Fedor Emelianenko

It's official, Tim Sylvia will be fighting the worlds #1 heavyweight (Fedor). This isn't happening in the UFC and I'm not 100% sure how we're going to be able to see it (PPV vs HDNets fights). I'll keep you posted.

In a recent conference broadcast of ufc.com, Dana White stated that the UFC would be offering a fight to Randy Couture, that fight would be against top heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira (Big Nog).

Of course, Randy Couture resigned from his contract with the UFC a couple of weeks ago, stating that he would no longer be fighting for the UFC, announcing for the UFC or otherwise. Randy stated at that time and in his own press conference later that it was a combination of money, respect and that the UFC was unable to secure a fight with Emelianenko Fedor.



Randy believes that the only fight worth fighting is against Fedor, widely considered to be the best heavyweight, if not best pound for pound, fighter in the world. At 44 years old, Randy only has a few fights left in him and he wants to fight the best.

In my opinion, Nogeuira is one of the best in the world after heavyweight. In fact if I had to rank the top four heavyweights in the world, they would be Fedor, Couture, Nogeuira and Barnett, not necessarily in that order. If Randy Couture wants to retire from the sport, all the power to him, but if he wants to quit the UFC just because they were unable to land Fedor, then complain because he heard that the UFC was going to pay Fedor a boat load of money to secure the fight...well, I don't know.

I'm a big fan of Randy Couture and whatever he needs to do, I respect that. However, as a fight fan I'd rather see Couture vs Nogeuira than a court battle between Dana White and Randy Couture.

As you may or may not have heard by now, M-1 Global, a new MMA promotion which was formerly M-1 out of russia has signed Fedor Emelianenko to a 6 fight 2 year deal. The UFC has been trying to sign Fedor since they purchased Pride earlier this year, but couldn't come to terms.

There is an interesting clause in Fedor's contract which states (approximately) that M-1 will pay any UFC heavyweight champion who wants to fight Fedor in M-1 a million dollars more than the UFC will pay. I'd love to read how that section really reads.

M-1 and Fedor specifically mentioned Randy Couture although Couture still has two fights left on his UFC contract. Dana White has already said that he won't let Randy out of his contract, but Randy has already resigned from the UFC.

Randy Couture is holding a press conference on Thursday to discuss his exit from the UFC and hopefully his future plans.

If M-1 can sign Fedor, Josh Barnett and Randy Couture, they'll have the beginning of a decent heavyweight division with arguably three of the top 5 heavyweights in the world. Of course this weekend the UFC announced that they signed Brock Lesnar to a deal, Lesnar, giving some time and the proper training has the physical tools to be a dominant force in the UFC heavyweight picture.

It's worth noting the following. The UFC will not be destroyed by this. In fact, 80% of UFC fans probably don't even know who Fedor or Josh Barnett are. For example, this past weekend I had three guys over to watch UFC 77. All three guys actively train standup and BJJ at a local club. When they asked me what I thought about Randy retiring, I told them that he didn't retire, he wants to fight Fedor...none of them knew who Fedor was.

Worldwide, Fedor is a star of MMA, but for most of the TUF generation of MMA fan he doesn't even exist. A fight with Randy may or may not change that. I don't think anyone is going to spend $50 on a PPV for one fight...M-1 needs to fill out their stable of fighters and have a spectacular first card.

Quick question, any opinions on the new look for the site? I'm personally sitting on the fence between the old and new looks. Vote in the comment section.

Apparently the UFC is offering Fedor more money than any other organization, but their contract terms are too strict for the Russian fighter.

Fedor is considered to be the best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world and UFC president Dana White has indicated a number of times that it is just a matter of time before he signs with the UFC. It looks though, in a recent interview between Sherdog and Vadim Finkelstein that the UFC's terms are just too strict. One sticking point in particular is Fedor's ability (or non ability) to fight in the World Sambo Championships representing Russia.

While it would be nice to have Fedor in the UFC, it appears that Dana's "all or nothing" negotiating tactics are not quite the way to attract this particular fighter. Of course one can also see the UFC's side of things. If Fedor gets injured fighting for another organization then the UFC's promotional dollars have been spent on nothing.

Just so that some of you can comment wildly I'm going to say this once...I think Fedor is over-rated as a fighter. People on the net talk about him like he is invincible, but he isn't. He has weaknesses, but is very durable. Look at his fights against his very top level opponents (Cro Cop and Big Nog). He hasn't been able to finish those fights, sure he won the decisions, but a truly dominant champ should have submitted Cro Cop, or KO'd Nog. Fedor hasn't fought Arlovski, Couture or Sylvia yet.

Check this out:

Arona (decision)
Sobral (decision)
Cro Cop (decision)
Big Nog (decision)
Semmy Shilt (decision)

Sure, he submitted a much smaller Lindland and an overmatched Coleman and Randleman. Still, it is Fedor's durablility, not his fighting ability which I am impressed with. Fedor recovers very well (being dropped on his head by Randleman and similarly by Coleman comes to mind). I can't help but think that a better fighter would not have been slammed by those guys at all.

Still, I believe that Fedor is #1, just above the others not way above though. He will lose, if he still chooses to fight the best.

From UFC Ultimate Fighter:

I was surfing the net today, reading anything and everything MMA related (as I tend to do) and I came across this quote from Chuck Liddell to the Baltimore Sun

Which fighters from PRIDE are you most excited to see fight in the UFC?

All of them. Any of the good ones. There's "Shogun" [Mauricio Rua], there's [Dan] Henderson. You've got Fedor [Emelianenko] coming over. [Antonio Rodrigo] Nogueira is coming over in the heavyweight [division].

Does he not say "You've got Fedor Emelianenko coming over...wahoo! Maybe Chuck is privy to some inside info. I've heard the rumours and heard that Dana is talking to Fedor, but this doesn't say might, or working on...he says he's coming.

Excellent...tapping fingers in a Mr Burns like style.

Please note before reading my list that these are my favourite fighters, not the fighters which are the best. That's a different list, perhaps entitled "Top 10 Best Figthers".

So, I wrote the title to this little entry and now I'm stuck, how do you pick a favourite. I've been watching MMA and particularly the UFC and PrideFC for so long that I feel like I'm picking one of my children as a favourite over another child. It's not fair, but I've made the commitment and now I'm going to follow through with it.


#10 BJ Penn is one of my 10 most favourite fighters. BJ Penn is made of rubber, probably the best natural fighter in MMA. BJ's appearance on the Ultimate Fighter TV series just solidifies this position. The guy is truly funny!

#9 Wanderlei Silva. Silva is an animal in the ring, pure and simple all out agression. A Wanderlei Silva fight is one of the most exciting things to watch. Even his recent losses to Cro Cop and Henderson were amazing fights.

#8 Royce Gracie. When I watch the old UFC fights with Royce Gracie I can't help but be amazed. Certainly Royce had the training advantage over his opponents, but watch carefully. Royce is tough, he took punches and kept coming. Watch his not so old fight against Sakuraba or his fight against Matt Hughes. Royce didn't win those fights, but his toughness came through.

#7 Kevin "The Monster" Randleman. Whenever the "Monster" steps into the ring (or cage), you get the feeling that something super-human is going to happen. Kevin Randleman is a freak of nature, strong and quick. Watching him drop Fedor on his head is still one of my favourite highlights.

#6 Mirko Cro Cop. Mirko suffered a loss recently to Gabriel Gonzaga, but it isn't Mirko's first loss. He came back before and he will again. He's an exciting fighter and doesn't talk trash, for that he's #6

#5 Fedor. Although this is a favourite list and not best fighter list, Fedor deserves to be on here out of simple respect. He's the best of the best.

#4 Matt Serra comes in at #4. Ok everybody, accuse me of jumping on the Matt Serra bandwagon, but Matt has paid his dues in this sport. The first fights I ever saw Matt in were an eye opener to me. I'd never seen anybody transition positions as smoothly and easily as Serra.

#3 Randy Couture makes my favourite MMA fighter list at number three. Randy is a class act, always has respect for an opponent and despite being an underdog in almost every fight he's ever had he's the UFC heavyweight champion at 43 years old.

#2 My second favourite MMA fighter is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He never gives up in a fight, he is tough as nails and seems to always have respect for his opponents. Big Nog is one of the true talents in MMA. In a fight against Nog, if your name isn't Fedor, you'd better be prepared to lose!

#1 My favourite fighter has to be Chuck Liddell. I'm not saying that because Mr Liddell has an upcoming fight with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. In fact, I'm picking Rampage to win that fight. I picked Chuck because he has consistently said what he was going to do, then do it. No fanfare, no badmouthing, just great exciting fights, usually ending in TKO's.

There is a new PPV starting April 28th entitled "Pride Fighting: Decade"

It might be worth watching for all the UFC fans who haven't had much exposure to Pride Fighting in the past. Or even PrideFC fans who want to re-live some of the classic Pride match-ups.

From PrideFC.com

Don't miss out on this retrospective on the 10-year history of PRIDE Fighting Championships,
featuring interviews from such PRIDE fighters and icons as: Nobuyuki Sakakibara, Nobuhiko Takada,
Renzo Gracie, Chuck Liddell, Mark Coleman, Quinton Jackson, Mark Kerr, Kevin Randleman, Frank Trigg, Don Frye, Matt Hume, Gilbert Yvel, plus many other legends in MMA!

If anybody has heard anything, please comment. From what I've heard, Fedor is fighting in an upcoming Bodog event against Matt Lindland (can you say mismatch?). He hasn't fought in Pride in 3 months and hasnt' been mentioned on any upcoming cards either. I can't remember if he was in the crowd of fighters saying goodbye near the end of Pride 34 Kamikaze either.

Perhaps Fedor is waiting to see what comes out of the new Pride...or perhaps he is going to fight exclusively for Bodog.

Comments please, here or at http://mmaforums.gocurious.com

The most dominant heavyweight in MMA today. Fedor Emelianenko is awesome. The sound in the vid could be better, but Fedor couldn't be.