UFC will probably never have a Heavyweight fighter as good as Fedor

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

I'm a huge fan but the reality is Fedor had the luxury of taking a few squash matches during his career, fights like Zulu, Valavičius, Nagata and Ogawa shouldn't have happened. They simply didn't belong there with Fedor.

Tell me this who should he have fought than if you think those guys don't deserve to be in the ring with Fedor?

And to break down those guys he fought you need context to understand why he fought these guys.

Zulu - Was a pure freak show fight, Zulu was 6'7" 400 lbs and he was 7-0 when he fought Fedor. Whatever happened to Zulu after is irrelevant.

Valavičius - Was early in Fedor career. Fedor was still a mystery to most in how he turn out. He also had to finish his contract with Rings. So he did what he had to do and finish his contract.

Nagata - Again a contract he had to finish.

Ogawa - This man was 7-1 when he fought Fedor, he olympic silver medalist for Judo, he was no joke at the time. He also participated in the Pride HW grand prix tournament, that made him and Fedor meet up in the Semi Finals.

 

[Mga223]

The last 3 champs were better than Fedor.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

They have a guy named Jon Jones.

Jon like Fedor has a LHW frame.

 

[theleerygoose]

Jones, Ngannou, Stipe, DC, Cain? You think Fedor beats them all? I think he wins 2/5 or maybe 3/5. The sport changes.

Fedors Pride run was epic but he mostly beat no names and Nog over and over.

 

[orca]

He already made short work of virtually every ufc HW champ from his era.

u believe he could beat the guys that stipe fought in the ufc?
i dont think so
he would lose to most of them

 

[Ruthfella]

True. They have/had better

 

[orca]

They have a guy named Jon Jones.

Jon like Fedor has a LHW frame.

lol
u do know not all people are built the same right?
some people do have very dense bones
guys like mark hunt wont survive the cut to Lhw
even if they did.
they will be drained so much that its going to be a disadvantage
i dont even see any dc fans complaining about him being shorter

 

[LiQuiD42]

Idk something inside me says Fedor would have had problems with Cain Velazquez in his prime.

 

[FaTaL FaTaL]

Prime Fedor was too strong and too fast for Jones. Fedor would have defeated Jones in Round 1. I don't think that match would have even gone to a decision.

Fedor is 5’11, jones would of picked him apart from distance

 

[Bork Neslar]

 

[gspieler]

Fedor was amazing but these conversations about when a fighter was in his prime would have done this or that is just silly. From an overall skills perspective Fedor was great for that moment but the skills, condition and strength fighters have now is totally different then during his time.

Jones would have beat him, I think Randy had a good shot if that ever happened, as well as several others in the HW division.

Every sport has this and it just the dumbest arguments

 

[Cobra 03]

The UFC HW champ now is better than Fedor. I guarantee, if prime Fedor fought Jon Jones, he would lose, especially in a cage. There is no doubt that Fedor will always have the most impressive HW record ever, but I am pretty sure he would have lost to Cormier, and I'm sure he would have lost to Jones.

Prime Fedor was too strong and too fast for Jones. Fedor would have defeated Jones in Round 1. I don't think that match would have even gone to a decision.

Yeah right.<Lmaoo>

 

[wwkirk]

I don't think any major organization will ever have an HW champ with a run comparable to Fedor's. Partly due to his exceptional ability, but also due to his era. Too many well rounded fighters at all weightclasses at present.

But some minor org could probably manage to develop an HW with an incredible win streak. It could wind up being their thing.

 

[tomjones]

Fedor was unbeatable in Pride. We haven't seen that yet in the UFC hw division until Jones moved up.

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

This thread will surely end well, without any arguments from fan bases whatsoever.
A friendly, civil discussion

 

[tomjones]

People who say Fedor and Crocop got exposed after their Pride fc days are idiots. All fighters start to lose when they're past their best.

 

[BFoe]

Fedor doesn't get enough credit from hardcore UFC fans, but the guy was special during his era. He had all the tools you'd expect in a middleweight, as a heavyweight and was fighting much larger men 90% of the time he was the ring/cage.

That said, I think the UFC has had quite a few guys that could arguably be considered on Fedor's level skill wise comparatively; Stipe, Werdum, Cain, Later Ngannou, etc.

But will another heavyweight capture the magic of going 10 years unbeaten in arguably the most dangerous (because of how quick a fight can end) division in the UFC like Fedor did in his prime? Unlikely. The sport has evolved passed these possibilities imo. Jones beat Gane and he did so by doing the opposite of what he normally went for at LHW, at LHW he was pretty well known for beating guys at their own game but he had no interest in striking with Gane, and it was apparent. Which I'm not knocking him for, that's the smartest thing he could've done. I think it shows that he knows HW is a different game, it only takes one in most fights but at HW it's just a higher chance possibility of getting that ONE shot that ends a fight.

Our only hope of a truly dominant HW champion was Francis imo and now he's gone on to better things.

Holy shit, I haven’t seen you around in ages.

I agree with you, but even Francis couldn’t match Fedor’s unbeaten streak; he was so worried about Lewis’s power that we got a boring staring contest, something you’d never see in a Fedor fight.
I’d maybe add JDS to the list of HWs you mentioned, but none of them are as well-rounded as Fedor was. Only Werdum grapples as well, but his striking was never as good as Fedor’s. The rest don’t have the ground game That Fedor did, although Cain’s GnP was brutal AF. Fedor was so high level in so many areas, there just aren’t many HWs all-time like that.

 

[markg171]

It's really sad how Fedor fans try and pretend that Fedor's run was so incredible because he was such a perfect fighter.

And not the far more exciting reality that it was incredible because he fought kill or be killed, somehow balancing it all on a knife's edge for so long. His win streak is impressive for length, not quality, because such a style of fighting wasn't meant for a winning streak. The reality is he could've lost a bunch of times during his run, and nearly did, and then his bad tendencies just finally caught up to him and he did start losing. You guys want to blame his losses on prime issues and just handwave away how moronic it was to jump in the guard of a BJJ world champ, brawl with Henderson, try and counter the longer Mitrione, etc. But that's also what made him exciting.

It just shows that you guys only really like the myth and head canon version of Fedor, and not the actual guy. Which is weird because like I said, the actual guy's the more exciting fighter. You want him to be a Jon Jones who fights methodically, but none of you actually prefer Jones over Fedor.

 

[markg171]

People who say Fedor and Crocop got exposed after their Pride fc days are idiots. All fighters start to lose when they're past their best.

How was Cro Cop past his best when he entered the UFC 6 months after winning the Pride Grand Prix, the apex of his career?

 

[NikkiNeversleep]

Holy shit, I haven’t seen you around in ages.

I agree with you, but even Francis couldn’t match Fedor’s unbeaten streak; he was so worried about Lewis’s power that we got a boring staring contest, something you’d never see in a Fedor fight.
I’d maybe add JDS to the list of HWs you mentioned, but none of them are as well-rounded as Fedor was. Only Werdum grapples as well, but his striking was never as good as Fedor’s. The rest don’t have the ground game That Fedor did, although Cain’s GnP was brutal AF. Fedor was so high level in so many areas, there just aren’t many HWs all-time like that.

Been quietly observing.