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Early in Fedor's career his speed, aggressiveness and instincts would often surprise his opponents. Goodridge never expected him to throw such a fast lead left and he never recovered. Big Nog never expected to get rocked on the feet by the right and then destroyed on the ground with GnP from the guard and he never recovered. Mirko never expected to be beaten on the feet. Coleman never expected to get armlocked that fast. etc. This was a huge advantage for Fedor because the element of surprise allowed him create openings which changed the course of the fight.
After a while there was more information available on Fedor's fighting style and his opponents were watching tape and scouting his tendencies and as he got older it became harder to surprise his opponents and the performances showed it. Seems like at this point it was Fedor who was being surprised and thats when the losses started coming.
Now Fedor is 42. His chin is nowhere near what it used to be. His endurance is nowhere near where it used to be. His strength isnt where it used to be and he isnt as fast but one thing that he recently got back was his element of SURPRISE. Fedor's last two opponents thought they were fighting a deteriorated old man with no chin, no wrestling and no grappling. Mir had no idea that Fedor was going to judo toss him to the moon and once that happened the whole fight changed. Same with Sonnen, he thought he would walk Fedor down and take him down and roll him up on the ground. He never expected Fedor to land with such power and precision and he never thought Fedor would reverse his takedown in mid air with a judo throw. These kind of surprises really shaped those fights and it was cool to see that Fedor has this element back in his game.
Now hes fighting Bader and the question is will Fedor be able to surprise him? I feel it will be harder because Bader has now done his own scouting and will be better prepared. Does the GOAT have some clever shit up his sleeve for Bader too? Ill say this much, if Fedor is able to surprise Bader he will win for sure.
After a while there was more information available on Fedor's fighting style and his opponents were watching tape and scouting his tendencies and as he got older it became harder to surprise his opponents and the performances showed it. Seems like at this point it was Fedor who was being surprised and thats when the losses started coming.
Now Fedor is 42. His chin is nowhere near what it used to be. His endurance is nowhere near where it used to be. His strength isnt where it used to be and he isnt as fast but one thing that he recently got back was his element of SURPRISE. Fedor's last two opponents thought they were fighting a deteriorated old man with no chin, no wrestling and no grappling. Mir had no idea that Fedor was going to judo toss him to the moon and once that happened the whole fight changed. Same with Sonnen, he thought he would walk Fedor down and take him down and roll him up on the ground. He never expected Fedor to land with such power and precision and he never thought Fedor would reverse his takedown in mid air with a judo throw. These kind of surprises really shaped those fights and it was cool to see that Fedor has this element back in his game.
Now hes fighting Bader and the question is will Fedor be able to surprise him? I feel it will be harder because Bader has now done his own scouting and will be better prepared. Does the GOAT have some clever shit up his sleeve for Bader too? Ill say this much, if Fedor is able to surprise Bader he will win for sure.
