UFC will probably never have a Heavyweight fighter as good as Fedor

[Viper2]

Fedor’s prime ended when Werdum beat him, but salty UFC fans don’t want to acknowledge that.

Fedor is the best Heavyweight MMA fighter of all time and it’s not even debatable. It’s fact.

 

[NikkiNeversleep]

Overeem, Barnett, Bigfoot and Werdum all fought in Strikeforce and never tested positive for PEDs. All 4 were busted in the UFC within the next couple of years. Overeem flew out of the U.S. before his first UFC fight with Lesnar to miss a test, then got busted before his next fight. Rewatch his second fight with Werdum which was in SF. He looked like a comic book character. He literally went from a guy who made 205 to a guy who cut from 280 with very little body fat. If Strikeforce couldn't catch him, their testing was a joke or non-existent. Heck, Barnett was busted twice in the UFC under very early testing around 2002.

The only guys who ever seem to test positive under Coker are older expendable fighters like Kimbo and Ken Shamrock right after their fight.

Doubtful Werdum was juicing during those days. I don't think he ever really was.

Overeem and Werdum fought in Texas no? Rules are a little more lenient down there, probably why he was booked to fight there. Hendo and Fedor fought in Illinois, little different.

Bigfoot had a TUE.

Barnett? I don't know, he didn't look like he was juicing based on some of his sloppier performances but then again physically he's never looked like it lol so he might've been.

 

[BFoe]

Had to look it up but Hendo was granted a TUE by Winnipeg for the fight with Evans, he was not however granted one for the fight with DC or Mousasi. Rough.

Now you made me look it up <45>
I found this. No TUEs for that card according to this Bleacher Report MMA Junkie article.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2013...tue-request-discontinued-trt-ahead-of-ufc-161

I actually thought Fedor looked super sloppy against Mir personally, but Mir tends to do that to most people, he himself looked really sloppy at the end of his career after all the CTE. Fedor's first takedown against Rogers was after a casting punch, his second takedown was after rocking Rogers with a casting punch lol, he was also flipped over by Rogers while reaching for a Kimura and Rogers was able to get out of it (which makes me think in a cage Francis would do the same). Of course his biggest "takedown" of the fight came when he put Rogers' head in the front row with a casting right. Lol

Fedor’s been pretty sloppy since like 2009 lol, what I said about the Mir fight (that’s one that I was at live) was that he did much better at not getting stuck against the cage. I think that’s a fair assessment. They were both pretty sloppy for all 48 seconds that lasted.

We’re on the same page with Fedor’s first TD of Rogers. That’s classic Fedor, stepping in with the right hand and grabbing the left underhook and off-balancing his opponent. But this one?

This takedown sequence isn’t dependent on Fedor stepping in off the casting punch at all.

Fedor's takedowns tend to come from his chest, which is common among Sambo guys, as soon as his chest makes contact with his opponent you see his entire weight shift knee level on his opponent and he pulls them to the ground rather than wasting a lot of energy trying to forcibly lift and dump them. Finesse over brute force.

Agree, and he’s a very high level judoka as well.
What you’re saying about the kimura sequence is understandable, just so hard to say as Fedor’s grappling was not in great form at that time. But even then, he wasn’t on his back for long and I don’t think Francis keeps him on his back for long either if the fight were to go there. I think Francis needs to catch him standing (which is totally possible obv since Francis has the touch of death). I find Francis’s striking pretty sloppy though, and against Gane his power seemed to fade some once he started whiffing. Takedowns seem pretty good now, but hard to judge. Gane is not a great wrestler, and I think people overrate the brief sequence Francis had in the 2nd Stipe fight. Overall ground game not so great.


Anyway—who you think seems likely for Ngannou’s first PFL fight? Honestly,if Stipe can get out of his contract (not sure when it sunsets) that makes a lot of sense. Of course, being the Fedor fan I am I’d love to see ancient Werdum sub him in like a minute flat <45>
But we all know that ain’t happening.

EDIT: Bleacher Report article linked goofy, found a diff one.

 

[NikkiNeversleep]

Now you made me look it up <45>
I found this. No TUEs for that card according to this Bleacher Report article.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2013...tue-request-discontinued-trt-ahead-of-ufc-161

Fedor’s been pretty sloppy since like 2009 lol, what I said about the Mir fight (that’s one that I was at live) was that he did much better at not getting stuck against the cage. I think that’s a fair assessment. They were both pretty sloppy for all 48 seconds that lasted.

We’re on the same page with Fedor’s first TD of Rogers. That’s classic Fedor, stepping in with the right hand and grabbing the left underhook and off-balancing his opponent. But this one?

This takedown sequence isn’t dependent on Fedor stepping in off the casting punch at all.

Agree, and he’s a very high level judoka as well.
What you’re saying about the kimura sequence is understandable, just so hard to say as Fedor’s grappling was not in great form at that time. But even then, he wasn’t on his back for long and I don’t think Francis keeps him on his back for long either if the fight were to go there. I think Francis needs to catch him standing (which is totally possible obv since Francis has the touch of death). I find Francis’s striking pretty sloppy though, and against Gane his power seemed to fade some once he started whiffing. Takedowns seem pretty good now, but hard to judge. Gane is not a great wrestler, and I think people overrate the brief sequence Francis had in the 2nd Stipe fight. Overall ground game not so great.


Anyway—who you think seems likely for Ngannou’s first PFL fight? Honestly,if Stipe can get out of his contract (not sure when it sunsets) that makes a lot of sense. Of course, being the Fedor fan I am I’d love to see ancient Werdum sub him in like a minute flat <45>
But we all know that ain’t happening.

EDIT: Bleacher Report article linked goofy, found a diff one.

Prior to that takedown, he'd rocked him with a sequence of punches that ended in a casting right hand. They were against the cage because Fedor had pressured him backwards with his hands. Lol

The link I saw earlier when I looked it up was Bloodyelbow lol it was just in the google results tbh (the TUE).

Francis' striking looked sloppier against Gane because he injured his knee, in the very first round. Lol Again **I cannot stress this enough** he won that fight with a blown out knee. The fact he was able to throw anything that threatened Gane was surprising and the fact he manhandled him ON ONE LEG even more surprising. Francis is underrated in certain departments, and I think he proved he was a real fighting champion that night.

Not sure who he'll get next, they'll probably give Ngannou a striker for his PFL debut, if anyone's brave enough/bribed enough.

 

[BFoe]

Prior to that takedown, he'd rocked him with a sequence of punches that ended in a casting right hand. They were against the cage because Fedor had pressured him backwards with his hands. Lol

The link I saw earlier when I looked it up was Bloodyelbow lol it was just in the google results tbh (the TUE).

Them being against the cage because Fedor threw strikes is not at all the same thing as stepping in with a casting punch and chaining that into the TD like we’ve been talking about, a la Nog or the earlier Rogers TD. It’s not at all the same thing.

Francis' striking looked sloppier against Gane because he injured his knee, in the very first round. Lol Again **I cannot stress this enough** he won that fight with a blown out knee. The fact he was able to throw anything that threatened Gane was surprising and the fact he manhandled him ON ONE LEG even more surprising. Francis is underrated in certain departments, and I think he proved he was a real fighting champion that night.

Not sure who he'll get next, they'll probably give Ngannou a striker for his PFL debut, if anyone's brave enough/bribed enough.

No, his striking is sloppy in general. Sloppy against Gane, Overeem, Rozenstruik for sure… he can get away with it a lot because if he touches his opponent at all it fucking warps spacetime and sends their head into an alternate dimension. He’s just not a particularly accurate puncher. Agree though that he showed good heart and versatility working around his injury against Gane.

Anyway…we obvs agree on a lot, and disagree on some things. C’est la vie. Appreciate the chat. We could probably have a fun one about philosophy and religion, but maybe we’ll do that another time.
Cheers

 

[NikkiNeversleep]

Them being against the cage because Fedor threw strikes is not at all the same thing as stepping in with a casting punch and chaining that into the TD like we’ve been talking about, a la Nog or the earlier Rogers TD. It’s not at all the same thing.

No, his striking is sloppy in general. Sloppy against Gane, Overeem, Rozenstruik for sure… he can get away with it a lot because if he touches his opponent at all it fucking warps spacetime and sends their head into an alternate dimension. He’s just not a particularly accurate puncher. Agree though that he showed good heart and versatility working around his injury against Gane.

Anyway…we obvs agree on a lot, and disagree on some things. C’est la vie. Appreciate the chat. We could probably have a fun one about philosophy and religion, but maybe we’ll do that another time.
Cheers

It's also a different situation when an opponent is rocked though lol

Francis' striking was clean and brutal against Reem and Stipe (fight two). He has a high accuracy in those fights, but I can agree he falls back on his power when he feels no threat from the other person's striking a la Rozenstruik. Again, he was sloppy against Gane, and **I** **CANNOT** **STRESS** **THIS** **ENOUGH**, because he was on **ONE** **LEG**. Lol

 

[MartinGibson86]

*LH

Now you made me look it up <45>
I found this. No TUEs for that card according to this Bleacher Report MMA Junkie article.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2013...tue-request-discontinued-trt-ahead-of-ufc-161

Fedor’s been pretty sloppy since like 2009 lol, what I said about the Mir fight (that’s one that I was at live) was that he did much better at not getting stuck against the cage. I think that’s a fair assessment. They were both pretty sloppy for all 48 seconds that lasted.

We’re on the same page with Fedor’s first TD of Rogers. That’s classic Fedor, stepping in with the right hand and grabbing the left underhook and off-balancing his opponent. But this one?

This takedown sequence isn’t dependent on Fedor stepping in off the casting punch at all.

Agree, and he’s a very high level judoka as well.
What you’re saying about the kimura sequence is understandable, just so hard to say as Fedor’s grappling was not in great form at that time. But even then, he wasn’t on his back for long and I don’t think Francis keeps him on his back for long either if the fight were to go there. I think Francis needs to catch him standing (which is totally possible obv since Francis has the touch of death). I find Francis’s striking pretty sloppy though, and against Gane his power seemed to fade some once he started whiffing. Takedowns seem pretty good now, but hard to judge. Gane is not a great wrestler, and I think people overrate the brief sequence Francis had in the 2nd Stipe fight. Overall ground game not so great.


Anyway—who you think seems likely for Ngannou’s first PFL fight? Honestly,if Stipe can get out of his contract (not sure when it sunsets) that makes a lot of sense. Of course, being the Fedor fan I am I’d love to see ancient Werdum sub him in like a minute flat <45>
But we all know that ain’t happening.

EDIT: Bleacher Report article linked goofy, found a diff one.

Lol Rogers sucked dude...


Fedor got owned on the ground his next 3 fights.


That was a JV takedown lol


Where was that against Bigfoot 15 months later??

 

[BFoe]

It's also a different situation when an opponent is rocked though lol

Francis' striking was clean and brutal against Reem and Stipe (fight two). He has a high accuracy in those fights, but I can agree he falls back on his power when he feels no threat from the other person's striking a la Rozenstruik. Again, he was sloppy against Gane, and **I** **CANNOT** **STRESS** **THIS** **ENOUGH**, because he was on **ONE** **LEG**. Lol

You really just responded to my friendly “Cheers” by getting the last word in? With CAPS? AND BOLD? And ***asterisks ***even?
Ok, ok I see how it is.
I think you seriously overrate Ngannou, and this is def to be continued…

 

[chinarice]

Arona had less fights…I’m pointing this out just because people are rewriting narratives. Fedor was one of the reasons I became a fan. I always tuned in. But I hate this rewriting history nonsense. It’s done with Jordan all the time…

And LeBron James

I've learned that NBA fans as a whioe are ridiculous and are pretty much all biased as can be.

 

[stacrafty]

Let's face it, UFC has never, and most likely will never, have a Heavyweight fighter as good as Fedor. In his prime, Fedor would have made short work of every single UFC Heavyweight fighter thus far. I know this annoys a lot of UFC fans that missed Fedor's epic run in Pride (when it was actually happening) and therefore a lot of these UFC fans would rather hate on something they missed out on rather than acknowledge the truth.

Discuss.

Fedor would get destroyed by a lot of todays HW's. Just cause he was able to swim in what was a relatively shallow pool at the time doesn't mean he can jump in the deep end of the UFC. He got murked by Hendo and Verdum when he was in his prime (age 34, same as Volk is now) remember.

 

[mkt]

Doubtful Werdum was juicing during those days. I don't think he ever really was.

Overeem and Werdum fought in Texas no? Rules are a little more lenient down there, probably why he was booked to fight there. Hendo and Fedor fought in Illinois, little different.

Bigfoot had a TUE.

Barnett? I don't know, he didn't look like he was juicing based on some of his sloppier performances but then again physically he's never looked like it lol so he might've been.

Just admit you're wrong instead of defending and indefensible position. Overeem also fought Rogers in SF and was clearly roided to the gills in both his fights. Bigfoot tested for Boldenone in the UFC. Barnett tested positive twice in the early UFC, Affliction and in an out-of-competition test later in the UFC. Besides Pride, where he was only tested for one fight in the U.S., Strikeforce was the only major org where he didn't fail a test.

 

[Kb7]

I love how Fedor at 27yrs goes on to fight Coleman who is 40yrs and that is considered a elite win towards his epic run. But when Jones is slated to fight the best HW Stipe in the UFC when they are both closer in age and twilight of both their careers, suddenly Stipes out of his prime and somehow Jones isn't because he hasn't loss.

 

[Tweak896]

I get what you’re saying in regards to maybe a guy like Randleman. But surely Ricardo Arona knew how to defend sweeps, yet Fedor swept him. Even ol Chael is a black belt now, and Fedor swept him even in his 40s. I don’t quite buy the idea that Fedor wouldn’t be able sweep or sub anyone today.



Good post, and I apologize that I have to just quickly bulletpoint some stuff since I’m working atm. Before I do though—do you ever make highlight vids still? I liked the ones I saw, God, must’ve been a decade ago now. Crazy how time flies.

—Totally agree with how the fight plays out in a ring. Fedor was great at quickly closing distance and off-balancing guys, and I see him doing the same to Francis in a ring. In a cage, I wouldn’t go with Francis winning 7/10, that seems excessive; but I def agree that Fedor’s style worked much better in a ring (like Mirko, but Mirko’s style was even more dependent on it and never really translated well to a cage). Francis would have much more success against Fedor in a cage. I’d actually say that Fedor was fighting better in a cage than he ever had during his Bellator run. In the Strikeforce years I don’t think he even had a cage at his gym.

—It will be interesting to see how Francis looks post knee injury. I know he was injured against Gane so I don’t want to sound too harsh, but the ground game from both those guys was very low level imho. While I agree that Francis hits a lot harder than Bigfoot, Bigfoot was also a BJJ black belt. A weight difference like that is very tough to overcome if the heavier guy is a black belt as well. It was also Fedor’s sloppiness that led to that TD, I don’t really see the 2003-2005 peak version of Fedor telegraph the overhand right like that.

—As far as avoiding Francis’s power, or getting a TD, Fedor is faster than Gane and has never really had a tough time closing distance on someone.

And I def wouldn’t look at Fedor’s last two performances, he was years past his expiration date. But anyway, who knows, fantasy matchups are just that after all.

Chael is a bad example, plus are you confident he's been training as hard for the last 10 years of his career compared to before he left UFC? He has a good wrestling skillset, but wrong guy to praise as a black belt lol. He also has some mental blocks when it comes to grappling strangely.

Arona was part of that era and yeah I bet a few adjustments today he'd probably be unsweepable, but he had his last serious fight in 2007. Guys on top stick with positions that they have complete control without possibility of being swept. I remember it happening a few times a card, now the only recent fight I remember with it was Ngannou/Gane lol.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Fedor was unbeatable in Pride. We haven't seen that yet in the UFC hw division until Jones moved up.

Jones has two wins
Assuming they let old man stipe out of the nursing home for the fight.

 

[Kb7]

Jones has two wins
Assuming they let old man stipe out of the nursing home for the fight.

That's funny because Fedor fought 4 old men in row after winning the HW Belt.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Aside from being a fan of either Fedor or Jones, how would that fight go? In primes of course and let's go Pride rules in ring.

I'm gonna go Fedor but I have no idea, gee it would have been fun.

 

[Luvhawky]

And LeBron James

I've learned that NBA fans as a whioe are ridiculous and are pretty much all biased as can be.

Yeah I’m not a fan of Lebron. But it does seem like Jordan fanboys just hate on the guy like crazy. I grew up a fan of Kobe, Duncan, Dirk and Garnett. So, I have a fond place in my heart for those players.

 

[Holyherb420]

Let's face it, UFC has never, and most likely will never, have a Heavyweight fighter as good as Fedor. In his prime, Fedor would have made short work of every single UFC Heavyweight fighter thus far. I know this annoys a lot of UFC fans that missed Fedor's epic run in Pride (when it was actually happening) and therefore a lot of these UFC fans would rather hate on something they missed out on rather than acknowledge the truth.

Discuss.

Dont count them out. If they follow prides blueprint they have a chance. If they got rid of testing, started having the refs put on earpieces, set up freak/squash matches to make their heavyweights look unbeatable, sprinkle in some fixed fights here and there i think they can do it.

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

He gave up the most basic switch to Hendo before the KO...a 40 tear old MW who was geapplefucked by Shields a year earlier and hardly ever wrestled

Bones, DC, Bork, Blaydes, Cain, and Stipe all would!ve done him worse than Bigfoot.


Bless the cultists' little hearts for comparinf 90's Hammer House to modern AKA/Jackson/ATT etc

Bless you.
Bless you for standing for truth.
You sir, are a great American.

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

Fedor’s prime ended when Werdum beat him, but salty UFC fans don’t want to acknowledge that.

Fedor is the best Heavyweight MMA fighter of all time and it’s not even debatable. It’s fact.

Fact: Hong Man Choi
Fact: Bigfoot Silva