Over at FiveOuncesOfPain.com, Gary Herman wrote a small piece with some quotes from Nogueira regarding his prime competition over the years, the menacing Fedor Emelianenko. In the piece, Nogueira simply states that he's in the UFC with the belt and will take on Fedor if he ever comes to the promotion. He also gives insight on Fedor's decision to stay away from the UFC.
One of the main topics in the small blurb revolves around the ranking on Nogueira in the world of MMA today in the Heavyweight division. Herman pushes the idea that Nogueira may not receive championship credit if he never beats Randy Couture. It's a true statement, especially considering the casual fanbase is knowledgeable of Randy Couture, but most likely hasn't seen the legacy of Antonio Nogueira. That leads us to the inevitable question, can Noguiera ever obtain the #1 spot?
No, he won't reach #1. Eventually, Randy's hiatus from the sport will make him irrelevant in the rankings. He'll retire in the next couple of years, and that'll be the last of his spot in the top 10. Nogueira could potentially take the #1 spot on some rankings, but for those of us who have been privy to Fedor's absolute crushing destruction of Nogueira in two of their matchups and was on his way to a similar fate until an accidental headbutt in another meeting, it's obvious that you cannot rank Nogueira above Fedor.
The only scenario I can fathom is that Couture comes back, Nogueira defeats Couture, and Fedor decides to take a layoff for nearly 2 years, which is highly unlikely. Even in that scenario, it's a tough call due to the dominance Fedor displayed against "Minotauro". The real question that comes to mind is, what does Fedor have to do in order to drop in ranking?
A long layoff and fighting "cans" will definitely hurt your ranking, but what happens when the man behind you was dominated in every single meeting between the two? It's a tough call, and it'll be up for debate for the next year. Three fights later, and two dominating performances by Fedor hurt Nogueira's chances tremendously. Couple that historical fact with the other criteria: Fedor's striking, ground and pound, and submission defense are all very good, and his submission game is unparalleled. At least Nogueira can counter the submission game, but can he stop Fedor's face pounding punches in a fourth fight? Doubtful.