What are your thoughts on his career, skill set, legacy and future? Is he still the GOAT or is it fair to re-evaluate that long held assumption? A brief paragraph explaining your thoughts would be nice
I don't think he's the Greatest of All Time - the drop-off in competition after facing Mirko Cro Cop and his relatively poor performance against such substandard competition really puts into a new context how long his peak was. Its certainly shorter than either Georges St. Pierre or Anderson Silva.
He is still the GOAT imo. Anderson can pass him easily with a win over Jones or GSP. GSP can pass him with a win over Anderson. Anderson can also surpass him with wins over Munoz, rematch Sonnen and a significant LHW. GSP can also surpass him with wins over Condit, Diaz and a significant MW. Fedor will be considered the greatest of his era without a doubt. The Pride era is over and the sport has evolved. He will always be the greatest of the era but he probably won't always be the GOAT.
Im kind of in the same boat Will. Best of his era 03-06 but maybe GSP and Anderson have been beating better guys on a more consistent basis I dont think there's a better all round HW in the world today than a Prime Fedor, but the overall standard has improved dramatically since his PRIDE hey day
no matter how good fedor is or was ive always felt that he had the benefit of sound matchmaking. is it possible to be the best heavyweight ever and still vastly overated? because that what i feel is the case with fedor. i also think GSP has surpassed him. gsp has been like a nuclear bomb dropped on the division. add to that its the most competitive division in mma in the most competitive era of mma and he easily gets the nod.
By Fedor fanboys, yes his abilities we on a par with Bruce Lee by some, I think most serious MMA fans rated him about right though Best of his era, but as you said, later on it was about sound matchmaking. His later fights where he appeared a stand up God to some led me into many arguments that his stand up was not elite at all
Fedors the goat he could still beat brock lesnar and cain velasqeuz and alistair overeem and werdum in a rematch and silva and ben henderson he just made a mistake they were all flukes and we all know about that nog cut that shouldnt have been a loss fedor has another 5 years in him no question in my eyes
Ok so im trying to figure this one out :huh Two fighters (GSP and Silva) have already fought and beaten off (in decisive fashion for the majority) better opposition than Fedor faced on a more regular basis , for a longer period of time , and they not only have to beat 3 more elite fighters each , but then have to jump up in weight to claim another title to surpass Fedor ??? GMAFB :deal Look man , Fedor stands as the best HW in the history of the sport , as for the GOAT im not sure he deserves that accolade , considering that fighters these days are evolving at a high rate of knots , so much so it seems every other main UFC card we see the boundaries changing , Fedor was special there's no doubting it , but what Silva and GSP are doing right now is in a league of its own For me its Silva and GSP moving the goal posts and everybody else past and present ranks below them two , not to mention what up and coming fighters there is in the sport right now will acheive once all is said and done Fedor was great , bit not the GOAT for me
He fought and beat the best HW's available to him , on a regular basis , matchmaking wasnt the issue , the Pride rules and the ring was what preserved Fedor from a loss Im not saying against a dominant wrestler in UFC rules that Fedor would not have been a force , im saying that the Pride set up was perfect for Fedor's style , all of the above stated he still had to go in there and fight the worlds best ring or cage he beat them all , therefore he's the best of his era / currently all time @HW
I dont get what you mean here fella Fedor was a ground & pound/submissions guy, that favours the Cage much better than a ring imo. The only advantage I see Fedor having in Japan that he would not have in the UFC is less likely hood of being cut by elbows, if that's what you mean?
I don't know about this, Sylvia, AA and Rogers can be considered cannon fodder sure, but even later in his career there were hardly better fights at HW than ones he took on
