payneNglory1 Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:36 pm
Fedor will always be considered a great for me,and during a certain time in MMA he was without a shadow of a doubt"The GOAT".
Fedor was the first well rounded HW in the history of the sport and became the bench mark for all of today's fighters.
The beautiful,special thing about Fedor for me was,you just look at a couple of greatest wins on his record,Nog and Cro-cop,both greats of that time that were beasts at what they did,Nog a guy that you shouldn't go to ground with and Cro-cop a K1 level kickboxer.Even though Fedor had big advantages over each of them in other areas,and could of probably used those advantages to make an easier fight for himself,he usually didn't,he was so confident in all of his own skills,he'd challenge them at their own games and still end up beating them.
I think he will be remembered amongst the MMA community for a very long time.
But,and this is not intended as a dig at him or to play him down in anyway,it's just a thing that bugs me,Fedor and a lot of feats from the early days of this sport,things get wildly exaggerated and blown completely out of proportion IMO,when comparing to today's fighters and records.
I agree that alot of things that people are comparing and claiming won't be done again,but I don't believe it's because a Prime Fedor is or was just that much better than any fighter now.
It's more to do with,the sport is night and day compared to then,Fedor's game was a lot more advanced and well rounded than anyone around then,(which is a testament to him,his training and his mentality,and why he deserves all the credit)but compared to a lot of today's fighters it isn't.
The overall talent level was very poor compared to today's top divisions,so that made it was easier for guys of his size to fight at HW.
Randy was doing it in the UFC,Randelman,Coleman,Igor,Don Frye,Tank,shit there was huge list of smaller guys competing successfully at HW back then.But we know 90% of them wouldn't have a chance at doing it at their size in today's HW division,nor probably the LHW division either.
Since the weight classes have been set and the talent and depth of talent in each weight class has strengthened ten fold,the size of fighters has become more consistent and balanced,so it would be ten times harder to try and achieve,and would hardly ever even be attempted in today's top game.
The majority of the opponents on Fedor's record back then,were no where near as good,well trained,skilled,knowledgeable,able to afford full time training,trainers,doctors,nutrition,etc etc,as today's fighters either,so it was obviously a lot easier to put together those kind of records back then,when the majority of opponents in that record run,were basically,part time fighters or very one dimensional,uneducated fighters.
Do you honestly believe a prime Fedor would of been able to go on a undefeated run as long as his,fighting in today's UFC?
I believe he would still of had success,(I believe today he could still get a few good wins there)because he was just that good and ahead of his time,but I don't believe he could of had anywhere near the success he had in the past.
For me Fedor still just holds the mantle of the GOAT simply because he has been the stand out fighter of his generation,which basically covers 12-13 years of a 19-20 year old sport,but Anderson Silva and GSP should always be mentioned in the same conversation,also JBJ wil be in those conversations if he continues to dominate the standard of fighter he has been,while clearing out a very solid division.