The Pudgy Russian Emperor

For those not in the know, check it this highlight of Fedor Emelianenko...if you don't, then you deprive your senses of majesty and a context for what I'm writing about.

There's been a lot of writing going on around the mma blogs and sites in response to hearing about Fedor splitting from his management team and being back on the market; as if he had realistically left it in the first place. The majority of fight fans have gotten really tired of the neverending charade of where Fedor is going to end up, and rightfully so. Although, in a bit of misdirected irritation, everyone seems to be attacking Fedor's mantle of the greatest modern mma fighter. To dispute this mantle is far beyond me, but every internet jock and their spotter seem to be taking Fedor to task over his less than stellar opposition over the past couple years. Granted, he hasn't exactly set the world ablaze with his more recent victories over natural middleweight Matt Lindland and superfreak Hong-Man Choi but all this talk about what necessitates a "greatest" title brings to light an interesting debate.

First, one can't simply go by records. Fedor has a highly touted record of 27 wins with only one loss...that loss coming by cut and on top of that it wasn't even under modern mma rules(Ring of Rings had no striking once the fighters hit the ground). In comparison, Randy Couture has record of 16-8 which is definitely respectable but not really indicative of his current status. Even the most objective of figures can be completely misleading, especially when it doesn't take into account the quality of opposition. When you look at quality of opposition, Fedor(coupled with his record) is without the shadow of a doubt, the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time. Pride had what is widely regarded as the greatest stable of heavyweight fighters in the world(not an easy task since their just aren't that many). During this time, he tore through every single one of them and made it look relatively easy. No opponent throughout the stretch even came close to defeating Fedor. The exceptions to that was a slam from hell courtesy of Kevin Randleman and a haymaker from Kazuyuki Fujita, to which Fedor responded with a quick submission attempt only moments later. And on top of all of this, Fedor is a small heavyweight who measures in at only 6' 0'' tall and weighs on the smaller end of the heavyweight scale at 230lbs. No other modern champion even enters the conversation at having simultaneously had such a decorated record against the greatest era of their weightclass...so far. A lot of people might call into question his questionable decision victories over Babalu and Ricardo Arona, but every fighter has questionable decision victories. This isn't meant as a cop-out but if it is a constant with most fighters then it seems unfair to hold it against him. Ultimately, it's not his record or his quality of opposition(both of which are empirically top-notch), it's how he dominated every single one of his opponents. Pure and simple.

Personally, the easiest way to determine if Fedor deserves his status of the best heavyweight fighter is what is known affectionately around the sport world as the "smell test". If you feel Fedor isn't the best heavyweight fighter in the world, then you have to be prepared to place someone ahead of him. Just say that person's name out loud and if it doesn't make you feel odd, then you're on track. I have a hard time believing anybody who says someone other than Fedor doesn't snicker to themselves. In terms of quality of recent opponents, I have a hard time holding his bad business sense against him as a fighter. Fedor, as a fighter, is not at fault for being with an incompetent management team that signed you with C-level Bodog and one-off New Year's Eve show. As far as I'm concerned he's already cemented his legacy as the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time and it's up to his opposition, not the internet fanboys and loudmouthed pundits, to prove otherwise.

Now the concept of greatest pound for pound fighter of the modern, or any other era for that matter, is a debate for another time.

And now a quote from the ever quotable Shonie Carter in regards to Forrest Griffin: "Man, he can’t bust a grape in a food fight if he had hammers in his hand." He may look goofy as hell but he makes a damn fine point.