Time for the Last Emporer to finish a legendary career.
I woke up on Sunday morning with a dilemma. To "google" the results of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, or to watch the fight replay itself. I decided on the later and so a few clicks later, the announcer was Introducing the fighters. Sadly, one thing that caught my eye was the length of the video. So short that it meant the fight didn't go the distance (either that or there was a part 2 hidden somewhere). I'm a huge fan of both Fedor and "Hendo" so I immediately was down about the fact that one of them had stopped the other. And so I watched the fight and what a fight it was! Right from the first second, they were swinging away and both fighters were bloodied up quickly. Not to bore you with the fine details of the fight, I'll fast forward to the sweet uppercut and following flurry of Russian bombs that Fedor landed on Dan dropping him and forcing the fans in attendance to rise to their feet as they witnessed the return of the legend...for a few moments as Dan recovered, grabbed a leg to reverse Fedor and land a sweet (and beautifully hidden) uppercut to a Fedor on his knees that landed flush and forced the referee Herb Dean to stop the fight as Dan followed up with a few punches. Fedor, for the first time, was stopped by punches.
Fedor said, in the post fight interview, that it was "God's will" that would play a factor in whether he would retire or not. In my opinion (which I believe most of the MMA world would agree with), I think that it won't be a devine intervention but a decision by his camp, his family and his friends. 3 Losses in a row, all stoppages, it's as simple as that.
So to reflect on the career of what many believe is the greatest Mixed Martial Arts fighter of all time. The "Muhammad Ali" of MMA. Some argue that, without a fight in the UFC, he can never be called a great but that's like saying Messi will never be great if he doesn't play in the English Premier League or Lebron will never be great if he doesn't win an NBA Championship.
Fedor Emelianenko, without a doubt, played his part in making MMA what it is today just as much as the Gracie family or the Nogueira brothers or Couture, Coleman, Liddell and so on. In front of tens of thousands of Japanese fans, Fedor destroyed opponenets of all races, nationalities and sizes on the way to the PRIDE Heavyweight title. His memorable wars against Big Nog, Cro Cop, Coleman and Randleman. His submissions of Mark Hunt, the Giant Hong-Man Choi and Matt Lindland. Just his presence on a PRIDE card was enough to add an extra few thousand fans in attendance. Even after the fall of PRIDE, his stoppages of former UFC champs Arlovski and Sylvia kept him as the number 1 Heavyweight and, arguably, the number 1 pound-4-pound fighter on Earth.
And then came the Brett Rogers fight. Rogers , a solid striker and bigger fighter, bloodied and rocked Fedor, showing that the Last Emporer could be beaten. But a right from Fedor stopped Rogers and the legend continued. Sadly, in my opinion, that fight was the fight that showed Fedor's weakness. Bigger opponents who are experts in their skill-sets. Next came Werdum, a BJJ expert much bigger then Fedor and he came with a plan. Get Fedor in Werdum's comfort zone, the ground. 69 seconds later, Fedor tapped and that was his first real stoppage. Fabricio addressed the issue that many couldn't before. The size of the Russian. Always weighing in at around 220lbs, Fedor was always a "small heavyweight" and Antonio Silva proved that in February 2011 when he wrestled and beat down Fedor forcing the doctor to stop the fight.
And so to Fedor's latest defeat. I noticed Dan Henderson, who fought most of his career at Middleweight and Light Heavyweight, looked the same size as Fedor (and weighing in only about 15lbs lighter). Henderson, a solid wrestler with hands that put people into comas (ask Michael Bisping) had the right skill-set combo to beat Fedor and show the world that Fedor's time is up. If there was a "Cruiserweight" Division between LHW and HW (around 205-225lbs), Fedor would, arguably, still be the reigning world champion in that division and his legendary career could have even been greater.
Thank You Fedor Emelianenko.
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