Fedor Returns to Cure MMA Boredom Epidemic

The world of mixed martial arts finally has something to look forward to. On February 12th, Russian legend Fedor Emelianenko returns to face Brazilian contender Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in the quarterfinals of Strikeforce's heavyweight Grand Prix.

Who knows why it took so long seal the deal; maybe Fedor's manager Vadim Finkelstein wouldn't budge on that rumored private-label amusement park provision. Who knows and who cares, the ends justify the means for Fedor's fans.

In any case this matchup is a good one. Silva poses as great a threat as Fedor has yet faced for a few reasons:

• He's bigger. Force is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration, folks. Silva is an athletic 260lbs, and at 6'4" he sports a significant reach advantage and will probably look very comfortable on his feet (his ever-improving stand-up game gave Freddie Roach-trained Andrei Arlovski fits last year.) Rogers showed us all how a bigger man could use the cage to keep Fedor from making mischief. I expect Silva to be one of the first of Fedor's opponents to purposefully exploit the size advantage.
• He's dynamic. I first saw Silva in action in a sloppy brawl against Ricco Rodriguez. Both men looked out of practice and slightly out of shape, with Silva getting the split decision victory. Since then, "Bigfoot" shown both improved skill and improved conditioning, and enters this fight at no real disadvantage, on the ground or standing.
• He's patient. Certainly the "Fedor jitters" played a part in the Russian's many shocking wins over larger, faster and stronger opponents. Both Tim Sylvia and Brett Rogers hesitated before the stalking Russian, only to find themselves looking up at the ref and wondering what happened. Antonio Silva came back against Mike Kyle after getting knocked on his ass in the opening moments of the fight; with that lesson in humility behind him it's highly unlikely that Fedor will catch him napping.
• He (now) knows Fedor can be beaten. All Silva needs to know is that what one man can do, another can do. Like the rest of us I'm sure Silva crapped his pants when Fedor tapped. It also probably didn't escape his attention that Fedor, to be blunt, gave up that submission quite carelessly. Fedor's "ad hoc" fighting style doesn't rely as much on opponent-specific strategy so much as real-time analysis and reaction. There's no question that Fedor is willing to take a lick or two while he feels his opponent out for weaknesses; if Silva's smart, he'll be ready to exploit Fedor's inhuman lack of fear the way Fabricio Werdum did.

On the other hand..this is of course Fedor. Though it doesn't need to be said, I'll say it anyway:

• He can do it all. Fedor is as well-rounded as anyone who has ever fought. He isn't big, but he has The Big Punch. He's probably not the fastest athlete fighting today, but his uncanny timing and balance give him the jump on nearly everyone he's fought. He may not be a world-champion competitive Abu Dhabi grappler, but he applies submissions like his life depends on it. He really doesn't neglect any one facet of the game.
• He has experience. Fedor has 32+ professional wins at heavyweight. He's fought strikers, grapplers, pure wrestlers, kickboxers and everything in between. That record really is compounded by the fact that, since he doesn't believe in cutting weight, he for all practical purposes is fighting guys from a higher weight class. Picture Frankie Edgar fighting at middleweight to appreciate the significance of this.
• He's committed to ending the fight. Fedor isn't fighting for points. He treats fighting as problem-solving and his opponents like strategy puzzles; give him a few minutes, and he'll solve the problem. He's ended fights by every means imaginable, from arm-bar to kimura to short-choke to TKO, to one-punch knockout and majority decision. The unified rules of MMA make it technically possible and even advantageous for fighters to secure victory by winning over the judges, Fedor doesn't seem to care about winning the round.
• He's fearless. It has been said of Fedor that he "cuts easy," but that's just statistics out of context. The practical reality is that Fedor presses the action in nearly every fight without any real fear of getting hit. Perhaps he's willing to get tagged once or twice simply as a means to determining the extent of someone's range. The much-larger Brett Rogers, knocked out by Fedor after briefly appearing to have the advantage in their fight, said later that he was thrown off by how "loose" Fedor seemed. Indeed, Fedor's willingness to wade into harm's way against larger opponents is unsettling to behold, and probably even more so from inside the cage.

Fedor vs. Silva can go either way, it really can. Size considerations notwithstanding, both fighters are skilled, tough and smart, so I won't predict a winner. I hope only for a good fight, and knowing what I know about these two fighters I don't expect anything less.

The Most Ironic Man on the Planet

Legendary Russian mixed martial artist Fedor Emelianenko, dubbed "The Baddest Man on the Planet" by Western media, frankly isn't a good fit for the UFC. For all the growth in the MMA audience for which Dana White and Zuffa is responsible, the hyper-macho blood thirst cultivated by their marketing partners does as much to prevent its mainstream acceptance.

Fedor has little use for this characterization of what he thinks of ultimately as a sport and nothing more:

Aggression is not something generated by this or that sport; it's personalities that are aggressive. And it's a general rule everywhere, not only in sports, but in everyday life too. If people are used to being rude to each other, being hostile, they will be the same in their everyday life. This is why, of course, things do happen. Fighters often tend to forget they are primarily human beings. They're so carried away with the show, that they become engulfed by this inexplicable aggression, or a show of aggression which is meant to attract attention. I'm not a supporter of such things.

(link to interview)

Unburdened by delusions of omnipotence, Fedor quite naturally has lost very few fights. Still, it strikes me as ironic that the fighter most likely to win any given fight is the one who seems to place the least existential value on the fight's outcome.

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.