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Fedor: Where have you gone?

By Adam Morgan | June 3, 2007

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By Adam Morgan


Fedor emelianenko highlight HL
Uploaded by psykojojo

Some of you may be familiar with me, some of you may not. For those who aren’t, I am Adam Morgan, proprietor of Sprawl ‘n Brawl, a wee little blog that doesn’t draw half the readership of a site such as Fight Opinion.

But this matters no longer, as Zach Arnold has invited me to write for this fine establishment of a website and I have gracefully accepted. I will be pulling double duty here and at Sprawl ‘n Brawl and I thank Zach for the opportunity. Now, on with the MMA rantings.

Where is Fedor Emelianenko? Has anyone heard from the “baddest man on the planet” since he snapped, crackled, and popped Matt Lindland’s elbow back in April? I really miss seeing him smash guys like in the above video. For someone who is seen as the most coveted fighter in all of mixed martial arts, there certainly hasn’t been any indication as to where Fedor might end up.

Read on…

At this point, I see two viable options: UFC or Bodog. It’s as simple as that. Calvin Ayre has the money to throw around and Dana White will stop at nothing to bring the best mixed martial artists in the world to the Octagon. At this point it doesn’t look like PRIDE is going to be much of an option anymore. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this situation.

Money:

Obviously this is the driving force in most athletes’ careers. Do I blame them for that? No, you have to get yours while the gettin’ is good. And the gettin’ is probably pretty good for Fedor at Bodog. While the UFC has the money to pay the top fighters in the world, Bodog probably has more disposable income to throw at Fedor mainly because they don’t have nearly as many top fighters on their payroll as the UFC does.

Competition:

Fedor is in the prime of his career and if he wants to truly be known as the best pound for pound fighter in the world, the competition is far and away better in the UFC. The only match that is even intriguing for Fedor in Bodog is possibly a fight against his brother, Aleks. In UFC there are all kinds of intriguing matchups for Fedor, including a rematch with Mirko Cro Cop. If Fedor wants to challenge himself, he’ll come to the UFC.

Recognition:

Bodog has already held one pay per view in Russia, where Fedor is a god among men. If he comes to the UFC, how many people will know him? He doesn’t speak much, if any, English and casual American fans would likely boo him. While I don’t think it would take long to sway American fans in the right direction, Fedor would certainly need no buildup fighting in Bodog. In America he would need buildup and may not be received as warmly as hardcore fans think he deserves. Just look as the case of Anderson Silva. Great champion, great striking, great jiu jitsu, but he doesn’t know a lick of English. So what does the crowd do? Boo him. Sad, but true.

Legacy:

This kind of goes along with the competition category, but to cement his legacy as the best fighter to ever step into a ring or an Octagon, Fedor has no other option but to come to the UFC. In Bodog he will likely be fighting cans. In UFC, he will be facing top competition and, in my opinion, destroying that competition, thereby cementing his legacy as the best fighter MMA has ever known.

I certainly would love to hear an update on Fedor if anyone has an update. Where Fedor ends up has to be at the forefront of every promotion’s agenda right now. Like I said, Bodog and UFC look like the only two viable options at this point but anything can happen.

So, Fedor, if you’re out there reading this, and I highly doubt that you are, please give some thought to us fans who would love to see you eat the UFC heavyweight division like it was sweet candy goodness.

Topics: Adam Morgan, All Topics, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC | 51 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

51 Responses to “Fedor: Where have you gone?”

  1. The Gaijin says:

    For “the record” – Sakuraba’s accomplishments were seen as “amazing” by the Japanese fans standards of showmanship and for pro-wrestling reasons. Mainly b/c Rickson is/was a GOD of Japanese MMA…you find me someone who legitimately thinks that Sakuraba was THE BEST b/c he beat Royler Gracie who’s an undersized 145lb fighter, Renzo who is decent but even in the earlier Pride’s was not an “elite fighter”, the only big win was Royce Gracie and that’s because he was as close to Rickson as anyone would get. I’m sorry but Saku’s wins over guys who were NEVER considered top competition and never will be is not a good comparision.

    Heath Herring on the otherhand destroyed Mark Kerr, Erikson and Inoue and Vov all considered among the best HW’s at the time. Just because they would now not be considered to be the best (5-10 years later) doesn’t mean they were not THE BEST then…and unfortunately in any sport you cannot make fair comparisons back in time. At the time Herring was a monster and was considered a favorite to beat Fedor, who absolutely mauled him and he’s never been the same since.

    The Nog comparison is absolutely waaay off. Nog is still one of the best HW’s of all time and I don’t think that’s a hard argument to make. The fact that he was so soundly handled in 3 fights (2.5 I guess) did hurt his reputation, but that is b/c Fedor is the kryptonite to Nogueria in that he will never gas, has amazing GnP from the guard, awesome sub D and offense and his “mma striking” is second to none. Who possesses the traits to really knock a guy off that DOES NOT possess any obvious weaknesses (outside of he might get cut – which I highly doubt would cheapen his legacy if he lost on some shit cut stoppage).

    And your extrapolation argument still doesn’t make sense – you see that part where you have “information”? Well you still have only “opinion”…we;re going to extend your “known opinion” when your opinion is biased and not founded on any logic?

    Right…attack me with trite comments about “legal arguments” and “use my law degree”, but still don’t provide me with any of your examples and/or good arguments.

    Glad we had this discussion b/c you never once answered anything without sounding completely biased and making ridiculous strawman arguments.

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