The Biggest, The Best, The Toughest…

Say what you will about the UFC and their ever-present quest for world domination in the sport of mixed martial arts, but they certainly know how to put on a fight. Now after its merger with the WEC, the UFC is going to put its stamp on the landscape of mixed martial arts for the foreseeable future. If I were in charge of the UFC’s marketing department (and I am available, Fertitta brothers, make me an offer), I would just emphasize the ridiculous amount of talent under contract with the UFC and that would be all the marketing needed to make the UFC far and away the #1 brand in the business. Unfortunately, the UFC doesn’t require my services, and so they choose to hype each fight with the most possible descriptions as possible. While there can be no debating that the UFC often puts on some blockbuster fights, I find it unnecessary to tout each fight as the biggest or best. The UFC’s marketing department certainly must hope that the average fight fan has a short memory since they make each successive fight out to be bigger and better than the last and each champion more unbeatable than the last.

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A prime example of the infallible champion argument is the recently-dethroned Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was just 5-1 in his mixed martial arts career before losing the title to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October. While Lesnar has amazing strength and an amateur wrestling background that is second to none, he now only has a total of 7 mixed martial arts fights. Lesnar is a huge heavyweight and is very marketable, especially coming off a stint with the WWE where he was also the champion. Brock is a recognizable face that won’t hesitate to speak his mind, and the UFC wisely marketed Lesnar to no end. Spike TV even renamed the 10 th month of 2010 Brocktober as a tribute to the legend of Lesnar, but then the unthinkable happened; Cain Velasquez knocked Lesnar out in the first round.

Brock Lesnar is not the only example of the UFC hyping the daylights out of fighters or individual fights, just the latest case. Other recent examples are: Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Shane Carwin, Todd Duffee, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Gabriel Gonzaga. Machida’s unorthodox karate style was seen as “the next big thing” in mixed martial arts and Machida was thought to be unbeatable until Shogun Rua showed (twice) that Machida was very beatable. Both Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre are mentioned in this group because the UFC mentions that each is the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world as a way to hype each of their fights (though for my money, GSP is the #1 P4P fighter in the world, and has been for some time). Shane Carwin and Todd Duffee were each seen as the biggest rising stars in the UFC’s Heavyweight division, though both were defeated in their latest fights, derailing that hype train for now. Rampage Jackson was seen as the most violent, most dangerous, most lethal light heavyweight champion until Forrest Griffin outpointed him for the belt and Rashad Evans outboxed him in a #1 Contender matchup. Gabriel Gonzaga was seen as the best jiu-jitsu practitioner in the heavyweight division until Gonzaga strangely went away from the style that put him on the map and tried to strike with strikers, which led to Gonzaga being cut from the UFC.

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The UFC has shown that time and time again they are willing to hitch the chariot to a rising star with catchy slogans and descriptions, but these rising stars often fail to live up to the hype and hyperbole that the UFC tries to associate with them. While I previously mentioned that I feel GSP is the best fighter in the world today, even he has been pushed and hyped to the average fight fan. Only one fighter in the world can truly say that they lived up to and exceeded the expectations set before them: Fedor Emelianenko. Known as “The Last Emporer,” Emelianenko has been mowing down opponents inside the ring and cage since 2000, and is only now showing signs of slowing down. The men that Fedor has defeated have more than 500 wins inside the cage and he has victories by decision, knockout, and submission over a true who’s who of mixed martial artists and come out on top of all but 3 of his 35 career fights.

Though he has only fought a handful of fights inside the United States, Fedor needs no introduction to the hardcore fight fans both in the United States and abroad. He is an absolute legend in Japan, where he was known for blockbuster fights on New Year’s Eve that were seen by millions of viewers all around the world. Fedor has wins over Cro Cop, Minotauro Nogueira, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Babalu Sobral, Semmy Schilt, and Tim Sylvia. After all of his victories, including nearly 10 years of not losing a fight, Emelianenko still does not get the recognition that he deserves, and why would he? Compared to behemoths like Brock Lesnar, Emelianenko is just average. Fedor doesn’t have world-class boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, or jiu-jitsu like many of his opponents, but Fedor is well-versed in all of the above and has a top-notch Sambo pedigree that allows him to feel at ease in any situation. He has proven that he has an iron chin, having taken the best that Andre Arlovski, Kazuyuki Fujita, Mark Coleman, and most famously, Kevin “The Monster” Randleman, and kept pressing forward to earn the victory. Fedor Emelianenko is truly a living legend that does not have the marketability of Brock Lesnar or the name recognition behind him with an organization like the UFC. While he has seen one organization crumble due to a cancellation of one of his fights (Affliction) and is coming off the first legitimate loss in his career, Fedor Emelianenko has proven for the last 10 years that he is the greatest fighter to have stepped into a cage or ring, and he’s not done just yet. You can rest assured that we haven’t seen the last of “The Last Emperor” just yet.

By Curt Heinrich
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer