Fedor Emelianenko and his chances of winning the Grand Prix!

On Feb12, 2011 in New Jersey Fedor Emelianenko will be competing in the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix. In a historic tournament that will arguably match the best heavyweights in the world. There will be 8 contestants in the tournament with the winner being declared the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion. The entrants in the tournament are Sergei Kharitonov, Allistair Overeem (Strikeforce heavyweight champion), Josh Barnett, Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva.  We look at Fedor’s legacy and what that will mean if he wins the tournament:

Fedor Emelianenko (31-2)

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Over the span of Emelianenko’s career he has beaten many opponents but in 2010 something strange occurred - Emelianenko lost by triangle choke to Fabricio Werdum. His previous loss was in 2000- I was still in high school. Emelianenko suffered a DQ loss, to Japanese fighter Tsuyoshi Kosaka. It was a controversial loss in which Kosaka opened a cut due to an elbow on Emelianenko's forehead. The rules of Rings at the time stated that strike with an elbow were illegal unless the fighter wore elbow pads Kosaka did not have elbow pads. Despite that setback Fedor would go on to defeat fighters such as Renato Babalu Sobral. Semmy Schilt (6ft11) before facing the much ballyhooed Heath Herring for the number one contender spot. Fedor would defeat Herring by ground and pound than move on to face rival Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nog pulled guard, his strength being jiu-jitus. However, the unthinkable happened. Fedor dominated for the entire 20 minutes and was awarded the decision and the belt- as the second Pride Champion, he would never lose. From there he would face such opponents as Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera in a rematch, Mirko Crocop, Mark Coleman, Renato Babalu Sobral,Ricardo Arona, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Heath Herring, Mark Hunt and Matt Lindland, . His accomplishments include Pride Tournament Champion 2004, WAAMMA Heavyweight Champion, Pride Heavyweight Champion and Rings Tournament Champion.

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Now that you get an idea of his accomplishments let’s talk about some of his matches and obstacles within his fights that have truly made him a legend in the sport. The first time Fedor was truly in trouble was his first title defence against Kazuyuki Fujita. In that fight he was stunned with right hook. Fedor was badly hurt after that shot but managed to work his way into a clinch only to be taken down- it seemed a matter of time before the bout would be stopped. However, Fedor secured a mount and then turned it into a rear naked choke for the come from behind victory. The next high profile bout was a fight with Kevin Randleman in which he was German suplexed onto the mat by Randleman. Incredibly, Fedor wound up in full mount on top of Randleman and locked in a Kimura for the victory. In his highly anticipated bout with Crocop he was hit with a right hand that badly broke his nose but Fedor would be unfazed and beat Cro cop in the stand up exchanges for a decision victory. In his bout with Arlovski he was being dominated early on only to have Arlovski attempt a flying knee to which he was caught by an overhand right to which Arlovski went to sleep.

Fedor’s legacy after losing to Werdum is definitely not tarnished .He is the best MMA fighter of all time- his dominance of the heavyweight division for this long is remarkable. In the ever changing landscape of best pound for pound fighters only Anderson Silva has remained a champ for a period of 4 years. If Fedor were to win he would silence all sceptics and truly be known as the best fighter off all time. Considering the opposing arguments that the UFC has the better heavyweights is laughable with Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos only having a combined record of 26-2. Athough they are all talented and have bright futures- they are only in the beginning stages of their career. If Fedor loses, worst case scenario he is one of the best heavyweights of all time. If he wins he is considered the best MMA fighter of all time. How could he not be having defeated the who's who of the mma world?

By Kevin Nelson
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer