Sherdog is reporting that Fedor is not eager to fight Monson after his loss to Sylvia, and that BoDog has found a replacement in the 185 lber Matt Lindland. Lindland has a fight on Feb. 2nd vs Carlos Newton, and his potential fight with Bodog will be on April 6th. Sherdog is also reporting that Jeff Monson is a possible opponent for Alex(Fedors younger brother). Source Anyone else wondering what is going through Lindlands head to agree with to fight the best heavyweight in the world when he isn't even the best middleweight fighter?
So no one cares that Lindland is moving up to heavyweight and one of his fights may be against Fedor?
It's not really a fight you can say much about. Lindland wants to make a name for himself while he's in the "smaller show" wilderness and is working on getting the rep for a fighter who will fight absolutely anyone (which is probably a good thing for his career because no one's going to accuse him of being the most exciting guy around). He's going to be much too small; he did his best to pack on good weight for the Rampage fight and could still only tip the scales at 203lbs, Fedor's going to be too big, too strong and too good for him, thus it'll be a nasty fight Lindland's only shot is a lay n' pray decision and that just won't work against Fedor
I can't see any reason for Fedor to even take this fight. If Fedor wins, no one cares because Lindland weighs significantly less than him. In the very unlikely even that Fedor loses, it's a big upset that doesnt look good for Fedor. I have to say, Lindland's been on a bit of a tear (his loss to Jackson was a robbery) and actually finishing a number of his opponents lately. I'm surprised the UFC haven't snatched him back up yet. Whatever happened to all that talk about bringing him in to fight Silva?
Lindland is apparently serious about this, the contract is reportedly for 3 fights at heavyweight for BoDog... Source Is this really a marketing ploy or does he actually expect to win some of these fights?
I gotta say that Fedor is starting to rest on his laurels. I think he didn't beat Mark Hunt as definitively as he should have. I mean Mark Hunt barely beat Wanderlei Silva even though he's gotta huge weight advantage. I think Fedor shoulda submitted him off the bat. Even though Munsoon lost to Sylvia the fight was close. Fedor would be facing better competition (Lindland can't win in light heavyweight he's got no chance against Fedor). From a promotional standpoint if Fedor finished off Munsoon it coulda possibly enlightened more UFC fans about Pride, it would be a good measure of how Pride and UFC heavyweights match up, and most importantly I think it would give Fedor more publicity w/out risking a loss.
Hunt's got a hell of a lot better since the Silva fight, and Fedor was injured leading up to the fight so couldn't train as much. To be honest that fight says less about Fedor's abilities and more about the potential Hunt's got and the improvement he's shown (he's been doing some training with Barnett who was in his corner during the fight). Barnett turned the fight with Fedor down for New Years since he wouldn't have been 100%, having fought eight times that year, Crocop went to the UFC and Kharitonov's coming off a KO loss; Hunt was really the only viable opponent The Lindland fight's being a bit overthought - this is something Fedor's doing for a big paycheque and the opportunity to fight in his own country. Although he might've said that he wasn't that interested in facing Monson, he doesn't make the matches. No one's saying Lindland's a legitimate opponent at heavyweight, but an Olympic silver medallist has way more appeal to someone's record than a fighter who couldn't beat Tim Sylvia in one of the worst fights of the year. More people will want to see Fedor/ Lindland than Fedor/ Monson due to the fact that Lindland's a bigger name and the curiosity factor
Yea after writing that last post I decided to watch the fight again and a few other Hunt fights. I pretty much gotta agree with that. Hunt's a legit contender. Also I didn't know Fedor was injured.
