Considering Fedor's Sambo background, is he the greatest HW MMA wrestler ever?

[NoSmilez]

Yeah I've heard this

Adds a lot of credibility to his prowess as a judoka.

There aren't really many in mma history with those sort of credentials.

Not really. There were several gold medalist that competed in MMA. I am not trying to bash Fedor but some of his fans glaze him too much.

 

[NoSmilez]

I think you've got a different definition than anyone else who's talked about this.

He wasn’t a great international player. I posted his international record. It’s not to bash him. It’s because he wasn’t able to make it to judo that we got him in MMA.

 

[don't ask]

He wasn’t a great international player. I posted his international record. It’s not to bash him.

See my last comment.

It’s because he wasn’t able to make it to judo that we got him in MMA.

Yes. Everyone knows this. That doesn't mean he narrowly missed being on the Olympic team.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Wtf is this title? Does michael jordan’s baseball career make him the greatest runner?

 

[Dionysian]

That is a sweet ass single leg counter. Wish we saw that more in the sport.

That's what his fanboys think, hence why he's the GOAT and not Jon Jones

It doesn't matter if Jon Jones is the only one who actually fought under USADA while Fedor spent almost his whole career in a japanese circus show without any drug testing.

No wonder he got badly destroyed by a MW grandpa once in the USA.

Why push the lie that "once in the USA" means "drug tested"?

Even if you subscribe to the silly "USADA era" meaning you were "drug tested", those Fedor USA fights were well before the USADA era. You are literally subscribing only to "American geography means no drugs" which is a verifiable lie as proven 100 times over.

yes you can see they are clearly equal in the wrestling. (obviously not really)

I think that was the first time he was ever taken down.
View attachment 1037688

Good callout. Honestly you could also argue Gus scored 2 TDs total (there was one in the 2nd round they didn't count / the one where Rogan actually said "dos" when it happened). Prime Gus was something else.

 

[AstralPanda]

Not really. There were several gold medalist that competed in MMA. I am not trying to bash Fedor but some of his fans glaze him too much.

I don't think acknowledging that he was an elite judoka with underrated credentials is glazing anyone.

It's stating basic facts.

 

[arrmike]

Yeah I've heard this

Adds a lot of credibility to his prowess as a judoka.

There aren't really many in mma history with those sort of credentials.

Fedor fought Ishii and Ogawa. Who have much better judo credentials. Fedor threw Ogawa in their GP fight.

 

[arrmike]

I’m happy to see his judo background rather than his “sambo” background becoming the common narrative.

Although sambo does favor certain throws, sweeps, chokes, and locks, it is more of a ruleset for engagement of a fight. Fedor applied his world class judo hips to sambo competition. Much more than he “trained sambo”.

 

[maximus__]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/exgpgWgRjiVHN1h5/?mibextid=oFDknk

Here he is beating up on a Dagestani in some sambo comp, look at the athleticism on display from a HEAVYWEIGHT.


Sucks we won't ever get another specimen like that again, big frank was close but eh.

Wrestler no. Most well rounded and skill HW mixed martial artist of all time, yes.

During his prime, he had some of the best takedowns, stand up and bottom/top game we have ever seen in this sport.
His skillset during that time still holds up to this day.

His chin was legendary and his ability to do damage was amazing.
If he rolled into today's HW, he would probably win the title if he wasn't 10-20 years into a career when he did it.

Francis has as many losses as Fedor did in the first 10 years of his career with only half the fights. People forget how awesome going 31-1 was in a top org. Nobody else has managed it.

 

[blackheart]

He was the WORLD GRANDMASTER of Sambo, one of if not the hardest sport in the world. It's too bad Sambo isn't in the Olympics so he didn't have that Olympic pedigree to go with it, but his sambo pedigree is insane regardless.

 

[markg171]

I want you to read where you wrote "sambo" and "wrestler" and

 

[markg171]

No. DC would have wiped the floor with his ass.

DC is probably it on paper and in a straight wrestling match, but in his actual HW MMA fights probably not. DC didn't really use his wrestling much at HW except to help with his dirty boxing compared to LHW where he used it a lot more. At HW he was primarily striking everybody, in no small part because guys like Monson, Bigfoot, Barnett, Mir, and Nelson were black belts, and Stipe could wrestle him back and keep it standing on his terms. It's like Staring and Lewis where he actually wrestled for the majority of the fight at HW.

In terms of who actually used their wrestling to mostly succeed take your pick of Cain, Randy, or Brock. If you really wanted to do MMA Math you could even do Cain>Brock>Randy, though that's kinda disrespecting Randy who overall should be ahead from having used it for more fights than them.

 

[filthybliss]

He beat a 40+ year old Mark Coleman who telegraphed his TDs from 10 feet away. The same Coleman who left the UFC years earlier on a 3-loss streak. What other great HW wrestlers did he face? Randleman was a LHW who almost KO'd him with a slam...but Randleman had terrible submission defense. Lindland, Hendo and Chael were MWs...and I think Chael took him down. Bigfoot took him down with a high school football tackle.

you could literally break apart any goat's accomplishments like this. what a cynical way to look at things.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Why push the lie that "once in the USA" means "drug tested"?

Even if you subscribe to the silly "USADA era" meaning you were "drug tested", those Fedor USA fights were well before the USADA era. You are literally subscribing only to "American geography means no drugs" which is a verifiable lie as proven 100 times over.

USADA doesn't mean a completely clean sport, just like physicians don't erase diseases. USADA is there to limit doping and limited doping is far superior to no drug testing at any possible level.

That's really not hard to understand, so why do people keep mentioning such lame and useless arguments ? So physicians are useless since they don't erase diseases, right ?

Pride FC was a complete circus while UFC under USADA was a legit and professional organization.

As for Fedor in the USA, he had to face some drug testing which is still better than nothing, even if far less inferior than USADA.

But that's not the main point anyway : when he fought in the USA, MMA was already a bit more developed, so he got quickly exposed. He simply faced better competition than in his japanese circus show.

 

[Yellowcrab]

you could literally break apart any goat's accomplishments like this. what a cynical way to look at things.

No you can't, that's why you have no example.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

He's the goat all around. He Beat up Randleman and Coleman so whats it matter? No he's not the best wrestler but he beat up the best wrestlers.

Randleman and Coleman are not the best wrestlers.

 

[666]

Randleman and Coleman are not the best wrestlers.

In that era yes.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

In that era yes.

Not even close. There are quite a few olympic medalists who competed in first gen MMA. Coleman and Randleman are nobodies on the international scene.

 

[666]

Not even close. There are quite a few olympic medalists who competed in first gen MMA. Coleman and Randleman are nobodies on the international scene.

Well I'm not going into deep waters with one of my bros so let's call it a tie.

 

[NoSmilez]

See my last comment.

Yes. Everyone knows this. That doesn't mean he narrowly missed being on the Olympic team.

He wasn't close. That is where you are completely off. Go find another person on the team that didn't have an international presence. We have to just disagree on this. It doesn't mean he is a bad judo player. He just wasn't anywhere close to the being an Olympian. It can be political or the skill level of the other players are much higher than him.