I do agree with this. Although Fedor physically is declining. He has to be. You cannot fight at that level and still be physically the same especially when Fedor has always been physically quite fragile and has endured many injury's throughout his career. Absolutely though his been sloppier and not as focused as he used to be. Is his interest waning? Who knows. But when it's Fedor fighters bring their A game.
Thing is though, even though Fedor looked fast and in relative good form, he is not in his physical prime anymore, the same goes for Hendo. The only thing that can be summed up with this is that Hendo has a longer shelf life then Fedor, similar to how Forman was able to continue on in his forties compared to say, Holmes. While this does not discount Fedors greatness unless you use longevity has a primary factor in reasoning; but then again Fedor did go undefeated for ten years.
Don't get me wrong about all this. I was and still am a huge Fedor fan. But I hate the way anyone who dares suggest he has holes in his game are shot down as Zuffa Zombies that don't know ****. He is 34 years old. A fighter can compenstae for father time by changing their approach to fights, improving training and iplimenting a solid gamplan. He dived into a triangle, got dominated by a monster (I don't think he could have done much else with Bigfoot) and swung like a windmill and was held up against the cage by a smaller guy. HE is still the N01 most accomplished guy in all MMA but I think his abilities are somewhat overrated due to the fact people make all kinds of excuses about his recent form that are not based on the evidence in the cage. He may well be declining but I don't think any of the three losses show any evidence of that other than the fact he lost.
Im not disputing this. But the reasoning used by 'Zuffa Zombies' is obviously bull****. Even if you discounted the silly argument about 'evolution' of MMA it's still very clear that physically Fedor is an old fighter now in a steady state of decline. But his abilities are obviously NOT overrated as his accomplishments prove that to be categorically wrong. Fighters don't get physically better as they get older. Especially guys with aggressive styles like Fedor and Wand. Guys like Hopkins and Henderson are exceptions NOT the rule.
Trouble with message boards is that hyperbole is employed to illustrate a point and we all see issues in black and white. Now we are all friends PM me your address Stoo so I can come **** you up for that Jones/Rogan comment.
He wasn't overrated. But I think he may be a little bit now. He was head and shoulders above all otehr fighters. Now I don't think he is. I do not attribute all of his decline in the standings to age. It is a factor but so is the upping of other fighters games. I avoided using the 'E' word there, maybe this will annoy you a little bit less.