Last week, “The Last Emporer” Fedor Emelianenko decided to call it a career following his first round KO win over Pedro Rizzo at a M-1 Global event.
It wasn’t the way many envisioned Fedor stepping away from MMA.
For a man that went undefeated for a 10-year span, Fedor should have been someone that ended his career in a blaze of glory.
Instead, he ended his career on a three-fight win streak over fighters that had passed their prime long before he did.
The lasting images of Fedor seem to be a tapout to Fabricio Werdum, a bloody face at the hands of Antonio Silva, and face-down body thanks to a big hand from Dan Henderson.
There is no shame in Fedor’s losses, as time makes cowards of us all, but we all hoped for greater things from Fedor. Perhaps greater than he could really achieve.
Fedor is following in the footsteps of many MMA legends before him.
There was a time that Tito Ortiz seemed unbeatable in the UFC. Now, he is not even top 10 in the light heavyweight division.
Chuck Liddell was untouchable when he finally won the UFC title, but he soon developed a glass jaw and simply couldn’t beat anyone.
Matt Hughes is still referenced as the greatest welterweight champion in UFC history, but he has not been a title contender for five years.
All of these men should have no shame. Nobody can sustain a level of performance that they achieved for very long.
Even today, the likes of Jon Jones and Anderson Silva appear to be flawless. But, there will be a day when they too must accept the fate of time.
Looking back, it is hard to imagine anyone will have the kind of run Fedor did during the first 10 years of the new millennium. He won 28 fights in that time without a single loss and fought the majority of the top fighters in the heavyweight division at that time. He also did so as an undersized heavyweight.
Anderson Silva has been unbeaten since 2006 and has done so very impressively, but in today’s age of MMA, with fighters evolving so quickly, you have to imagine someone will have his number sooner rather than later.
The same can be said for Jon Jones. A better, younger, and stronger Jon Jones is being built right now in gyms around the world.
Fedor did what few have. He managed to stay ahead of the game for 10 years. It is a feat that may never be repeated. For that reason, it is fair to call him the greatest heavyweight in MMA history and maybe even the greatest fighter in all of MMA history.
The middleweight division had a big fight this past weekend but the result wasn’t too surprising.
One of the major stories to come out of UFC 134 Saturday night was Forrest Griffin suffering another KO loss, this time to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (AP Photo).
It’s hard to know what to say after watching Anderson Silva run through another opponent (AP Photo).
