Fedor Emelianenko is by far my favorite mixed martial arts fighter in the world. I didn’t jump on the bandwagon when he defeated Nogueira for the first time or jump out of my seat and proclaim my loyalty to him when he defeated Mirko “CroCop”. No, I’ve been an avid follower of the “Russian Experiment” since 2002 at PRIDE 23. His complete dismantling of Heath Herring at the time was seen as “unbelievable” to many fans watching the event. I was hooked on seeing him fight again from that point on.
It was a wild ride of great wins. Nogueira, Fujita, Goodridge, Coleman, Randleman, CroCop, and Hunt all fell fairly easily to the Russian Sambo specialist. Although the list of names today doesn’t look spectacular, putting those names in the context of the era in which they lived tells a different story. Now, fans are questioning Fedor Emelianenko’s status as the #1 Heavyweight in the world as well as the opinionated ranking of #1 pound for pound fighter in the world.
It seems illogical to me to even question Fedor’s absolute dominating skills. His transition game is unmatched by anyone in any weight class. His striking is highly underrated, and his overall intelligence in the fight is amazing. Fans claim Couture’s clinch and dirty boxing would crush Fedor, or Tim Sylvia’s size and striking would demolish the “Last Emperor”. I’ll be the first to rise up and push my analysis in Fedor’s favor anytime, but I’ve grown tired.
As a fan of Fedor Emelianenko for years, a time has come to question his motives. Sure, money is a great benefit of the fight game, but it has inched slowly into my thinking that it may be the sole reason for the complete lack in Fedor taking on anyone that resembles a top fighter. The complete waste of time in between battles has also grown tiring on the fans that want to see him fight. As dominant as he was in the past, some fans tried to justify his last deal as a “break” or “payoff” for his domination over the years, but the idea that always comes up is that the top fighters always fight the top competition. That’s how you determine you are the best, and it baffles me why someone would be a champion in a successful promotion, and then fight someone like Hong Man Choi. Yeah, yeah… Japanese television ratings, I know.
This isn’t a blurb telling you that Fedor Emelianenko should sign with the UFC. The UFC offers restrictive contracts that are likely to be unattractive to someone like Fedor Emelianenko, but there comes a point in a professional athlete’s career when they have to decide whether they want to ride out their career for the money or take on the best competition possible to prove that one is the undisputed best at that sport. The time to decide is now.
If Fedor can somehow translate my ranting scribbles to Russian, read this carefully. The constant barrage of news surfacing about you becoming a free agent… again is frustrating your fans. Nobody knows where you’ll go or what you’ll do, but for your fans who still believe that you care about the competition and the sport… the top competition in the world needs to be in front of you. I’ve been adamantly waiting for a time when I could hear Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko or Josh Barnett vs. Fedor Emelianenko for what seems like an eternity. Legal battles, miscommunication, Dana White, the list goes on of obstacles that stop all of this from happening, but in the end… you’re the damn one who needs to step up to the plate.
I’ll always be a Fedor Emelianenko fan as I’m also a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan that deals with the constant letdown of team after team, year after year. I’m a loyal fan in any sport. In this case, you are slowly losing a fan who gets excited to see you fight to the fan who wants to see you fight, but really doesn’t care in the end because he knows that you’ll be beating down has-beens in no time at this rate. The ball is in your court, Fedor, and your fanbase is on the line.