Introducing Fedor Emelianenko

Date July 20, 2008

Saturday night was a big one for mixed martial arts fans. The UFC put together a last-minute Ultimate Fight Night card on SPIKE to go head-to-head with the debut of Affliction’s new fight organization on pay-per-view. The UFC marketed its card around middleweight champion Anderson Silva, hyped by the UFC as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, while Affliction focused on a huge main event featuring former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelinanenko against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

For most mainstream MMA fans, this was the first time seeing Fedor in action. The hardcore MMA community would tell you that Fedor is the greatest fighter alive after the way he ripped through the competition in PRIDE, yet Silva is probably more recognized as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Not anymore.

Sure, Silva wasted no time disposing James Irwin in his first fight at 205 pounds, but it was nothing compared to the performance of Emelianenko (28-1), who took on one of the UFC’s most dominant heavyweights in history and made him look like an amateur making his professional debut.

Emelianenko destroyed Sylvia, taking 10 seconds to feel out his opponent before unleashing a fast and furious attack that dropped Sylvia before quickly sinking in a choke from the back side that ended the fight in 36 seconds. Forget comparing Affliction’s entire card against the UFC’s entire card because it doesn’t matter. Fedor is the most dominant fighter in the world and a potential matchup with Randy Couture would be the biggest fight in MMA history.

When Fedor didn’t sign with the UFC, Dana White called him a farce, not even putting him in his top five heavyweights in the world. After last night, it’s perfectly clear that Emelianenko is not only the best fighter in the world, but it isn’t even close. His only professional loss is due to a cut, and he destroyed current UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira twice.

People were upset when Fedor didn’t sign with the UFC, saying he was ducking the best competition in the world. After last night, those claims have been put to rest. The only question remaining is whether there is ANYONE in the world that can beat the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time.

Consider me as one of those that says Couture has no chance.

Category Posted in Fights