Fedor's Most Dangerous Opponent: His Management

I'm saying it now: the enigmatic Russian heavyweight fighting legend known as Fedor Emelianenko is in danger of becoming irrelevant.

I will give Dana White his due credit. He saw two years ago an erratic pattern of questionable decision-making from Fedor's handlers, and after talks to acquire Fedor fell through, the UFC president angered fans all over the world when he referred to the PRIDE legend as "a farce."

It turns out Dana White was right. While the UFC's heavyweight picture becomes increasingly complicated due to the incredible depth and parity in the division, Strikeforce scrounges around to find reputable advertising partners to support broadcasts of "title" fights with any name fighter who will give sign a contract with them.

Get this. Strikeforce is talking about matching Fedor - ostensibly the world's #1 pound-for-pound fighter and top heavyweight - against Fabricio Werdum, an accomplished and competitive heavyweight who most recently ground out a split decision against Antonion "Bigfoot" Silva. Meanwhile, Emelianenko's most recent victim, Brett Rogers, is fighting a puffy Dutch powerlifter and K-1 kickboxer for the frickin' belt.

I don't get it. I may be only a fan of MMA, but this doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't the #1 heavyweight be facing the world's #2 heavyweight? Werdum, who was cut by the UFC after being stopped by hammer-fisted contender Junior Dos Santos, is a good fighter, but he isn't #2 by any stretch of the imagination. His presence in the MMA Weekly world heavyweight top-10 at all might be open to debate.

Brock Lesnar...Shane Carwin...Junior Dos Santos...Cain Velasquez. These fighters all have one thing in common: (A.) they've won against top-level talent, and (B.) done so convincingly. These fighters represent the only opponents worthy of fighting for the title of "greatest heavyweight on the planet."

Sigh...I've come to the conclusion that the opponent most likely to defeat Fedor is his management. Assuming they are responsible for his latest career decisions, they are the ones who are most likely to dethrone him as the world's top heavyweight and arguable top fighter in any weight class.

I may have considered myself Fedor's greatest fan, but I'm so completely disgusted with his management right now. It doesn't matter if he's not willfully dodging the UFC's menacing talent pool, because the net effect is the same. At the end of the day, the fans don't get to see the top guy fighting the top guys, and that sucks.

WEC 48: "No Way Jose" Aldo Chops Down Former Champ Faber

I just got finished watching Jose Aldo literally kick the crap out of Urijah Faber. As I watched this fight, it occurred to me that I might be watching the ascending curve of a Hubbert's Peak of leg kicks in MMA. Lately, more fights are being decided by leg kicks...Lyoto Machida, Manhoef vs. Lawler, Hughes vs. Renzo, and now Jose Aldo. It wasn't too long ago that Forrest Griffin, won a title by chopping down Rampage Jackson's lead leg with sickening Louisville Slugger leg kicks. Thiago Alves' stegosaurus-tail-whip looked like it was going to hobble Josh Koscheck.

I kind of expect to see two things happen now. First, more fighters will start to employ leg kicks. Second, this will drive the evolution of standup to something maybe more tentative or involving more footwork. Too many guys lose fights standing in place absorbing leg kicks on the lead leg. I don't know if they think they can sacrifice it for positioning, or if the leg is numb after the first few kicks, but if I were playing fighters against one another in a video game I'd be retreating out of their range. (Remember the arcade version of Capcom's Street Fighter? There was always some fucker who would win fight after fight doing the same stupid-but-devastatingly-effective move over and over and over again.)

Once people start to catch on and the fight game evolves, I expect to see a new and exciting striking game.

Renzo Gracie: Good Fighter, Great Speaker

Visiting Yahoo's MMA UFC section I saw a video clip of this UFC 112 publicity event. Prior to this I'd heard of Renzo Gracie, didn't know much about him aside from his underwhelming disqualification win over Frank Shamrock and his association with Matt Serra.

I was surprised to find Renzo's talk very entertaining; anyone can watch this video and learn something about how to make a concise point in an engaging fashion. The guy is a natural-born public speaker:

Good instruction is about communication, and if this is any indication Renzo is probably an outstanding teacher.