please god(s) let this happen!!
(also please let let the gsp/silva fight happen too!!)
we need a good LHW matchup too though... maybe couture, or franklin again... but @ 205... eh i don't really want to see franklin get handled again though...and now that they are going to train together... probably won't happen...
obviously machida would make a great fight... but will unfortunately never happen...
Anderson definitely has a chance. Anything can happen in MMA, and it wouldn't even be a bigger upset than a smaller and unranked Serra battering and stopping GSP was.
But Fedor should definitely be favored, rather heavily (pun intended), because so far he has proven to be the absolutely better fighter in reality (none of this hypothetical "P4P" abstraction needed) - by having beaten absolutely better fighters than Anderson has. By far.
Arlovski alone would straight-up beat everyone Anderson has ever faced. Even Lindland would also be without question one of the 5 best opponents Anderson has ever beaten.
And Fedor has faced and beaten absolutely better standup and ground fighters than Anderson before. (Schilt, Hunt, and Cro Cop would have been favored to outstrike Anderson, Nog is a bigger and absolutely better groundfighter than Anderson.)
While Anderson has faced no one who was as absolutely good as Fedor either standing or on the ground.
(The best strikers Anderson has beaten are Lee Murray and Rich Franklin. The best MMA groundfighters he has beaten are Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites - where Leites has never beaten, let alone subbed, a top-20 opponent in MMA, aside from his penalty-points win over Marquardt. And sorry, but Travis Lutter has never been a top-level MMA fighter at all, let alone a top-level submissions fighter in MMA.)
So Fedor has dominated absolutely better opponents than Anderson has - and dominated opponents with attributes and skills that are specifically better than Anderson's as well.
Whereas Anderson has never even faced, let alone beaten, anyone who was as absolutely good as Fedor in any area.
Jetster - Silva by just better skills, this guy is on another level...even compared to Fedor
WTF are you talking about???
Can Anderson beat Big Nog?
orcus - Apparently Barnett doesn't.
lol
gatovolador - I'd love to see Fedor vs Anderson, or either of them vs almost anybody in LHW, the king of weight classes
If 205-ers (or even the big 185-ers) wanted to fight at HW - and thus prove themselves as the absolute best, the best overall (and not just the best of the fighters who cut down to 205) - then all they would have to do is not cut weight the day before and fight as HW's.
Because they are certainly fighting in-shape as HW's over the 205 limit come fight-time anyway.
But people cut weight purely to maximize their competitive advantage - because they feel it gives them the best chance to dominate, instead of taking on bigger, stronger, and absolutely better opponents.
But against Fedor, the 205-ers wouldn't really have to worry about any size disadvantage at all. So if they really wanted to fight him - and thus prove themselves to be the absolute best - they should just fight him at HW, as they already weigh come fight-time at 205 anyway.
They wouldn't have to do anything different other than skip the whole ordeal of cutting weight the day before.
goeb - just look at nog vs. fedor, that's what'll happen, Fedor isn't scared of Anderson's guard, it would be ground and pound non stop.
Yeah, cuz Big Nog and Anderson have very similar fighting styles...
Fedor would obliterate him. His ego is getting too big for his own good. All I can picture is Fedor in place of Lutter from the mount.
There would be a death.
whistleblower -This man speaks the truth.orcus - "But Fedor would inevitably ground and pound his face into dust."
Anderson is not TK.
Anderson is also not as good as Nog on the ground - who in his prime was the greatest MMA-submissions fighter ever, and who took one of the most brutal sustained GnP beatdowns in MMA history from Fedor.
And who never even remotely had Fedor in any submissions danger at all off his back.
Anderson will have never had anyone even close to as strong, heavy, and controlling - with as powerful GnP AND submissions skill - as Fedor on top of him before.
While Fedor dominated on the ground the man who gave Anderson his BB, and who was a bigger and better BJJ fighter than Anderson.
Ausgepicht - Fedor would obliterate him. His ego is getting too big for his own good. All I can picture is Fedor in place of Lutter from the mount.There would be a death.
I could picture Anderson in Arlovski/Fujita/Hunt's place. That would be death!
For christ sake, stop bringing up that fight. I know it was the only time that Anderson has looked vulnerable in years but that was a long time ago and Anderson was coming off knee surgery.
What I'm really interested in is Fedor taking on Aoki in sub grappling. Don't be suprised if Aoki makes him look human.
spg -whistleblower -This man speaks the truth.orcus - "But Fedor would inevitably ground and pound his face into dust."
Anderson is not TK.
Anderson is also not as good as Nog on the ground - who in his prime was the greatest MMA-submissions fighter ever, and who took one of the most brutal sustained GnP beatdowns in MMA history from Fedor.
And who never even remotely had Fedor in any submissions danger at all off his back.
Anderson will have never had anyone even close to as strong, heavy, and controlling - with as powerful GnP AND submissions skill - as Fedor on top of him before.
While Fedor dominated on the ground the man who gave Anderson his BB, and who was a bigger and better BJJ fighter than Anderson.
Anyone who claims that Nog has or had the best BJJ in MMA doesn't know WTF they are talking about. I love Nog but come on.
Also, Silva regularly dominates Nog in practice, there's actually footage of this in one of the Countdown shows.
" All I can picture is Fedor in place of Lutter from the mount."
Fedor couldn't finish Schilt from the mount. And what makes you think Fedor would mount him? Marquardt and Leites couldn't. Fedor couldn't mount Crocop.
"Can Anderson beat Big Nog? "
I think he would, especially now.
lookoutawhale - Anderson might want to think of beating guys at LHW first instead of wanting the top dog at HW.
This is like GSP wanting a shot at Rampage and ignoring Anderson in the process.
So true and Fedor really would pound him to dust.
Hood_Jitsu - Anyone who claims that Nog has or had the best BJJ in MMA doesn't know WTF they are talking about.
LOL. You can't be serious.
Name someone else from throughout MMA history who has been a greater BJJ-based fighter - and who has ever had better and more submission wins over formidable opponents in his career. (And at the time Nog fought Fedor, there wasn't anyone even close.)
(Btw, Nog was not just the universally ranked #1 in the world back then - but the consensus greatest MMA fighter ever up to that point. And is still the greatest, most accomplished submissions fighter in MMA history.)
So please name someone who has ever adapted his BJJ and applied his submission skills to MMA more successfully and significantly throughout his career than Nog has.
In pure sport BJJ, there have been many greater BJJ practitioners.
In MMA - none.
i would love this fight.
if anderson can sprawl his way out of trouble(ground), i dont know what would happen.
these are the fights i love to watch, where my heart beats like a madman.
whistleblower -Hood_Jitsu - Anyone who claims that Nog has or had the best BJJ in MMA doesn't know WTF they are talking about.
LOL. You can't be serious.
Name someone else from throughout MMA history who has been a greater BJJ-based fighter - and who has ever had better and more submission wins over formidable opponents in his career. (And at the time Nog fought Fedor, there wasn't anyone even close.)
(Btw, Nog was not just the universally ranked #1 in the world back then - but the consensus greatest MMA fighter ever up to that point. And is still the greatest, most accomplished submissions fighter in MMA history.)
So please name someone who has ever adapted his BJJ and applied his submission skills to MMA more successfully and significantly throughout his career than Nog has.
In pure sport BJJ, there have been many greater BJJ practitioners.
In MMA - none.
Rani Yahya, Miguel Torres, Gabriel Gonzaga, Demian Maia, Shinya Aoki, Fabiano Wagner....
I could go on. The only real top ten fighter who Nog has submitted is Cro Cop, who has no ground game.
Nog is great at letting guys beat him up until they gas and then submitting him. The whole point of BJJ is not to get beat up.
Nog is a great fighter, but to claim that Fedor is unsubmittable because he survived in Fedor's guard is laughable. His BJJ isn't what made him great
Ausgepicht - Fedor would obliterate him. His ego is getting too big for his own good. All I can picture is Fedor in place of Lutter from the mount.
There would be a death.
This.
NarlyPersianDude - If your gonna ask me who the betting lines gonna favor. Fedor and of course rightly so.
But more than any heavyweight walking the face of the earth, Anderson and Machida have the best chance to beat Fedor. Every fight starts on the jamming feet, and if they tangle with Fedor they will be the most technical and fast fighters Fedor has ever faced.
You will not beat Fedor via Brock Lesnar are you kidding me? Its a guy like Anderson, who has enough skill to win. Matt Lindland fucking rocked Fedor on his first hit. What the result was does not matter in this case. Matt then tried to grapple with Fedor. Anderson has a much better chance on the feet and would not go to the ground. If Fedor was hit like that by Arlovksi(as good as he was doing he did not get a hard hit on Fedorj) or Anderson, he would lose cause they would folluw up a barrage of strikes. Anderson has a very good chance of beating Fedor. If anybody thinks Anderson is even close to the same fighter from his last loss, they are a complete stupid.
For all of the superfights people have been talking about, this would be the truest superfight.
I agree with everything in this post. I would also like to see Belfort fight Fedor, but I would much rather see him fight Machida/ Anderson/ Evans. Hell, maybe even QJ
NarlyPersianDude - Matt Lindland fucking rocked Fedor on his first hit.
When did this happen? Did they fight a second time?
A few knees to Fedor's face and it'd be called by cuts!