyone worthy recently. Adding sugar to the hater-ade was not only his surprising loss to Fabricio Werdum in less than 90 seconds, but also Dana White’s vicious comments claiming that Fedor is “a fake, a phony and a farce” after the loss.
I want to throw it all on the table, so…Let the debate begin!
For the Fedor fans:
How can you deny the fact that the man has a 31-2 record? I wonder what comes with a record like that? Maybe several different titles? Or I guess having won the RINGS World Heavyweight Class and the King of Kings Championships, the Pride Fighting Championships, World Heavyweight and Heavyweight Grand Prix Championships, and the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship means absolutely nothing.
And some want to say that he hasn’t fought anybody. Really? Arlovski, Sylvia, Cro Cop, Colman, “Big Nog”, and Herring have all had pretty nice careers in the UFC…and all have fallen to Fedor. The man wins most of his fights in the first round…18 to be exact by UFC standards (not including the Hoffman fight), and of those fights won, 11 were done by submission. The last time I checked, it takes a little bit of knowledge and skill to win that way.
For the Fedor bashers:
In the past he was a shining star…no denying that…but he hasn’t fought anybody of high caliber recently. Fabricio Werdum defeated him on June 26th, 2010. Werdum used to fight in the UFC, but was released. Using simple logic, Fedor wouldn’t survive there either.
He needs to prove himself now, just as he did in the past…every fight fan knows that MMA is a “Who’s The Shit Right Now” sport…So, how about this; Fedor vs. Mir, Vera, or Gonzaga, just for starters. And if he beats any of those three? Bring out the heavy handed ones…You know who they are, and I’m sure there’s a line waiting. Oh yeah, all fights should be in the good ‘ol USA. He’s got a 20% chance of losing here now, which is more than anywhere else he’s fought in the world…If he’s that good, he can win here just as well.
~Ghetto