thought about 'doing a ric flair' first
Props to Fujita for putting up a good fight. Fujita is awesome...his first few fights were against tough guys and he out-toughed them until he learned to strike a little.
I think Fedor learned from that fight and comes out more aggressive now.
LOL at Fedor as a T-1000.
I agree that hypothetically, Fedor can be stopped, but that it would require either a machine-press or dropping him into molten lava.
As a sidenote, yes, Fujita does deserve props for that fight.
I am of the opinion that Fujita would whoop most UFC Heavyweights, not including Arlovski.
I think that he could take Sylvia down and laying a hurting on him.
Same things for the other UFC HWs...once again, not including Arlovski.
"Fighters who get hit more often by big punchers are more likely to get KTFO than fighters who protect their chins.
...that's not a hypothetical. "
Does he get hit more often by big punchers? We've only seen him hurt once (by Fujita) and he's been in the ring with Crocop, Schilt and Goodridge among others. So either he doesn't get hit more often by big punchers than anybody else (in which case it's not a "weakness" or "chink" particular to Fedor), or he does, in which case obviously he has a great chin and again it is not a weakness.
He held his hands low against Minotauro to invite him in. He knew Minotauro couldn't KO him. It was strategy; he did it on purpose.
Notice he had his hands up against Cro Cop.
TTT for Fedor
Fedor has an amazing ability to adapt mid-match. After all, his CPU is a neural net processor, a learning computer.
lol terminator
His weakness is his skin. He gets cut easily.
If he loses, that's how he'll lose.
Fedor's conditioning is perfect for the length of pride's fights. But if you ask me he looks pretty damn tired at the end of the 2nd (3rd if you count the no contest or whatever) fight with minotauro. Anybody can be cut, anybody can be submitted, anyone can be ko'd.
However, Fedor is the best because he is the smartest and most adaptable fighter in MMA. He can fight anyone's game and change his style in a heartbeat. Fujita clocked him...boom down goes fujita. Randleman picks him up and slams him...boom tap out. He transitions between striking, grappling, defense, offence like nothing. That being said Fujita rocked him and he recovered like a true MMA fighter. Good fight! Speaking of which...I wanna see Fujita fight again soon. Anyone else?
Fedor has faced both pretty much the best submission guy and best striker in the game and Nog hasnt really come close to one sub and Fedor outstruck CC.
I dont think that means he isnt submittable or cant be out struck because those are only 2 fighters with their own style.
However, if Nog cant get close to a sub over 2 whole fights, anyone else wantint to tap him is gonna have a "bit" of a hard time.
Style wise, it would be interesting to see a more solid MMA wrestler type that can put Fedor on his back, keep him there, not get subbed and work on some GNP or subs of his own.
2 guys come to mind:
1) Simply for the fact that he pretty much beat Fedor (though in Rings rules) is Arona.
Its obvious that Fedor has improved by leaps and bounds and that not being able to GNP (to the head) is a bit different but I'd still like to see the matchup.
Arona trades sub ability (of a Nog) for td ability but obviously wont get subbed like Randleman or Coleman.
2) Couture.
If he can get back to 220-225, Fedor is not that much bigger at 230-235, Randy is a much better version of Randleman or Coleman.
One thing that i think should be mentioned is that Fedor got taken down by Coleman and Randleman because he went right at them with strikes and perhaps did not fear getting taken down by them.
I think if he fought Arona or Couture, he knows he could outbox them so would be more careful about getting taken down.
He was also able to reverse Arona quite a few times on Arona's tds. I dont think he would be able to do that as easily to Randy.
OTHER THAN THAT:
Its his fellow Soviet bloc'ers in Arlovski and Kharitonov who are both well rounded like Fedor but most likely we'd see a striking battle between them. I do think that if Fedor wanted to take it down to the ground, he could and would def. have the edge ther aswell though.
I always thought Barnett might have matched up the best with Fedor but since his unimpressive showing to Crocop, even apparently getting outgrappled by him in spots, he aint testing Fedor now.
As far as rematches with Nog and/or Crocop, I think the 2 of them should rematch first and that I dont wish to see either of them face Fedor again until they put a few big wins together first.
Also, CC gave Nog all he could handle the last time and perhaps only his newbie sub game cost him. He def. aint a noob anymore and his td defense is even better now.
Has Nog's tds or boxing improved that much since? Perhaps his boxing but he still doesnt have the power to hurt really, this would only be beneficial to setting up his tds imo.
I do think that if gets CC down, he may still get the sub though. I think Fedor's sub game looked a bit sloppy vs. CC since he most likely focused on his standup. CC did a helluva job defending against the GNP and getting guard back when Fedor passed but he would still be in trouble with Nog if he got passed.
I would say that Fedor actually doesn't have a weakness. You could say pretty truthfully that he's in the top 2 or 3 of his weight class in every area of fighting (striking, wrestling, submissions, conditioning, strategy).
Which isn't to say he can't be beat; of course he can. But that's not the same as saying he has any real "holes" in his game.
Wasa-B is correct.
Its too bad that Kharitonov didnt rip thru Werdum. That would have made the match up bet. him and Fedor all the more hyped.
But I think we can give Sergei the benefit of the doubt and see how he does next fight. Werdum has been his only lackluster fight so far.
I also wonder how he'd matchup with Nog now? How did his fight with Nog go again? I think Nog outboxed him, what about the grappling?
Great analysis Wasa-B. I agree 100% with all your points.
Orcus has an interesting take. I'm inclined to agree with it, though it is difficult to fathom. Fedor has faced so many different opponents, the sum of which represent every style imaginable, and over the course of all these fights we have but one moment in one fight (vs. Fujita) that provides evidence of anything resembling a weakness. Think about it...it's incredible. Every other champion fighter on the planet, we talk about this fight and that fight, their close calls and outright defeats. With Fedor, we zero in on that one moment, and try to extract some wisdom from the only two or three seconds that he's actually been in danger in his career. (The slam from Randleman was interesting, but it had NO effect. It's got to be the greatest offensive move in the history of MMA with the smallest degree of damage).
So with Fedor, we are forced to talk about weakness in relative terms, because he is so solid in every area. That said, as already posited, I do think it will be a striker that will nail him one day, if his career goes that long. BUT, consider the following...
Fedor has been caught in a nasty cycle of perpetual hand surgery. Generally speaking, in sports, the premature downfall of a great athlete tends to be due to injuries, especially the nagging, recurring type. So far for Fedor it hasn't been a factor, aside from postponing some fights, but I think it's plausible that this injury will rear its ugly head one day and not be denied. Especially with his swing-for-the-fences style of fighting---it might in fact be inevitable.
Something to think about!
what a fight
newbyfan -
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what a thread resurrection
ok ill stop at 2 resurrections but there are some definite hidden gems
The date may explain a lot... i couldn't believe Orcus was saying so many positive things about fedor... he only came onto my radar once he started filling threads with retarded goodness.