A co-worker and I, neither of who were happy with Lesnar's after-fight celebration, started speculating as to who could take the championship away from him. Fedor's name quickly popped up. Now, I'm not as rabid of an MMA fan as some, so I've got a passing knowledge of both, but not in-depth. So some questions for the better informed: (1) What do you think the fight would look like? (2) Realizing there are no guarantees, who do you think would be more likely to win? (3) Is this a realistic possibility for the future? Or are there some contract difficulties or other technicalities involved in setting up such a fight? Apologies if any of these are dumb questions.
Currently, Dana White has said his goal is to bring Fedor in to fight Lesnar after his contract expires with Affliction after his next fight. There may be an issue though because many fighters don't like the idea of working for Dana and the UFC because they can get better treatment and better pay elsewhere. Personally, I would LOVE to see Fedor come in even if it were just for this one event and then go off and fight for Strikeforce, DREAM, ect. Everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect; but so far in his fights, we are still waiting for Fedor to make one. In his fight with Arlovski, I was reminded that physically Fedor is human by the way he had trouble dealing with Arlovski's physical advantages in the early part of the fight. However, he kept his composure and the first time his opponent made a mistake, he ended the fight. I can see him doing the same to Lesnar. Despite all the physical advantages Lesnar brings to a fight, he leaves a LOT of holes. I will be the first to admit that I do not like Lesnar (or at least the image he puts out in public). To me, he comes off as a "bloated toad" (hardcore gym reference) that I am utterly unimpressed by. I am nearly his size, carry at least as much muscle on my frame, am at least as athletic, and am notably stronger than he is (based on what his publicized max lifts). I am not trying to brag or boast, I am stating fact. This is why I am not impressed by his overpowering of his opponents. I will give him credit for his impressive wrestling skills and work ethic however. He is improving and increasing his base and skills. I really think the lack of depth in the heavyweight division has made his success possible. I had hoped that Randy Couture would have put Lesnar out of the picture, but Randy is really a light-heavy if he is truly in fighting shape. Also, Randy was not at his best for the fight, whether it was due to the year of inactivity, his age, or both. Even at that, up until Lesnar caught him, the fight was pretty even and Randy basically just got caught, which can happen to anyone, especially when dealing with someone with that much of a size and strength advantage. This could even happen to Fedor, but so far in his career, I've yet to see it happen. I haven't seen the second Mir/Lesnar fight though I have heard that Lesnar not only dominated, but did a much better strategic and technical job this time around. Based on both Mir's superior skill set and Lesnar's inferior attitude, I was rooting for Mir, but even beating him may not be that great a feat. I know Mir surprised the world by his domination of Nog, but it seemed to most that Nog was REALLY subpar. Other than his domination of Nog, there has been little to show that Mir was any more than the "ghost of Frank Mir" than he has been since his accident. We've all wanted the "real" Frank Mir to be back, but there is no way to really know if that is the case. Or was it just something that everyone just wanted to see and believe. To my mind, it really still raises some questions whether Lesnar IS really good or has he just been brought up and beaten opponents that were below their previous glory. If he beats Fedor, I would be forced to admit both to myself and publicly that Lesnar (jerk though he may carry himself as) is a worthy champion and a formidable fighter. It would also annoy me to no end that I am bone-on-bone in my left knee because if I knew that being physically superior in size and strength was THAT much of a factor in beating some of the top guys in the heavyweight class, I'd REALLY want to get out there is spite being in my mid-forties.
Lesnar is a beast. No doubt. I am not a fan, but when I saw his first fight with Mir I was impressed. When I saw him punch Heath Herring and knock him head over heels I was impressed. My favorite fighter is Crocop and at that moment I started praying, "Cut to light-heavy, cut to light-heavy..." If any smaller frame fighter can beat him, however, it is Fedor. Fedor is slick off the ground. He can pull submissions from anywhere. I mean have you seen the submissions he pulled off on Coleman and Randleman? Anyone who could pull those out of nowhere can definitely surprise Lesnar. But it is a tall order and I honestly think it can go either way. To quote the old statistics I think if they fought 100 times it would be like 55 to 45 in Fedor's favor.
Unfortunately despite what Dana is saying the possibility of these two meeting up doesn't look good. Pay special attention to Fedor's reply in the interview. http://middleeasy.com/index.php?opt...-will-never-happen&catid=56:top-ten&Itemid=85 http://www.m-1global.com/lang/en/20...-rutten-i-dont-think-youll-see-me-in-the-ufc/
Unlikely to happen, but based on their previous fights, I see Fedor winning either by submission (probably an arm bar or that bar choke he does) or by KO/TKO doe to punches from the feet. The closest opponent Fedor's had to Lesnar would be Coleman, another decorated amateur wrestler. In both instances Fedor battered Coleman on the feet; when taken down he almost immediately got an arm bar. Another Fedor opponent that's similar to Lesnar is Mark Hunt, just based on dimensions. He actually got a top position on Fedor and attempted an Americana shoulder lock. Fedor eventually reversed positions and hit him with a Kimura shoulder lock. The nearest thing to Fedor that Lesnar has faced is Couture, who, like Fedor, throws few kicks and prefers to clinch. He was holding his own until Lesnar caught him with a punch that hit the back of his head. Lesnar could get Fedor to the ground, but I think Fedor would either submit him very quickly or would scramble off of the bottom. At the very least, I think he'd find a way to minimize damage a lot better than Mir did. But there's also a possibility that Fedor would just "Zulu" him. Lesnar's reaction to getting punched by Mir was to stand there and shell up until he saw a leg coming his way. There's always the possibility that Lesnar could win. Concievibly, he could use his superior takedown skills to get a lay-and-pray decission, or perhaps even a stoppage due to GNP. However, I find it far more likely that Fedor would win, because that's what he does. Someone on Sherdog started a thread not too long ago talking about how Fedor looked beatable vs. Hunt, and Arlovski. One replyer summed up my feelings on the subject with, "Yeah. And then he won."
Fedor Emelianko vs. Brock Lesnar Just wishful thinking. Hey I know it won't make it happen by just dreaming about it but this pretty much the only fight I'm willing to pay for right now. Everything else I can wait to be leaked on the net or aired on Spike. I think it'd be 50/50 but I would root for Fedor. He's got a better resume but Brock's obvious physical prowess can't be ignored. Still Fedor packs a lot power in his deceptively average looking build and he's really good at submissions which seems to be Brock's one weakness. The problem is Fedor would have a hard time getting in a position to submit Brock for the obvious reasons. Maybe we should petition both the UFC and Fedor. I know Fedor is part of Strikeforce now but c'mon all the the other top HW are in the UFC and Fedor has already beaten all the top HW outside the UFC. No offense to either Josh Barnett or Allistair Overeem but those guys have either been inactive or fought nobodies for so long I think their time has passed.
