Fedor Week #4, 2005-Present: Mismatches and Reflections

All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the final installment. Here are parts one, two, and three.

With his wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Fedor had few legitimate contenders left to beat. The opponent that made the most sense was Josh Barnett, but as Pride tended to do, they immediately matched Fedor with a fighter that had no business being in the same ring.

vs. Zuluzinho

The son of famed vale tudo fighter Rei Zulu, the younger Zuluzinho was not entirely unskilled or untrained, but he couldn't hope to compete with the best in the world. The matchup was essentially a sight-gag -- to see Fedor stand next to the 6'6, 400-pound challenger. This completely unnecessary bout was mercifully quick: Fedor knocked Zuluzinho down twice and made him submit because of strikes in all of 26 seconds.

It was about this time that Pride started running into financial trouble. They got dropped by their broadcast television partner once allegations of organized crime involvement came to light. Clearly, they needed to figure out a new way to survive, and that led them to the United States.

While the organization had a small hardcore following here, it was not nearly on the level of the UFC. Pride aimed to fix that by running their first show on American soil. Intended to be a super-card of sorts, they knew they needed Fedor to compete in their main event. It made sense to match him up against an American fighter to add some hometown rivalry. But instead of Josh Barnett (who also competed on the card), they called on someone Fedor had already beaten convincingly.

vs. Coleman ... again

It was not as if Mark Coleman had performed so well in the intervening years since his last crack at Fedor to merit another shot. He lost his next fight, won once in Holland, and then won a fight against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua because of a fluke injury. And at 42 years old, his best days were clearly behind him.

The fight was somewhat better and somewhat worse for Coleman. It was better because he lasted six minutes and 15 seconds -- a full four minutes longer than his first go-around. It was worse because the extra time meant taking more punishment from Fedor. Coleman's plan was to take Fedor down whenever possible and he succeeded twice. Unfortunately, when Fedor defended the takedown, which he did 10 times, it left Coleman wide open for big punches to be rained down while he held onto Fedor's leg. The fight ended with an armbar that looked extremely similar to the one that ended the first fight, but whereas Coleman walked out of fight #1 relatively unscathed, he exited the ring this time bloodied and battered.

A rematch with CroCop loomed on the horizon and Barnett remained as available as ever, but for its New Year's Eve 2006 show, Pride chose another outsized fighter to face off against Fedor. Thankfully, this one had some serious talent.

vs. Hunt

Mark Hunt presented some interesting problems. At 275 pounds, the K-1 kickboxer from New Zealand had a good 50 pounds on Fedor, and his agility and quickness were unusual for a man his size. He had already scored (controversial) upset decision victories over Wanderlei Silva and CroCop.

The match appeared like it would be over quickly, as Fedor landed a takedown and ended up in mount within the first minute. A quick armbar attempt later and it looked like Hunt was done. Instead, Hunt managed to escape the hold and roll on top of Fedor. He quickly passed to side control and used his weight to his advantage, smothering Fedor and landing punches.

Once back on the feet, it was Fedor who looked uncomfortable for a change, lunging for takedown attempts and missing. Hunt was starting to connect with strikes so Fedor tried a Sambo throw. Instead of the desired effect, he ended up on the bottom again, with Hunt in side control. Looking gassed and in trouble, he gave up his arm for a tight-looking Americana. It was the closest anyone's ever come to submitting Fedor, and it was done by a guy who everyone assumed was just a stand-up fighter.

Unfortunately for Hunt, his submission offense was better than his submission defense. Fedor managed to get back to his feet, and with newfound aggressiveness, land some punches before dragging Hunt to the ground. Fedor locked on a Kimura for the tapout, but he looked more beatable doing it than at any time before.

vs. Lindland

Pride was on its deathbed. On April 8, 2007 they held what would be their final event. Six days later, Fedor would fight outside the Pride ring for the first time in over three years. His opponent was an unusual choice, borne more of pragmatism than matchmaking. Fedor's fight was for the upstart BodogFight promotion. The issue was that most of the world's best heavyweights were under exclusive contract to one organization or another. Finding a suitable free-agent opponent was no easy task. The solution was for middleweight Matt Lindland to move up two weight classes to take on Fedor in front of a hometown crowd in St. Petersburg, Russia.

For the second fight in a row, Fedor looked eminently beatable. The first punch thrown by Lindland landed square and opened a big cut over Fedor's right eye. Immediately following, Lindland, an Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, clinched with Fedor and looked to have an easy takedown. Fedor avoided the takedown several times by grabbing the ropes and had to be warned by the referee.

As with most Fedor fights, an opponent who has him in trouble only has one good chance to pull off a win before the real Fedor kicks in and takes over. Indeed, Fedor reversed a takedown and landed on top. From that position, Fedor used his size to outgrapple Lindland and lock on a fight-ending armbar.

vs. Choi

The most recent exploit of Fedor's is another in a line of largely symbolic mismatches. In the aftermath of acrimonious contract negotiations with the UFC that became all too public, Fedor basically signed with his own management team, allowing him the freedom to fight anywhere he wanted ... except the UFC.

Pride was gone, BodogFight had failed, and Affliction was still months away. As a farewell to the Japanese fans, as he put it, he came back for another New Year's Eve show, this one put on the by the former Pride employees under the banner of Yarennoka. A fitting farewell to the Japanese organizations and the randomness of their matchmaking, Fedor took on 7'2 Hong-man Choi, who had fought all of 16 seconds of MMA in his career.

Looking at the two after the fight, you'd have thought Fedor was the loser, his face covered in bruises. Wanting no part of the striking battle, Fedor clinched and attempted two takedowns. But the 100-plus pound difference was too much to handle and Choi landed on top both times. Choi landed some good strikes and was able to escape from a tight-looking armbar. But ultimately, Fedor's second quick armbar attempt from the bottom forced a tapout in under two minutes.

Reflections

It's been a year-and-a-half since Fedor fought a legitimate heavyweight, and in doing so, was nearly submitted. His two fights since have shown little except the brittleness of the skin on his face. The lack of serious competition and the concurrent rise of fighters like Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, and a rejuvenated B.J. Penn have pushed Fedor from the top of many pound-for-pound lists.

Tim Sylvia is not the recognized second-best heavyweight in the world, but he's good enough to make a point one way or another. If Sylvia pulls off the upset, you're likely to see Fedor's stock and legacy take a huge dip. The poor performance of several Pride veterans in American MMA organizations has cast a serious amount of doubt about the quality of those fights and fighters. A loss by the previously-undefeatable Fedor would only bolster the contention that, like Pride's theatricality, its vaunted status was built on smoke and mirrors.

If Fedor can beat Sylvia, it should be enough to catapult him back to the top of the rankings ... as if the spot was always his, he was just on vacation for a while. Where Fedor goes from there is anyone's guess. Perhaps Josh Barnett is available.