Nope, we just expected some victories over the biggest names in MMA, and to me, Tim Sylvia isn't a big name. Let me put it this way, for every top ten fighter Fedor has faced, Couture has faced (and often beaten) two. Victory isn't the ONLY measure of the fighter. Tyson would still probably dominate amateur boxing, but could he hold his own against the top pro fighters? Fedor can't any more, but Couture was only just getting started at the same age. In fact Couture was more than ten years older than Fedor is NOW, when he won his last heavyweight title.



How many actual title fights (not invented ones like the Sylvia fight) has Fedor actually had? When was the last genuine one? His last genuine heavyweight title fight was in 2006 in Pride. Since then, both Couture and Overeem the UFC and Strikeforce champions tried to get Fedor to fight them, many times. Overeem even sat ringside at the Rogers fight to make clear he expected Fedor next. Then after Verdum he expected him again. Seriously Fedor clearly and OBVIOUSLY ducked at least two of the top fighters for half a decade.

GOAT my ass.



Oh right... we're supposed to ignore the obvious because someone "ranked" someone else highly? Well Fedor was the best ever until Werdum made him look like a fool... then Silva... then Henderson, who only just weighed in heavy enough to even fight at heavyweight, put him to sleep. What more needs to be said?

But just in case you're not satisfied with that, let me just point out that the only people ranking non UFC fighters the best in the world were the ones that clearly hated the UFC as an organisation and would say anything to make the UFC look bad.

Couture when he was UFC heavyweight champion tried to get a UFC fight against Fedor. Fedor turned down all the offers. Then Couture gave up his title, left the UFC and even SUED the UFC trying to go where Fedor would fight him, and STILL Fedor refused. Then Fedor signed with Strikeforce and refused to fight THEIR champion too.

Look at this ridiculous tournament. The champion is out due to contract disputes and the greatest of all time never even made the semis. Pfft. So did Fedor say OK time to prove I am a heavyweight champion, and go looking for a fight against Overeem? Oh no, he went looking for a fight against the light heavyweight champ! It's a joke.



Exactly, every fighter loses, especially when they take nothing but championship level fights. Couture has had 30 professional MMA fights, over half of them were for a belt. Fedor has had 36 professional MMA fights, only 4 of them for a (genuine) belt. Remember when Couture beat Tim Sylvia for the UFC title, he was 44 years old. A year later, Fedor fought Sylvia when he was 32 years old, 12 years younger than Couture, and was handed a phony belt.

While Fedor was promoting himself and his company, Couture was promoting MMA in general. Both in the cage and out, Couture is twice the man Fedor ever was. I have no doubt at all that Couture could STILL beat Fedor senseless.



Crappy opponents didn't hurt either.




Seriously? I've seen more entertaining schoolyard brawls. Henderson was practically smiling the whole time watching the GOAT not even keep his guard up. It was destined to happen exactly how it did. How boring can you get?



Randy Couture was 34 when he won his first UFC Heavyweight title and 44 when he won his last UFC heavyweight title. Fedor Emelianenko was 27 when he won his first Pride Heavyweight title, and 30 when he won his last Pride heavyweight title. The only "title" he's won since then is the "WAMMA" belt which no one else is allowed to win, even if you beat Fedor. He is STILL WAMMA "champion"

The period of time between first and last was three times longer for Couture. So even THAT argument is in Couture's favour. Believe me, nothing Fedor has done comes close to what Couture has accomplished.

My opinion is that he is not as good as he once was. How does that help anyone? Who's "prayers am I answering" by stating this arguably accurate fact?
It's a fact that fighters, at one point, fall off their peak. Fedor has clearly fallen off his peak.
Quality of opponents the past 5 years. He faced the consensus (as in every ranking available) #7-9 in Brett Rogers, #4-6 In Andrei Arlovski and #8-12 Tim Sylvia at the time they fought.
If you look at the rankings at the time, Fedor fought the top competition available outside the UFC. Why they chose to do it this way, you can have a million opinions about, but they did it their way.
If we do not look at rankings, what are we supposed to base the relative skill and performance of each fighter on?

Also Fedor was ready to take the fights with Overeem, Couture and anyone else who wanted to fight him. M1 Global, as is their right, asked for their share of the loot. UFC brass though M1 asked for too much, and M1 thought the UFC offered too little. Deals could never be made. I don;t blame the fighters for this. Couture even went to far as to quit the UFC to try and make a fight with Fedor... who stopped it? The UFC, not anyone else. It's actually one of those fights that would have been fantastic to see at the time.
Fedor didn't duck Overeem. M1 Global only asked Overeem to submit to olympic style drug testing just as Fedor would. Who gimped out? Overeem.

You both do realize that Fedor was always viewed as the guy who was going to get crushed by "next opponent" due to "reason". And if you look at many of the fights he has had, Fedor didn't do so well. He got hit, thrown around and all around bullied pretty much. I think the reason he kept winning (even taking that left high kick from CroCop in his prime) was that he went "balls out" without thinking about consequences at all. It could be argued that this is his downfall today.

He would be considered the best of all time due to the fact he didn't lose for a very very long stretch while facing many high caliber opponents. He did it while being mostly undersized, but more importantly very exciting to watch each time he fought. He never boasted nor made claims about anything. He even very clearly has stated he is not the best fighter in the world.

So anyway, I find it very strange that Fedor is receiving a lot of borderline hatred. He's not the one ranking himself up there. Doesn't matter we like it or not, he was ranked 1 for ~7 years... Who would you rank higher than Fedor at anytime through April 2003 to June 2010? And why?

Who would be the greatest of all time in your book? Couture was ranked #2-5 for a very long time at heavyweight, but Couture also struggled against bigger guys (eg. Ricco Rodriguez, Barnett). Made him drop down to LHW after those 2 losses. Then he lost 3 fights at LHW, before deciding on HW again...
What makes Couture great is not his win/loss record though. It was his willingness to go in there and compete and try to win against bad odds. That was fun. You know... fun.

Also "best of all time" does not equal "best right now".

"Best HW right now" (as in based on actual accomplishments the past 24 months) could be something like
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Lesnar
3. Dos Santos
4. Overeem
5. Werdum
6. Bigfoot Silva
7. Shane Carwin
after this it's a bit of a toss up between Fedor, Mir, Schaub, Barnett, Kongo, Kharitonov

So anyway, take a handful of chill pills and enjoy the shows they put on for us.

I have been reading your opinions and felt myself leaning towards first one, then the other argument you make as I read them. Very good posts by the way. In the end I must say that I think you all have good points and none of you are wrong or right really, and it's exactly that that has always been the "magic" surrounding Fedor. Say what you want about his performances, ranking or marketing. One thing is for sure. He caught our attention!

Herb Dean shoulda gave that another few seconds.

aww well.

Best Strikeforce event ever. And I think so EVEN though all my favorites lost except saffedine.

I dont care about Overeem being in or out or Fedor loosing or not, I loved the event! Cant put my finger on exactly why yet, but it was great!