Fedor Emelianenko and his Chances of Winning the Grand Prix!
Kevin Nelson
On February 12, 2011, in New Jersey Fedor Emelianenko will be competing in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, in a historic tournament that will arguably match the best heavyweights in the world.
There will be 8 contestants in the tournament with the winner being declared the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion. The entrants in the tournament are Sergei Kharitonov, Alistair Overeem (Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion), Josh Barnett, Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Silva. We look at Fedor’s legacy and what that will mean if he wins the tournament?
Fedor Emelianenko, 31-2
Over the span of Emelianenko’s career, he has beaten many opponents, but in 2010 something strange occurred. Emelianenko lost by triangle choke to Fabricio Werdum.
Rewind to the year 2000 and I was still in high school. It was grade eight when Emelianenko suffered his first pro loss to Japanese fighter Tsuyoshi Kosaka in a controversial way, in which Kosaka opened a cut due to an elbow on Emelianenko’s forehead.
The rules of Rings at the time stated that strike with an elbow was illegal unless the fighter wore elbow pads Kosaka did not have any. Despite that setback, Fedor would go on to defeat fighters such as Renato Babalu Sobral, Semmy Schilt, and face Heath Herring for the number one contender for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Pride Belt.
Fedor would defeat Herring by ground and pound than move on to face rival Nog and Nog pulled guard and Fedor dominated for 20 minutes and was awarded the decision and the belt as the second pride champion ever a belt he would never lose.
He would face such opponents as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Crocop, Mark Coleman, Renato Babalu Sobral, Ricardo Arona, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Heath Herring, Mark Hunt, and Matt Lindland. His accomplishments include Pride Tournament Champion 2004, WAMMA Heavyweight Champion, Pride Heavyweight Champion, Rings Tournament Champion.
Now that you get an idea of his accomplishments let’s talk about some of his matches and obstacles within his fights that have truly made him a legend in the sport. The first time Fedor was truly in trouble was his first title defence against Kazuyuki Fujita in which he was stunned with right hook.
It was a bout in which he was badly hurt after that shot but managed to work his way into a clinch only to be taken down and hurt it seemed a matter of time before the bout would be stopped but Fedor secured a mount and then turned it into a rear naked choke for the come from behind victory.
The next high profile bout was a fight with Kevin Randleman in which he was German suplexed onto the mat only to end up in full mount on top and locked in a Kimura for the victory.
In his highly anticipated bout with Crocop he was hit with a right hand that badly broke his nose but Fedor would be unfazed and beat Crocop in the stand up exchanges for a decision victory. In his bout with Arlovski, he was being dominated early on only to have Arlovski attempt a flying knee to which he was caught by an overhand right, putting him to sleep.
Fedor’s legacy after losing to Werdum is definitely not tarnished.
He is the best MMA fighter of all time to dominate the heavyweight division for this long is remarkable.
In the ever changing landscape of best pound for pound fighters only Anderson Silva has remained a champ and that has only been dominant for 5 years. If Fedor were to win he would silence all sceptics and truly be known as the best fighter off all time.
Considering the opposing arguments that the UFC has the better heavyweights is laughable with Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos only having a combined record of 26-2. Don’t get me wrong, they are all talented and have bright futures, but hey are only in the beginning stages of their career.
If Fedor loses he is worst case scenario one of the best heavyweights of all time. If he wins he is considered the nest MMA fighter of all time. How could he not be having faced everyone and beaten everyone? He has taken down the who’s who of the MMA world.