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Jerry Millen says that in his mind, Fedor is still the best fighter in MMA
By Zach Arnold | June 28, 2010
INTERVIEWER: “What was said after the fight and was there a moment in backstage?”
JERRY MILLEN: “You know, it was just pretty quiet because it’s obviously something we haven’t dealt with before. A lot of credit to Werdum. Fedor got caught and you know, you can’t always win. We always have to think that this could happen. Unfortunately, it did. In my mind, he’s still the best fighter. You know, he got caught. Everybody loses. You know, he took a shower and it was pretty quiet in there, you know.”
INTERVIEWER: “Is it something that you guys, it’s inevitably, you know it’s coming at some point, he’s going to lose at some point, that you guys you know you’re all prepared for it or does it come as a shock like it did to a lot of the crowd tonight?”
JERRY MILLEN: “Yeah, obviously it’s going to be a shock and you know you always think no matter when Fedor fights every time he fights you know I would always get a feeling in my stomach like… you know, because it is a fight and I’ve seen, I bet you I’ve seen 1,000 fights now from PRIDE to M-1 to you know whatever and anything can happen. So, of course, it comes as a complete surprise. But, you know, Fedor handled it very well. I’m more worried about how Fedor would handle it because you know until your put yourself in that athlete’s position you don’t know what’s going through their mind. And you know, you can say you know I’ll be strong when it happens, but you never really know until you’re tested and the first thing out of his mouth was you know to stand back up a man has to fall and he has a lot of faith and Fedor’s a very calm person. And I’m sure it hurts a little, I mean it has to you know because it’s something you don’t experience but he’s very strong in his faith and the priest’s father Andre are very strong with him. You know they pray all the time and he really believes in his faith so Fedor will be fine. I know that, you know, I’d probably took it harder than he did because I care about him as a person. He’s a great person. People don’t know the fighter. I’ve been to Stary Oskol five times now with him and his family. So, personally, it hurts for me to see your friend lose. But, he’s going to be OK, and he’ll be back. He’ll be back.”
INTERVIEWER: “Do you anticipate him coming back stronger from this?”
JERRY MILLEN: “You know, I don’t think he was weak [Saturday night]. I think you know I’ve seen him get out of you know those situations before especially with Nogueira, you know, he got caught. It happens in a fight, you know, he hit Werdum and he got him down and he got him with that choke and he couldn’t get out, you know, I’m just glad he got out of it without any major damage.”
INTERVIEWER: “From your perspective, it looked like he was just kind of going in trying to finish him quickly.”
JERRY MILLEN: “It’s that Fedor ground ‘n pound, you’ve seen it on all the guys especially that’s you know he’s famous for that especially against Nogueira and when that arm got caught, I was like oh man, but Fedor’s strong I thought he could pull out of it and you know credit to Werdum, he got him.
“Believe me, Fedor will be back, you know. He loses and it will make him a better fighter.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
It’ll be interesting to see what the fallout of Fedor’s loss means to M-1 Global. Millen could be out of work in the not too distant future.
You know, I’d have to imagine that Coker is in a position to regain a lot of footing with them if he’s shewd right now.
If he was Dana, next time M1 threatened to hold out on delivering Fedor until they get free Geisha girls and M1 bumper stickers in the everybodies car first, he’d tell them that he’d think about it and call them back.
Real soon…
Wait by the phone…
And then as far as Fedor/M1 attempting to jump ship to UFC, once again borrow from the best and make him choose between being tied up in court, sued for breach, or STFU and playball already.
This is a unique and likely rare opportunity for him to heel that dog.
And he wont be doing his job if he doesn’t try IMO.
As far as millen, I dont know.
I never paid him any attention.
Is he still in MMA these days?
Millen comes across as less of a tool in this interview than normal, but he is generally not a very good American spokesman (is he even that?) for M-1. They’re is in pretty desperate straits right now, so yeah, I predict some payroll cuts and Millen is pretty expendable.
As a reminder that this sport is actually dangerous: Another fighter death in SC killed during a pro-am show.
Any word on if the guy had any Pre fight injuries yet? Just saw the article on Junkie.
It was his first Pro fight after a 1-3 Am career according to Junkie.
Who knows. Most everyone has some nicks and scratches when they get in. In any case he met South Carolina’s limited rules and was cleared to fight.
A 6’9 featherweight?!
I cant imagine him not breaking parts of himself all the time.
RIP.
It’s hard to read with him saying, “you know” every sentence…you know what I mean.
Even if Fedor won last weekend, the Strikeforce HW champ still is Alister Ovreem.
IMO, Fedor Emelianenko was ranked 7th or 8th in the world prior to the Werdum fight and he’s No.11 right now.
Anybody who thinks Fedor has any chance against Alister is delusional. You’d get C- for MMA Physics.
Shouldn’t you be under a bridge somewhere?
Gosh I hate fanboys.
Sometimes I wonder if all this popularity was worth it.
Are you sure you’re talking to me?
I guarantee that this is not the way you talk to me when we meet in face.
I said last week in a previous thread that Fedor would not stand a chance against Ovreem. It was a few days before the Strikeforce event.
Fedor being No.1 fighter in Japan in 2004 does not mean that he’s the world’s best MMA fighter in 2010. These are the guys in my list that I think have a decent chance defeating Fedor in North American rules.
King Mo
Chael Sonnen
Jon Jones
Ryan Bader
Cain Valasquez
Brock Lesnar
Alster Ovreem
Rulon Gardner
Shane Carwin
Roy Nelson
Junior Dos Santos
Michael London
Chael Sonnen and Michael London? Really?
“Are you sure you’re talking to me?
I guarantee that this is not the way you talk to me when we meet in face.”
You’re right – he’d probably have to draw you a picture, point a rudimentary objects and grunt a lot you mouth breather.
Who is Michael London?
Fedor is still one of the best.
The loss wasn’t a fluke, but it was a slump.
Fedor has let himself go a bit and gotten lazy.
Lazy compared to 2005 Fedor at least.
2005 Fedor would still tear through his peers today like a buzzsaw.
And that fedor is not unregainable like Chuck for instance.
Fed is only 33.
He just has to get hungry again and stop coasting like he was doing.
I think we’ll be seeing just that.
BTW: All these fanboys screeching about “I told you so” and “I called it” now are so full of shit.
I read the boards, nobody called shit about Werdum winning.
Sure there where the standard issue trolls who hated him, but thats not “calling” anything. Thats just you being a troll.
Guaranteed, if Fedor Kicks the stuffing out of Bigfoot and Werdum in a rematch (which is VERY possible) 90% of them will be saying how they knew that and called that to.
It makes me want to vomit sometimes.
“Fedor has let himself go a bit and gotten lazy.”
What makes you think he has gotten lazy? Looks to me like he is training just as hard as ever. I just think the rest of the world has caught up to him.
There are finally legitimate HW athletes in the HW division and those athletes are training with some of the best fighters in the world and using cutting edge training/diet techniques to maximize their athletic potential. Meanwhile, Fedor is still training with a bunch of guys who are WAY below his level and is still employing 1950s era diet and training techniques.
Honestly, it is a testament to Fedor’s historic abilities that it has taken the rest of the HW division this long to catch up with him.
If you thought Fedor was the best before Saturday, it would be foolish to change your mind based on what little we saw in that fight. There wasn’t any sign of decline or any skills-based weakness. Fedor still has far and away the best skillset in the sport, and he’s never been a smart tactical fighter (other than the third Nog fight and the CroCop fight).
He is more skilled than GSP?
Better standup fighter, better striker on the ground, better subs. GSP is a much better positional grappler, which is important, but still, I’d say a pretty clear edge to Fedor.
And you’d be wrong, GSP fights and dominates the best fighters in his weight class Fedor on the other hand had been living off reputation for 5 years edge GSP.
OK, that’s irrelevant anyway. The point is that someone who wasn’t obsessed with discrediting the guy would have little reason to change his opinion either way on the basis of what he saw on Saturday.
BTW, obviously Millen can’t be trusted to give his honest opinion about Fedor any more than 45 or you can.