How can anyone survive that barrage of punches from Emelianenko? 8 shots in a row and even with half of them blocked? Done.

- he has the horrendous coordination/balance of a baby deer on rollerskates

- he’ll be fighting in a ring, rather than in a cage which he’s constantly used to lean on in order to avoid takedowns, and will be susceptible to getting sprung off the ropes etc. (this is where that whole co-ordination/balance thing comes to bite him in the ass)

- this “awesome” takedown defence everyone is talking about is completely predicated on his opponents shooting for doubles or singles from waaay out (see Monson, Rodriguez); and while people seem to remember Nogueira pulling guard on him from the clinch, they seem to forget he was also able to take time down at the end of round 1 from the clinch with a legsweep. Fedor will not be shooting on him but rather attempting to get inside and use the clinch to look for legsweeps and hip throws – which as I said was accomplished by Nogueira who is certainly not known for his takedowns – against an opponent with questionable balance and no cage to lean on for help.

- Sylvia has shown susceptibility to the overhand right (Arlovski, Couture quickly come to mind) and I don’t think Fedor’s a stranger to tossing those type of winging punches. Sylvia will be relying on setting up his jab to ward off Fedor, but if he hangs it out there he’s likely to eat a steady diet of overhand rights from the far fleeter Fedor.

- Sylvia’s grappling game is quite horrible for anyone who watched the clinic that Nog put on him and his non-existent guard, but he’s also ripe for the picking for leglocks, something a multi-time world sambo champion is very well versed in; and please don’t bring up Monson as a counter to him having good sub defence or guard b/c Monson’s ADCC resume is built off winning by points, positioning and bullying opponents rather than being a “slick sub” fighter.

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=16542&cat=boxer

Hey! His record is 15-2-1 with all 15 wins by kayo! Fantastic! Problem? I think about ten of his opponents came out an admitted that they took dives when they went against him. One of them was a pro wrestler. Oh, and he was a terrible fighter except for possibly his punching power (any muscle head football player can knock cans around). And don’t get me started on Primo Carnera…

The Mighty Mo and Schilt fights were ridiculous decisions. Choi was credited with a knockdown after throwing what was at best an unintentional low blow abainst Mo. Schilt was flat out robbed. The rest of his wins? A bunch of pro wrestlers, Gary Goodridge, and three wins over Akebono. If roughly a third of your legit wins in anything other than sumo come against Akebono, it is tough to call you a legit talent.

And actually, it could be argued that Fedor does EVERYTHING great. But I wont even go there. By far, the thing that is definitely great at, and probably the best in the world, is ground and pound. He has taken ground and pound to another level in MMA. No one punches with as much intensity on the ground as Fedor.

To the ground. Every time. Sometimes more than once.

At SOME point, in R1, R2 or at the very, very latest R3, Fedor WILL be underneath or on top of Sylvia, on the ground.

And then it’s all over.

Fedor wins. Submission. Bet the farm.

I think that my opinion lies in the fact that Fedor seems to be the type of fighter where the sum >>> the whole of the parts. By definition he is not “great” at anything. But the way he combines all aspects of mma is along the line of how BJ Penn does it (w/o the BJJ creds). There is not ONE thing that he does incredibly well or is lauded for his prowess but he combines every skill in a way that makes him a total threat.

It’s one of those things that explanations do not do justice, or that a skill-by-skill analysis will prove, but if you take the “total package” Fedor is one bad mofo. It’s an unquantifiable entity and that’s what makes it hard to defend (as a supporter) but it’s something that you feel is an almost certainty and just can’t seem to grasp as a defensible concept…but you just “can”.