Comments on: Fedor says he’ll return by New Year’s Eve; rematch with Cro Cop unlikely

By: Harry Grech

Harry Grech — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:28:32 +0000

Washed up judoka? are you stupid?….Judo is far superior to any martial arts there is out there. And as for affliction..the majority of the fighters there are just plain bad, Ben Rothwell is one of them, are you saying he is talented? an olympic gold medalist judoka would throw him around the ring like a sack of shit. Americans have no clue whatsoever about what a talented fighter is, so they throw big ugly clueless idiots like Tim Sylvia up against a master of judo; Fedor Emelianenko. The talent was in PRIDE.

By: Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii challenges Fedor :Five Ounces of Pain

Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii challenges Fedor :Five Ounces of Pain — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:29:12 +0000

[...] the opponent is not yet known. As of two weeks ago, it was reported that Fedor would either fight a “judo legend or a sumo wrestler” on New Year’s Eve. Ishii fits the bill for that description especially now that he’s [...]

By: Looks like Fedor approves of Brock - Page 11 - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

Looks like Fedor approves of Brock - Page 11 - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:58:30 +0000

[...] Except he’s not fighting any of those guys next, you fucking clown. How about YOU try and keep up? Fedor says he?ll return by New Year?s Eve; rematch with Cro Cop unlikely :Five Ounces of Pain I think we all know Fedor does a freakshow fight for Japanese fans at NYE, what’s the problem [...]

By: Warcry

Warcry — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:48:43 +0000

The point about other champs taking on circus competition is so true. We expect from our country for our champs to be looking to improve and destroy the best. It’s the American way. Give me that competitive edge to be the rest anytime. If Fedor is the best let him fight and destroy all competition to the contrary. That’s what a real Emperor would do.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:36:06 +0000

rofl “Ross,” I agree. This one touched a sore spot.

I like “sprewell”s points.

Fighting for the money or the sport, I am not sure it matters. I just know when I love watching certain fighters in the ring. Fedor, Wanderlei, Anderson, Henderson, Cro-cop, BJ Penn, etc. Sure in an ideal world, I want certain match-ups. But the business, emotions, and injuries all mess with things.

I love this sport.

By: traingleman

traingleman — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:25:55 +0000

To ur point about the pride guys in retort to my previous posting ur correct to a point. Dan Henderson is a disappointment, he was brought here to be a big name and help the UFC build depth, he was dominated by Silva, outworked by Rampage and he hasn’t fought since with no fight on the horizon, Gomi is Gomi, Herring has been a huge disappointment, his only fight that he looked reaaly good was Kongo! He had Nogueira on the ropes but couldn’t close. He was just completely dominated by someone with 3 MMA fights under his belt. Rampage is great, Vanderlei is my favorite fighter and I think he has turned his career around @ middleweight and will give Spider a run for his $ for sure. All in all I guess I was off track w my pride comment, and I can admit I was wrong. In summary, I think we need to see Randy resolve his issues w UFC so Fedor can destroy him, then wait til Fedor can sign with UFC when he is 34 or 35 and fatter and slower and watch him fight some lack luster boring fights that leave us with the glaring fact that he wasted his legacy on a few million dollars that he would have made up in promotional dollars and endorsements in the UFC!!! Nice job Ruskis

By: BadMonkey

BadMonkey — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:09:36 +0000

Jeff L. I gotta agree with you completely. Fedor gets more passes than anybody in the sport. Basically, what’s happening is that he fights for 36 seconds against Sylvia, beats him, and now we get to wait a good 8-10 months for him to maybe fight some serious competition.

Like you said, if GSP, BJ, A. Silva, Chuck Liddell, et al. went off and fought some freakshow fight they would be discredited forever, but somehow it’s ok for Fedor to do it regularly.

Bottom line, it’d be nice to see Fedor fight real competition more than once every couple of years.

By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:37:17 +0000

“Some of you Fans are retarded!”
“The rest of you that can’t figure this out are dimwits.”

My bad, I was trying to get to 5 oz of pain where intelligent people discuss mma. I must of went to sherdog on accident.

By: Derek B

Derek B — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:20:39 +0000

This is called business. MMA isn’t just fighting, it’s also entertainment. You can have the best fighers in the world, but if they aren’t able to entertain you…they aren’t worth as much as someone who is entertaining. It’s just how business goes.

By: Suresh0t

Suresh0t — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:54:29 +0000

Also to the guy above, Pride fighters that are doing fine

Dan Henderson will be fine, he’s only lost to A. Silva and Rampage (both Pride guys)
Rampage
A. Silva
Gono
Marcus Aurelio is doing ok, though he is past his prime
Shogun last a lackluster match vs Forrest, expect him to be back to old soon
Big Nog has the HW belt
Herring is about the same as he was in Pride, not bad not great
Wanderlei lost to Chuck and not by a lot, but he is fine
Mirko was a disappointment, but he was past his prime imo

If the UFC could manage to get their hands on Gomi, Aoki, Kawajiri, Alvarez, Kid Yamamoto(WEC), Fedor, Arona, Barnett, and a shit ton more fighters they somehow managed to not sign, then you could be a better judge.

By: Suresh0t

Suresh0t — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:44:27 +0000

Fedor wants to keep his fans in Japan happy. He also has stated that he loves fighting in Japan’s New Years Eve events. Give the guy a break, he isn’t picking his opponents. I doubt the fight will be long enough to cause any sort of delay in a bout with the winner of Barnett/Arlovski.

By: traingleman

traingleman — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:08:19 +0000

I agree with a little of everything on here including the fact that no matter how u slice it, this is a business!!! I don’t believe Fedor has too much of a choice in this fight! If u look on how much was paid out to the fighters in the last affliction event, the gate, and the PPV buys, they lost their shirts! (No pun intended) With the Japanese fans being the biggest draws to freak fights, see Bob Sapp, it is how they need to stay above water financially. They can stuff some money back in thei pockets by selling out the gate and huge ppv buys in Japan and so-so here in US, pay Fedor and set up a title fight for February cuz Fedor won’t break a sweat!
Now to the real opionated fans talking smack! If Fedor continues to fight freaks in Japan and people like Tim Sylvia or Japanese fighters for the rest of his career he will not go down as best MMA fighter ever, not even close! Pride fighters that have come to UFC or Elite Xc with the obvious exception of Anderson Silva get their asses handed to them. See Cro-cop and James Thompson. I would love to see Fedor do what is right and that is make his money, but demand to fight the best! Why does Major League Baseball love to see the Red Sox and Yankees in the playoffs, because they sell out and people want to see the greatest two teams or franchises arguably ever. If u want to sell tickets and PPV’s put together fights that are competitive and mean something. See UFC shuffling BJ Penn and Spider Sylva. They are so dominating that they are moving them up in weight to make it interesting! Fedor walks around w a spare tire, if its that easy for him @ HW tell hime to drop 30 and fight @ LHW make it interesting!!!

By: OCD

OCD — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:51:02 +0000

People in this thread have confused making money with credibility. Yes, Fedor can make a ton of money fighting a freak, as he has done in the past. Fine. However, that does nothing for his credibility as a fighter, and in fact is a risk for him, such that the chance someone gets in a lucky shot and takes him out.

Fedor is not concerned with being the best fighter in the world, he’s concerned with making money. And that’s fine, but let’s not confuse the issue. Fedor decreases his credibility with every half-assed fight he takes.

By: Jeff L

Jeff L — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:17:06 +0000

You guys are hilarious. You Fedor super fans will give him a pass on anything. If GSP decided to not fight Penn and/or put the next welterweight defense on hold for several months so he could go fight Mr. T or Carrot Top or whoever for a dump truck of cash, you would discredit him FOR LIFE. Plain and simple. Champions should always be fighting the best…..unless it’s Fedor I guess. He is the WAMMA HW champion of the world, right? Oh, that’s right, that title is clownshoes anyway. Bring on the freakshow!

By: platypus

platypus — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:00:53 +0000

im just glad fedor is fighting

By: Derek B

Derek B — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:32:06 +0000

he’s not wasting a fight. He’s doing something for his fans in Japan. He is also trying to make money in his profession. I don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s just something they like to do in Japan and he has a huge following in Japan. He has to make his fans happy.

You ever seen a original band play at a bar and someone says “can you play a cover for me” and then the original band plays the cover song? Well this is just like that.

By: Damo

Damo — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:52:49 +0000

There is really no need to start calling everyone who disagrees with your opinion, or heaven forbid, has an opinion of their own – an idiot.

What you’ll find is that some people completely disregard the business side of MMA and instead turn their attention to the fact that we are dealing with a sport here. The organisations and the fans have fought since the beginning to try and make it more acceptable to the mainstream, and to see it legitimised as a true sport based on its own merits.

Put the business aspect aside for a moment, forget the ratings, forget the pay day. Think of the sport.

Do you really blame people for wanting to see Fedor fight legitimate contenders to his #1 status? Do you really see it as such a bad thing that people would have their noses out of joint because he’s off to fight another freakshow in Japan? Can you truly not appreciate a fans opinion if you see a 31 year old legend of our sport wasting a night of his career when lets face it.. in the time frame between now, his NYE fight, and the ‘real’ fight that will come afterwards (In what, Mar-Apr-May?) so much more could be achieved to solidify the legacy he can potentially leave on MMA?

I can see your point of view, and of course the pay day is important to some. Especially as a professional.

I just don’t want to see Fedor waste what is laid out in front of him to take. There are so many HW fights he can take that will make his legend grow to even crazier levels (if that is even possible) – and frankly, another 12ft giant with a glass jaw just doesn’t do it for me.

I truly think that one single, awe inspiring, terminator like legend is a great thing for MMA. It’s great for any sport.

Fuck wasting a fight. Get in there with some legitimacy.

By: stevefiji

stevefiji — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:48:20 +0000

Fedor’s management has NOTHING to do with the fact that he makes $1.3 million… unless you want to say that they cost him money because he should be fighting for much more by now. Fedor’s fists have everything to do with it.

First of all, Fedor in all likelihood made $1.6+ million, you see we idiots, retards and dimwits do occasionally read the blogs. But to my real point, if Tim Sylvia as a barely Top 5 guys makes 800K on the same fight when he has lost nearly as many as he won since earning his first UFC title (W-8, L-6) in 2003 and even one of those wins he was stripped of for steroids, so it’s actually (W7 L-6)….well, if he earned 800K, then what would a theoretically undefeated Fedor be worth at this point.

Sprewell, is a master of the stating the obvious and twisting it suit his shallow point and backing up his totally ethereal assertions with insults. Since Fedor fought CroCop in Aug 2005 he has only fought fringe talent while being widely considered the #1 HW in the world and a Top 2 or 3 P4P. Sylvia was his only ranked opponent (#5 or worse) and Fedor has fought only 6 times. If Fedor were to have fought the top guys, and highly likely destroyed them all, he would have maybe been paid less, but not too much, and he would have earned many multiples more in endorsements, and RIGHT NOW he’d be in a position to capitalize and leverage himself with either Affliction or the UFC for many times more than he is asking now. This has left him with a sadly weakened legacy and far less cash flow. In two words… bad management.

And for the Dana haters… (which i am not) you could have had your day if Fedor cakewalked through the UFC and THEN bolted for Affliction, but right now, Dana rules the roost and Fedor is fighting donuts in Japan for his big time scratch. But Dana haters can continue to blindly defend Fedor and call out Dana on this fight not happening. That is inane. You defend Fedor for making 2 mil while you paste Dana for making 250mil and wielding all the leverage…. Let Fedor tell his management to screw and then go into the UFC and take it down from within if he has issues…. beat them all in 2 years and then leave and take up with a rival. He will make just as much money (actually much more) and his legacy is secured… or Fedor can fights New Year’s Eve donuts for paychecks and proclaim undying devotion to Sambo as a pathetic excuse and Sprewell and his like can back him up on the blogs with hollow insults and pretzel logic.

By: JJ Docker

JJ Docker — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:42:55 +0000

I understand the Japanese fans affection for him, I understand his for them, I understand if Fedor doesn’t like fighting in the US, I understand the attraction and ratings of freak show fights, I understand the sick money Fedor makes from these fights and I understand that the risk/reward ratio for these fights is massively high in favour of reward compared to alternative options.
But what several commentors on this piece need to understand is that hardcore fans want and need Fedor to fight real competition. He is possibly the greatest MMA fighter of all time. He could be unbeatable. The amazing thing is that Fedor is or could be just reaching his prime now but this can never be fully realised with his pattern of opponents at the moment. It’s not as if theres no legit contenders out there worthy of challenging him; Couture, Barnett, Arlovski and hell maybe even Lesnar in a years time. I just wish Fedor would dedicate himself to proving that he is the best MMA fighter of all time. And to do this, he has to fight and beat other heavyweight contenders in the world when they are good enough to challenge him, not just when he is ready to fight them.

By: dpk

dpk — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:24:58 +0000

This is the exact reason why UFC signs it’s fighters to exclusive contracts. Dana White doesn’t want his champions fighting and being associated with freak shows, and I personally agree with that philosophy. Who can complain about Fedor making easy money, that is his choice. I do agree with the poster above that if Fedor’s management had pushed him to come to the United States in UFC he would be a hugh mega star with Zuffa’s marketing machine behind him. People always love the “baddest man on the planet.”

Also I’m just going to factor this into my thinking next time the PFP argument comes up.