Otherwise, Shogun and Crocop would still be at the top of their division. I have yet to see Fedor fight on US soil other than his beating an over the hill Coleman. His other recent fight was against an overmatched middle weight in Lindland where he debatably cheated by grabbing the ropes. Now, he’s going up against an overmatched kickboxer who is NOT allowed to knee. LOL. A kickboxer who can’t knee fighting in an MMA match? WTF!?! There are no athletic commissions over there, so where is this demand of no knees to protect the lighter fighter coming from? Is it because M-1 and their management are trying to stack the odds in favor of their fighter?

His management is truly afraid that a loss would destroy his mythical aura and their cash cow. Too bad, in the mean time, Fedor’s lost all respect from anyone who’s not a Pride fanboy or a Fedor worshipper.

He wants it, but it isn’t the purpose of his life – he has already proved everything. It’s other people who need to prove they belong on the top.

: it is a total mismatch.
Please, prove me that Hong Man Choi is a can. I’m waiting…

: Fedor has been fighting cans for years
: now; his last credible opponents were
: Nog and Cro Cop.
You clearly don’t understand what you are talking about. The TUF generation, huh?

: His last fight was against a
: Middleweight for gods sakes.
All his fights have been against babies (because every opponent Fedor faces was a baby once)!

: There are many more names in the
: division now with Arlovski, Gonzaga,
: Kongo, Sylvia and Couture.
Couture – not in UFC. LOL with Gonzaga and Kongo! ) Are you talking about the same Kongo who lost to Gilbert Yvel (who is maybe in top30 and was easily beaten by Roman Zentsov)? ) Saying that Kongo is a top contender and a legitimate competition for Fedor without a doubt shows how little you know about the MMA world.

: Obviously you have been living under a
: rock or in your parents basement,
blah-blah-blah. Look at the action, not at the rhetoric.

: UFC is televised around the world,
Really? ))) Can you provide any real proof (statistics, names)? ))))

UFC is a local American MMA organization. A big one, but still local. And that’s what it will also be (if they stick to the same strategy).

Fact is, eventually the UFC fighters will begin to get bigger than the promotion and want to do other things. The undefeated clause that extends his contract indefinitely has been told by other columnists as well. It’s absurd and should be taken to court.

“He has said many times that he wants to fight Couture. That’s the reason why he wanted to sign with the UFC. Too bad Dana didn’t really want him there.”

If he really wanted to fight Couture enough, he would have made the necessary sacrifice. Instead, he did not and I find that somewhat dishonorable for a man of his supposed stature. So what if Choi Hong Man is a top K-1 striker? that sets him up as a fighter in the B class at best; Fedor is in the A+ category, it is a total mismatch. But I guess you somehow manage to find honor in a mismatch. Fedor has been fighting cans for years now; his last credible opponents were Nog and Cro Cop. His last fight was against a Middleweight for gods sakes. There are many more names in the division now with Arlovski, Gonzaga, Kongo, Sylvia and Couture. Fedor needs to fight these people to prove he is the best.

“Check the reality (Putin and Bush has quite good relationship) and get real, I beg you!”

Obviously you have been living under a rock or in your parents basement, because there has been arguement over the Eastern European Missile Shield for quite some time now. Bush wants to put anti-ballistic missiles in Poland, Czech and a few others. Putin has heavily protested this and has pulled out of NATO-Russian missile treaties in response. I don’t find that to be a very friendly situation, do you? Don’t get me wrong I think the whole debacle is foolish and that the US and Russia should remain friends and business partners, but I cant say relations are on a high note right now. UFC is televised around the world, if Fedor wants to spread Sambo he should fight in the UFC.

You have obviously watched too much of C-class movies. There are many Russian sportsmen in the United Russia Party. Many of whom are really trying to do something in politics. Fedor is not one of them. He basically is grateful to Putin for what he has done (in life, in sport) and decided to thank him by giving permission to use his name to get more votes for Putin’s party.

Compare the Rocky movie with reality (Fedor vs Lindland fight). Sure, people admired Fedor, but in reality nobody booed to Lindland, unlike we all saw in the Rocky movie. Booing is a typical American way of acting and has to do with Russia only in the crazy fantasies of the American writers. “Stupid Communistic country, where everything is controlled by the crazy KGB generals, who dream of destroying USA, and where you only have to ask people once to sacrifice themselves – because all other people are dead in Gulags” – is all the same stupid fantasies. Check the reality (Putin and Bush has quite good relationship) and get real, I beg you!

: But, my complaint with Fedor is that he
: is riding the ticket of being the
: greatest pound-for-pound fighter in
: the world when he hasnt faced
: legitimate competition in over 2 years.
He has faced legitimate competition. What he hasn’t done is – faced somebody who could truly put him in danger. But you really can’t blame him for being so much better that others (other top10 fighters), can you? It would be nice to find another Fedor so the Fedor vs Fedor match could be organized, but unfortunately it’s impossible.

: M-1’s marketing ability is limited to Russia
: and with a crutch from K-1, Japan.
You should not mix the M-1 (Russia) and the M-1 Global.
http://russianmma.com/2007/12/total-sports-asia-tsa-japan-m-1-global.html

:Fedor will be fighting a Ssirum fighter
:with one MMA match against a total can
:to his record;
That’s BS! Hong Man Choi is one of the best strikers in the world and has been practicing Korean style of wrestling. We don’t know how good transition he can make to the MMA world. It may be successful (like Mirko) or not (like Schilt). But right now we don’t know. We don’t know if he is a can in MMA or if he will be the next big thing. The only thing we know is that he is a big and strong buy, that his striking is very dangerous and that he has experience in wrestling. That’s all. You really can’t prove that he is a can (like you can do in a case with Zulu).

: Im sorry but I dont think that
: quite makes #1 material.
What you don’t understand is that the fight with Hong is not even intended to be “the best two guys fighting for the title”. It is the extra fight. It has been said that Fedor will be fighting in Q1 2008 and everybody are waiting for it. But M-1 and Fedor realized that there is a chance for Fedor to fight sooner. And so they decided to do it. To make a NY present to the fans. The previously announced match is not canceled. You should be happy to see an additional fight and not to whine about the quality (which is high in this case).

:Fedor has to prove himself against the
:stacked level of competition that only
:the UFC currently provides to reassert
:his claim.
He doesn’t have to prove anything. He has proven everything already.

UFC really has nobody, who can be thought as a legit competition for Fedor (who he hasn’t fought already). Well, _maybe_ except for Tim Sylvia.

: but as of right now he is ducking
: Couture. Period.
) He has said many times that he wants to fight Couture. That’s the reason why he wanted to sign with the UFC. Too bad Dana didn’t really want him there.

Couture is not in the UFC right now, so the birth of the new M-1 organization actually increased the chances of Fedor vs Couture fight to become reality.