Five misconceptions about Fedor Emelianenko
Posted on June 19, 2012, 12:57 PM by Mike SearsonAs Fedor Emelianenko heads into what has been billed as his "farewell bout", misconceptions about "The Last Emperor" continue to swirl around the internet. It is one thing for a fighter to be called "the greatest martial artist of all time" by promoters, fans and management times; it is quite another to receive such praise from a fighter's peers. Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez and others have gone on record saying that Emelianenko was one of the best.
Despite his record of 33 wins, 4 losses and 1 "No Contest"; some detractors look to find fault with Fedor. In a day and age when "Hall of Fame Inductees" are announced with records of 18-10 (Randy Couture) and 21-8 (Chuck Liddell); it is time to put these unfounded rumors to rest.
Fedor was created by the media as the "best fighter of all time"
This is pure myth, because it never happened. Between 2001 and 2009, he fought a solid 27-fight win streak. Prior to that he had 4 victories and a single controversial loss in Japan due to a doctor stoppage. Fedor was a relatively unknown fighter until his later years in PRIDE, even in his native Russia; he was virtually unknown and could walk around without people recognizing him.
Fedor's training methods are poor
Fedor's home base was the Alexander Nevsky gym in Stariy Oskol, where he trained under some of the best Russian coaches. He has recently been training at a world-class, state of the art facility: Special Sports Gym in Amstelveen, Holland; one of the best gyms in all of Europe. Fedor makes use of world-class strength and conditioning coaches, including kick-boxer and instructor, Peter Tiejsse as a striking coach. Teijsse has an impressive pedigree, training such fighters as Ernesto Hoost, Johan Vos, Jan Plas and Gerard Gordeau. In the meantime, most of his peers are still training in glorified warehouses and storage facilities.
Fedor has really only been able to beat washed up UFC fighters
Just about every former UFC champion that he beat held a TOP 3 ranking at the time of their bout including Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. By the same token, Fedor has defeated up-and-coming fighters like former UFC Interim Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, twice before he made it to the UFC.
Fedor has no ground game
This one is repeated ad nauseaum in spite of his 16 career submissions over: Tim Sylvia, Choi Hong-man, Matt Lindland, Mark Hunt, Mark Coleman, Wagner Martins, Naoya Ogawa, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Kazuyuki Fujita, Egidijus Valavičius, Lee Hasdell, Kerry Schall, Mihail Apostolov, Levon Lagvilava and Martin Lazarov. In his history of 38 fights he has never lost by decision and was only submitted once, by Fabricio Werdum. Whenever I hear the above statement, I wonder what fights those critics are watching.
Fedor has no charisma
Charisma is not measured by trash talk. The Last Emperor attracts a lot of fans and fighters as well as people who idolize him, who judge him strictly by his achievements as a fighter. Add to that, that he always carries himself in a humble manner, endearing him to his fans as being extremely likeable. His current striking coach, Peter Tiejsse, said it best recently: "Fedor never displays any ‘star-like’ behavior. He is always accessible and open when his fans approach him for an autograph or to take a picture. Fedor never acts superior. He is incredibly humble, accessible and normal; everyone loves him for that."
Further reading: Fedor Emelianenko talks Pedro Rizzo, still unsure on retirement (Interview)
Fedor Emelianenko will be facing Pedro Rizzo in St. Petersburg, Russia. This has been billed as his farewell fight. In light of this, would Lowkicker's prefer to see him continue for a few more years or simply retire with dignity? While I will never see my dream fight of Fedor vs. Couture, in a perfect world with a few more bouts, who would you like to see Fedor take on? Do you agree or disagree with the assessment above?
Use your keyboard in the comments section to let us know!
Comments
I agree. Well said. I personally would like to see him continue. His losses occurred during a time when he was in the worst shape we have seen him. Add to that the mental issues associated with losing for the first time in forever and a lose streak was almost inevitable. He now seems to be in much better shape and has his head together. I would love to see him rematch Werdum and BF and then fight some top UFC guys. Unfortunately that is unlikely as DW will never let him into the UFC now.
The one thing I don't agree with is your assertion that his training wasn't poor. He said himself that he never watched video of BF. That means he didn't train specifically for BF and in this day and age that constitutes poor training.
Watching videos is just an element of training, not representative of the whole package. For example: I know a fighter who watches videos of himself, only...to find weaknesses in his own game. He's an amateur at 11-0, so he's doing something right.
Fedor definetly trains specifically for his opponents. Fedor's camp will know their opponents reach, whether they are southpaw or orthordox, whether they are more submission fighters, wrestlers etc.
His coaches probably watched some tape on his opponent and developed a strategy. If you are a fighter and you are watching highlight reels of your opponent knocking people out it can have a negative impact on you psycology leading into the fight.
Some fighters like to watch these tapes continually, while others like to review their own fights like Mike S pointed out or have their coaching team develop a strategy.
1. I agree
2. I agree
3. I agree
4. I agree
5. I agree
You should add these at the bottom of your list just as a smack in the face to whoever hates on Fedor
Best heavyweight of all time and statistics to prove it.
1. Fedor has held five MMA championships
2. Fedor holds the best win streak in all MMA at 26
3. Fedor has never been knocked down by any type of strike
4. Fedor has a finishing percentage of 79%
5. Only one fighter has ever stopped Fedor in a fight. The other two were stoppages by doctors/refs (I'll give it to you that he went out for a second against hendo, but, fedor has shown he can take a hell of a shot, so to not give him the chance to recover was a bit unfair)
6. Fedor has defeated five different heavyweight champions, seven times
7. Fedor has 70 total takedowns
8. Fedor has secured 22 victories in the first round
9. Fedor has 12 wins under two minutes
10. And four wins under one minute
11. Fedor has only lost to guys that are top 10 and had a total of 70-pounds (combined) over him.
12. 18 of Fedor’s opponents were ranked in the top 10 or higher.
13. Fedor is the only heavyweight to beat a true number one and then defend that position against the true number two. Junior dos Santos is the only other heaveweight to have done this in almost 20yrs of MMA
14. Has longest time going undefeated out of anyone active in mixed martial arts at 10 years.
15. Ranked number one in his division and pound-for-pound longest time out of anyone in MMA at seven years. He is the most elusive, least-hit fighter of all time over the length of his career. Only young Lyoto Machida comes close. He is also one of the most skilled judokas in the world in addition to the most decorated combat sambo fighter in history.
now tell me fedor isn't a 'GREAT', or that he isn't at the very least a top 5 Heavyweight still... hendo could land a bomb on any other HW and put them out as well, Werdum can catch any other HW in a triangle/arm bar ... and bigfoot.. well, we'll just chalk that up to size and Fedor finding his way into a bad spot on the ground
Okay, Fedor is great......at sucking.
sucking your girl's tits when she gets all wet at the sight of a man and not a lil douche bag?
Great ****ing post!
It is wrong to say Fador is not a good fighter
He was a great fighter.
But unfortunately i do not believe that he is even top 10 now
he might be no 1 at one time
but the level of competition we have in ufc now is beyond fador's reach.
Fador has a knock out power in both hands for sure
he is a good ground game
he has a huge heart
But i do not think he can beat the below fighters or should i say he does not have a good chance against them.
cuz everyone has a punchers chance
1. JDS
2. Cain
3. alister overeen
4. shane carwin
5. brock lesner
6. jon jones
7 layoto machida
these guys already beat him
werdom
big foot silva
dan hederson
please guys dont flip
its my opinion
your views are welcome
I don't agree but I won't jump down your throat. That said, Fedor can beat all three of the guys that beat him and IMHO all of the other guys you listed. The only ones that are laughable are Lesner, Overeem (stylistically I think he beats most but Fedor beats him.) and Carwin. I think Fedor beats those three with ease. Overeem can beat everyone else but I see Fedor landng one casting punch at 42 sec (exact!) of the first round and putting Alistair down for a nap.
jioipp
What wasn't mentioned is that Fedor only eats nails as beef is for American girls.
He arm barred a bear and once went the distance with Dan Severn's moustache.
Good article.
thanks
Fedor should drop to 205 and rematch Dan Henderson now that would be good, if he beats him I could see him running through a lot of 205lbs assuming he can maintain the same power, or close to it. He could fight 2-3 more years at 205 and go out on a bit of a win streak.
This is probably the best mma article that has been written this year. It is concise, factual, and a great recognition of one of the greatest mma fighters of all time.
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Great article Mike, you have been a great addition to this site. Keep up the good work!
Thanks jaybear72, I am glad you liked it!