Fedor very beatable, could not win UFC title!
By Curtis Clontz on Nov 08, 2009
Before you judge, hear me out…. Last night Fedor Emelianenko proved once again that he is the best heavyweight fighter in the world. Some will even say that he is the best MMA fighter of all time. While he was dominant in his victory over Brett Rogers, he did show that he is human. Not only did he get a broken nose and an injured hand, but from the jump he was bleeding. Turns out that he is not made of metal. Fedor also proved that he is not only human, but he is beatable! This is why…
While the fight only lasted two very short rounds, Fedor seemed lost at one key point, when his back was to the cage. Brett Rogers pushed, leaned, and dirty boxed for several seconds while Fedor looked lost. Eventually Fedor just pushed Rogers off, but had it been another fighter with better cage skills, Fedor could have been in serious trouble.
One of the reasons that Fedor hasn’t lost in 9 years, is because of his calm demeanor in the cage. He never seems to get overwhelmed, out classed, or out worked. He simply never reaches the point of breaking, and always finds a way to win. That being said, what would happen if indeed Fedor was pushed or dominated for a few rounds? Would he fold?
Think back to the Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga fight. Randy employed his incredible game of dirty boxing and landed a fight changing slam off of the cage. Gonzaga was never able to recover and some would say neither has his career.
Lets swap Fedor and Gabe. Fedor looked lost with an inexperienced Rogers on him, imagine what he would do if it was the best at that game? Randy would get the fight in this position and be able to truly exploit this weakness.
Another fighter that could put Fedor in trouble is Brock Lesnar. No, I am not a troll. Brock Lesnar provides a new set of challenges for Fedor and every other heavyweight. His size and strength puts him in an advantage, throw in his D1 wrestling and you have a legitimate force.
The key to Brock winning a fight with Fedor would be his submission defense. The fight would go to the ground eventually and Brock could smother him for 5 rounds. Rogers had one solid fury in which Fedor was on his back. The Last Emperor seems content with taking some shots to attempt an armbar. This has worked very well in the past on the likes of Hong Man Choi, but it would not work against Brock. Three or four solid shots could rock Fedor resulting in a similar flurry. You don’t want to say that the ref would jump in prematurely, but you never know.
Reading this you would not think that I am a Fedor fan. You have to give him all the credit in the world. He has not been defeated in 9 years. Fedor is great. One of the best ever, but he can be defeated. Strikeforce stepping into the cage very well could lead to his demise!
Picture from www.combatlifestyle.com
Filed Under: MMA
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Good thing your website is called MMAOPINION and not MMAFACT. Because your opinion is crap!
Curtis, I’m going to save the details for my rebuttle, but I will say that I think you’re wrong on this one. It’s not about the cage, and I don’t think Fedor was lost at all. I thought he was waiting to open up space and utilize his boxing and judo (which he did, very effectively).
Josh you very well may be right, unfortunately we wont ever get to see him take on either of those guys.
Art,
Tell me why you disagree. In what ways does the cage not pose problems? Don’t criticize without reasoning… Me and Josh usually disagree…lol
Comparing Hong man Choi to Lesnar or Couture is what I would expect from a know nothing writer, I think Couture would not last one round, and is not nearly as impressive as everyone thinks. So Brock and his 5 fights would be enough to win??? C’mon
Randy 5 or 6 years ago might give Fedor a run. Now… first round he’d be finished. Brock? I do not think he would bully Fedor like he did Mir, who changed his whole philosophy for their second fight. Brock’s chin hasn’t been tested yet, and grappling wise Fedor has faced guys just as good as Brock, so to say Fedor’s style won’t work against Brock or anyone is a little off in my opinion. But hey that’s the website right?
I was actually doing the complete opposite, stating that Lesnar was no Choi, and that he is much stronger and much better…
Marc,
Brock’s lack of experience didn’t hurt him against Mir or Randy….
I can’t believe I just defended Brock Lesnar…
You feel dirty at first, but then you get used to it. =P
Curtis, my main problem with this piece is “Fedor looked lost with an inexperienced Rogers on him,”
Many people write articles on fighters based on what they think the fighter is feeling or thinking during a fight. Many people felt Fedor was clueless against Arlovski because he was moving back during the first few minutes of the fight. We don’t know what Fedor was thinking.
As far as Fedor not being able to win the UFC title, the same thing was said about Brock Lesnar. His MMA inexperience was discussed again and again. Fast forward to the present, his size, reach, power and wrestling base is highly touted as reason why he can not be beat. Lesnar can be submitted, I just wouldn’t try a lock on his upper body . . . see Frank Mir.
I disagree about your cage analogy Curtis.
It it is not a comfortable position to be in for any fighter – sure, it’s hard to breathe and you are smothered from movement (this is where Couture and Piere used it so well) , but it at no point was it proved to be an area where Fedor could be beaten. If anything from the cage wall smother I was impressed with Fedor’s strengh to push off a 20lb heavier Rogers.
If anything was shown from that bout it was the few small times that Rogers used his jab and reach advantage – it was that the opened up Fedor’s nose and kept him on outside swinging and missing by quite a distance. If rogers was more experienced he could have captalised by there, but still with Emelianko he would have found a way around..that is what is so impressive about him, he is a master tactician.
As for Brock Lesnar, we should be talking about Overeem here – Lesnar is a newcomer and I would not be surprised if he is beaten once again before contracts are even tendered.
Win’s over Mir and loss streak ridden 46 year old couture are not the makings or provings of a great fighter.
NICE TRY!!!
ARE YOU SOME SORT OF KEYBOARD WIZARD, NOOB UFC TROLL, TURNED JOUNALISTA???
HORRIBLE PIECE OF WRITING!
WE ALL KNOW FEDOR IS HUMAN.
HE SAYS HIMSELF HE IS BEATABLE!
GET OVER THE UFC BRAND THING,
HE WOULD DESTROY BROCK, RANDY,
how dare you compare him to young GABE GONZAGA?
YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE SOME WEAK AGENDA AT HAND WITH THIS PROPOGANDA,,,
AND ROGAN SAYS MARK HIS WORD THAT OVERHEEM WILL GIVE HIM PROBLEMS?
YOU GUYS MUST BE SMOKING THE SAME STUFF!
AND DRINKING MACHIDA’s KOOL AID!
ANYWAY, FEDOR WAITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ROGERS MISTAKES, and FINISHED HIM!
HE FINISHES FIGHTS UNLIKE MANY UFC CHAMPIONS THAT ARE TOO LAME OR INJURED TO EVEN DEFEND THEIR BELTS.
SO HERE’s THE REAL QUESTION.
WAS UFC 100 Really the first fight you watched? REALLY man, you can be honest!!
–ATHENS GUY
Wow. Someone needs to learn how capital letters work.
I realize that people like the idea of shouting through the internet, but seriously. It makes you look like an idiot.
People are going to argue one way or another unless these two guys actually fight or until one of them looses. If Carwin beats Lesnar then what? I personally think that Fedor at this point would defeat Brock because he has seen his style before and has faced guys just as powerful. In a few years, maybe it is a different scenario. I still think Nogueira at 100% can take Brock, but maybe I am a dreamer.
Bill
Curtis – I like your opinion. I was thinking the same thing. Fedor did look a bit vulnerable and I also thought started to show his age. I’m a big Fedor fan, but his fight with Rogers didn’t impress me. I was worried that Fedor was going to go bye bye during the ground and pound, but I’m glad he still won. It looked like Rogers may have been too strong to submit him bc Fedor could not control Rogers on the ground.
NO ONE CAN BEAT LESNAR BUT LASHLEY AND NO ONE CAN BEAT LASHLEY BUT LESNAR-EVERYONE ELSE IS JUST MEDIOCRE COMPARED TO THESE 2 MONSTERS
MAYBE FEDOR IS BEATABLE, BUT WHO ISN´T, BUT NOBODY IN 9 YEARS HAS BEAT HIM, YOU CAN THINK OF A LOT OF FIGHTERS THAT HE HAS FOUGHT, GREAT FIGHTERS AND NOBODY HAS WON, THINK ABOUT, WHO HAS WON 9 YEARS IN A ROW
Here’s what the whole Lesnar-Carwin-UFC heavyweight arguments look like to me.
Let’s say Carwin beats Lesnar then Lesnar wins the rematch. For some reason or another they both leave the UFC and end up in Strikeforce. They both or one of them, eventually face Fedor and lose within 1 or 2 rounds. Meanwhile there’s another big-scary-beast UFC heavyweight champion and some prospects. Lesnar and Carwin becomes has beens because they have been exposed or loss a fight or two and fans totally downplay Fedor’s victories. Oh yeah and he’s still undefeated.
What then, his detractors still say, “He needs to fight in the UFC to truly cement his legacy.” Note, they are no longer talking about his ability to perform in a cage.
Now, I’m not saying that (Lesnar & Carwin) = (Sylvia & Arlovski) but the situation is very similiar.
In the end, if Fedor faces and lose to Brock Lesnar via anything it doesn’t matter. A fight is a fight, I don’t see Lesnar, Carwin, Velasquez or any other highly touted heavyweight performing at Fedor’s level for 5 years straight, let alone 9 years of Mixed Martial Arts competition.
And for the argument about Fedor fighting cans, I ask the question . . . did Lesnar or Carwin always face top fighters? Hint: No.
Brock is not ready for Fedor, nor has he earned the right to fight Fedor. A 5-0 fighter against a 31-1-1 fighter? Without all the BS UFC hype no promotor would ever even consider it.
Fedor is a past Russian Judo champion and 6 time Russian Combat Sambo Champion, 4 time World Combat Sambo Champion (Twice in the open weight division). He has also won the Russian Armed Forces Combat Sambo Championship (Open weight division) and the European Combat Sambo Championship. Needless to say he is very skilled and proven even before mentioning his MMA career.
He has beaten five past UFC champions.
Lesner? Ok so he is a two-time NJCAA All-American, the 1998 NJCAA Heavyweight Champion, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Conference Champion, and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion with a record of 106-5 overall in four years of college. But that’s wrestling, ie no armbars, no chokes, no submissions period, and just a handful of take down methods.
Can Lesner beat Fedor? Maybe eventually, but not yet with out a lot of luck in the early part of the first round. Brock needs to fight some fighters like Alistair Overeem, Werdum, bigfoot Silva or Rodgers to prove himself.
If he makes it to 10-0 then I would say he deserves to fight Fedor. I would rather see a Fedor – Overeem or Werdum fight. That would be far more dangerous for Fedor and most likely a much better fight.
Ok, Curtis I will tell you why I think your opinion is crap if you don’t already understand. Starting with your comment:
“he did show that he is human. Not only did he get a broken nose and an injured hand, but from the jump he was bleeding. Turns out that he is not made of metal”
When did he show he wasn’t human? When has he not bled? Wow and did you literaly think he had adabantium skeleton? So Fedor bled???? wow that’s a surprise to me, never seen that before. See the way you’re portraying it is that Fedor destroys his opponents of every second of every minute of every round. This has never been so.
Against Arona that was a very close fight, Fedor almost lost that one.
Against Mark Coleman the first one, Coleman took Fedors back and was controling him very well before being caught in the armbar.
Crocop painted a Picasso on Fedors face before losing a decision.
Mark Hunt had Fedor pined in Side mount for a good while and almost had a submission win over him.
Arlovski was doing a really good job,
Rogers did pretty good too.
Point I’m trying to make is Fedor is Human always has been, don’t try to sell it as him being immortal and on Saturday Rogers proved he was mortal. He was proved to be mortal a long time ago. Yes he won 31 fights, but to say all of them came without effort is stupid.
And them in your analysis you are saying that IF Lesnar was in Rogers position he would have destroyed Fedor. So you basically paused the fight, replaced Rogers with Lesnar and started to make an analysis. WTF??? I can go on and on, if you want me to.
Art,
I am glad you came back! This is what makes this website so great. I hope you return to reply to my reply…
Your right, this whole time I assumed that Russia somehow melted down one of their old submarines or gun caches and put it into Fedor’s body…lol
It was a figure of speech, a way to say that Fedor has appeared as being something other than human! The man hasn’t lost in 9 years, and that loss was due to a cut… Name me another fighter with this kind of record, against this type of competition? Fedor is great, but he has weaknesses and matches up poorly against several of the UFC’s key fighters.
Arona? The same one that lost to Fedor 9 years ago? That fight ended in unanimous decision…not as close as you infer.
Your actually not helping your cause…You sound like you are implying that Fedor has been in serious trouble and is not as good as the incredible 31-1 record says he is.
I am not saying you pause the fight and insert Brock or Randy…What you do is use the previous fight to analyze Fedor’s movements, how he reacted, and what he did to get off of the cage.
I am simply doing what his next opponent will do. Re-watch the fight, he legitimately looked like he was thinking how to get off of the cage. With those hooks he was asking to get dropped!
When your only escape off of the cage is to push your opponent off of you, then you show weakness in that area.
A weakness that other fighters can exploit.
Such as Randy Couture (in my opinion)
Randy Couture? Get Serious, 13 years older? A little less than 4 years till 50, can you say AARP?
Greco-Roman wrestling against Sambo and Judo? I’m gonna go with the Sambo and Judo. Why? Because they don’t teach Greco-Roman Classes in the military in the US, Russia or any other country I can readily think of!
Why? It’s not an efficient combat system.
Randy’s 16-10 record with 2 submissions and 7 knockouts against Fedors 30-1 with 16 submissions and 8 knockouts?
Yes Curtis, Fedor is beatable, but not very as you say.
It took five rounds for Randy to win over Tim Silvia and that was by decision, how long did it take Fedor? 36 Seconds.
If he can’t beat Nogueira, he’s certainly not going to beat Fedor.
When you lose, you generally fight a lower ranked fighter next, not the number one ranked fighter in your class unless that’s who you just lost against.
Enough said.
I never said that he should fight Randy..or that Randy has earned a fight with him…
I am simply saying that there is a hole in Fedors game and Randy is one of the fighters that would expose that hole.
I can’t believe this has gotten so much attention…lol
Curtis I understand where you are coming from because to many people it appeared that Rogers was doing well against Fedor. However, with the exception of a few fights, in almost all of Fedor’s fights his opponent seemed to be doing well. And then they were beaten. The point that really hits home is that Fedor seems to beat his opponents at their own game. In his last 3 fights he faced strikers, which is supposed to be his weakness, and it has been his striking that got him the win. Prior to those fights he beat everyone else the same way: he out wrestled wrestlers, out worked BJJ experts on the ground, and yes beat strikers standing. Right now it may appear that there are holes, but until someone actually proves that by winning I would say that is an over statement. But I understand your point.
And hey the attention is good, as long as people are not jerks in their assessments.
Bill
War,
That could be the best comment on this post. You think these are bad then you should see some of the ones when I speak my mind about Machida…
I was even asked to change my favorite statement about him…
How he manipulates the rules the garner a win…or something like that.
Dude do they pay you to write this opinonated article here? Cause i really dont think you know anything about mixed martial arts! Clearly your no different from the casual UFC fans, that got into the sport after they launched TUF reality show! Fedor is not only the best in the world, he’s fought every single style in mma! He’s fought big guys, small guys, quick guys, bjj guys, judo,wrestling, muay thai! You name it! There’s no way in hell he would get beat by Lesnar! And theres no if they ever fight it’ll go 5 rounds! At most it’ll go 2 rounds, and it’ll most likely end in armbar submission! Damn never write your opinion here again, i’d rather here from someone who has a little knowledge of this sport!
Stockmaster,
Guess they had a sale on Haterade at the store.
So according to you because Fedor has beaten every type of MMA fighter “there’s no way in hell he would get beat by Lesnar”? I hate defending Lesnar, but name another D1 champ with the size and strength that he has faced…
In your upset rebuttal you forgot to say why Fedor would be able to beat Lesnar in less than two rounds. In what ways would he be able to combat the wrestling, size, and strength?
Tom Brady and the Pats had defeated every type of NFL team…They were undefeated..There is no possible way the Giants could beat them…..
If you write up a legit rebuttal to the post I will gladly post it up for you. If you are interested email me at curtis_clontz@yahoo.com
Curtis, I am one of the biggest Fedor fans that exist!!! Fedor IS THE BEST FIGHTER in the world. There are 6 billion people in the world and I honestly believe Fedor will whoop every single person in a fight.
But at the same time I do not see him as being immortal.
Here’s a really nice quote from Jesse Holland from MMAMANIA.COM from his article “The great debate: Fedor Emelianenko”
“When Travis Lutter had Anderson Silva mounted at UFC 67 and began raining down punches, “Spider’s” eventual escape and submission win were heralded as an “amazing comeback.”
Yet when Fedor escaped the mount and ground-and-pound of Brett Rogers last Saturday night, he was “exposed.”
That’s exactly what I mean. YOU Said, that Fedor showed he was human, why? because he was mounted and hit 4 times? Very very double standard of you.
And the Fight with Arona in Rings, was very close, it went into overtime, because initially it was a draw and they had to fight an extra round and Fedor pulled it off. So YES IT WAS VERY CLOSE. Fedor won the last round. WATCH THE FIGHT.
Oh and by the way something I forgot to mention. Since you like taking specifics from a fight and interchanging fighter positions to argue that another fighter would have beaten Fedor in that position. For example…. you mentioned that if Brock Lesnar had Fedor pushed against the cage Fedor would not have been able to just push him off.
ok…… so here’s a question for you Curtis, I will reverse the roles. When Randleman suplex Fedor the way he did he should have been charged with attempted murder after the fight. Fedor came back and submitted him……. If Brock Lesnar would have been suplexed just like that would he come back the same way?????
Art,
Sorry it took awhile to get back.
Rogers never mounted Fedor…
For your second comment, I don’t know. I can’t say that is Brock got dropped on his head, if he would be able to recover…However there is a big difference between recovering from a slam or not…or a weakness in a specific area of the fight game.
Curtis,
I know he never got mounted I watched the fight, but you know what I meat Rogers was on top, but not because Rogers actually took him down and took the top position, Rogers ended up on top because Fedor tried a Kimura on Rogers and gave up his position.
And sometimes Curtis, you just have to admit you were wrong, BOLDLY stating that Fedor WILL NOT WIN THE UFC TITLE because he got pressed against the cage is something DANA would say.
Neither of us are right and neither of us are wrong. It is an opinion.
I feel that he matches us terrible with several of the UFC fighers…You don’.
I guess we could agree to disagree, but I am not changing my opinion…
You’re both wrong! Fedor could fight all of the fighters in the UFC heavyweight division at the same time, with both his hands tied behind his back and with two broken legs and still win! He would use the Jedi mind trick and convince them all to choke themselves out! LOL
Bill
At this point it sounds like Fedor is the combination of Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, and Captain Planet….
Fedor has gotten better with age; not worse. I saw his early ‘Rings’ match with Ricardo Arona, and I had the Brazilian slightly ahead after regulation. Ricardo was relentless with his takedowns; he just couldn’t land significant strikes or commit to any threatening submission attempts while in the mount or half-guard. ‘Rings’ had very restrictive rules which handicapped strikers and favored grapplers.
Having seen all of Fedor’s fights (I also own every single pride event on DVD), ever since the Arona scare, I don’t see where Fedor lost a single round and any of his subsequent matches! To even suggest that a 4-1 Brock Lesnar (who never even attempted a kick or a submission in MMA), could defeat Fedor, reeks of pure Dana white brainwashed lunacy!
If Rogers didn’t keep pinning fedor against the fence (by illegally grabbing the fence), he never would have seen round two. And yet, of the hundreds of Fedor vs. Rogers articles I’ve read, not one person has mentioned Rogers’flagrant fence grabbing during the match.
As far as Fedor getting cut? Big deal. Any real MMA follower knows that Fedor bleeds like wet kleenex. And for the record, Fedor’s nose was not broken; a previous cut from sparring was reopened by a weak Rogers jab.
Who in the UFC can beat Emelianenko? Randy Couture? Please. Big Nog in his prime coudn’t do a thing vs. Fedor in their two fights.
Only a brain-washed UFC fan-boy who discovered the UFC following ‘Tuff 10′ or something would lay claim that any fighter even in the history of the UFC would beat Fedor.