Amadi's Take
AMADI: March 2010 may have marked the end of Fedor Emelianenko's relevance to the heavyweight division
Apr 2, 2010 - 2:56:46 PM AMADI: March 2010 may have marked the end of Fedor Emelianenko's relevance to the heavyweight division

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

From late February until the very end of March, the UFC played host to some of the most exciting heavyweight action since Rosie O’Donnell vs. Donald Trump. Cain Valasquez absolutely destroyed MMA legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with one of the more brilliant displays of heavyweight striking the sport has seen in some time. Junior Dos Santos blasted Gabriel Gonzaga in the first round, as good old Two Saints added another name to his impressive dossier of destruction. Shane Carwin absolutely obliterated impressive heavyweight contender Frank Mir in just 3:48, crumbling the new heavily muscled “Super-Mir” in what was the longest fight of Carwin’s career.

And consensus #1 ranked heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko... handled more legal disputes with Strikeforce. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that March 2010 may have marked the end of the relevance of the greatest heavyweight in the history of mixed martial arts.

Just how relevant is Fedor Emelianenko to the heavyweight landscape right now? It’s hard to argue a case against the stoic Russian’s irrelevance these days. Without a doubt, Fedor Emelianenko could retire tomorrow, and be declared the greatest heavyweight of all time, and few would dispute that fact. But what has he done lately that constitutes the top ranking amongst today’s crop of fighters? Fedor’s heyday was before the time of most of today’s competitors, so why are they ranked beneath a guy who was amazing a few years ago, but today fights questionable competition?

Video has surfaced recently of Dana White debating everyone’s favorite journalist Ariel Helwani on the subject of Fedor being the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world. Obviously Dana did his usual rant and rave, discrediting Fedor, and touting his pound for pound pick, Anderson Silva. But Helwani’s retort in Fedor’s favor was weak at best, and with good reason.

The most rational response in favor of Fedor being the pound for pound best in the world right now is that he’s never actually lost. While that really would have been all you needed to say four years ago, it really isn’t all that impressive today, since there’s almost no chance of Fedor losing to the level of competitor he chooses to thrash these days.

We all knew late last year when Fedor signed with Strikeforce that we as fans were probably never going to see him in the UFC, and it was a hard pill to swallow. However, as time goes on, and the UFC’s heavyweight division becomes more and more exciting, it’s almost as if Fedor has given up on his competitive days, and is now doing a slow farewell tour with Strikeforce footing the bill. The most interesting fight for Fedor outside of the UFC is one with the hulking Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem, but Fedor’s management team balked at the idea.

Emelianenko’s team of suits did their best Floyd Mayweather impression by demanding a blood test of Overeem, a man who looks as if he’d ingested both Mayweather and Shane Mosley. So while that fight looks to be on ice, Fedor is going to fight a fairly one dimensional grappler in Fabricio Werdum. Werdum is a fringe top 10 heavyweight who was blasted out of the UFC by Junior Dos Santos. Should Fedor be victorious, his future outside of that fight is bleak. If he really does have no plans to fight Overeem, what else is there for him? Is he really willing to go to DREAM and fight thrice shamed MMA fighter, Josh Barnett? Are these really what the final years of the best heavyweight of all time will end up being?

I’m sure the more hardcore of Fedor’s fans will continue to support him by discrediting the UFC’s heavyweights, but the fact is that the UFC currently has the best grouping of heavyweight talent in the world (emphasis to be placed on the word “grouping”). Yes, eventually Dos Santos, Valasquez, Carwin, and Lesnar will all face off and defeat each other, but that’s what competition is about.

The Strikeforce heavyweight division that houses Fedor isn’t nearly as competitive. Werdum for example, was ousted from the UFC on a loss, so they matched him up with an outclassed Mike Kyle to pad his record, gave him one real challenge against Antonio Silva, and presto, now he’s ready for Fedor Emelianenko. In fact, the division is so thin that they can’t freely mix and match heavyweight contenders, so Brett Rogers, who is coming off a loss to Fedor, gets a title shot against Alistair Overeem.

Say what you will of how Brock Lesnar received his title opportunity, but he defeated Randy Couture and Frank Mir in succession, and if he doesn’t belong atop the heavyweight mountain, there is a series of contenders patiently waiting to escort him off. Again, yes eventually the enormous savages populating the UFC heavyweight division will all face off and defeat each other. It is highly unlikely that any of them will be left with spotless records when the division figures itself out, but that is exactly the type of competitive environment that the UFC is trying to cultivate.

Obviously Fedor isn’t scared of that environment, but as more and more of his former PRIDE compatriots fall victim to younger, faster, more technically skilled competitors in the UFC, it becomes difficult to justify him as the best heavyweight in the world, when he hasn’t truly faced a dynamic and prime athlete since the closing of the once magical Japanese promotion.

The heavyweight division today looks nothing like it did when Fedor was tearing up PRIDE, and in the interest of fairness, nothing like when Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia comprised the entire UFC heavyweight division. While Fedor was sewing up some loose ends by defeating the last of the 2006 heavyweight elite in Arlovski and Sylvia, we have seen a changing of the guard in heavyweight MMA. What relevance do wins over yesterday’s elite have over today’s top guys?

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