Randy Couture based on...his five round decision against Sylvia and his win over Gonzaga I guess. Or maybe Big Nog? Barnett?
Sylvia has always been a lumbering, slow, and boring fighter.. doesn't surprise me at all that Fedor could do that too him..
No no...Nogueira is currently # 2 (technically he should be # 1 but fedor as always been like a cancer in his career)
No. Fedor is a beast, the best in the world right now. Sylvia is a lot better than people give him credit for... but definitely not the #2 Heavyweight in the World. Sylvia has lost 3 of his last 4 fights. His problem is that he is not great at anything. He is a decent striker, only because of his size... but he is easy to get out of his game. He is normally hard to submit when he is down... but only when he is down on his back, because of his range and distance created with his long legs and arms. Tim has a history of being overwhelmed early, and Fedor knew that. Arlovski had done the same thing to him before... dropping him and submitting him easily. Randy Couture dropped him immediately in their fight too, but failed to submit Tim once he had Tim's back. Fedor basically went in there with the gameplan of overwhelming Tim before he could settle in... and it worked perfectly. I think that everyone knew this was a big possibility in the fight. Tim doesn't react well when someone jumps all over him. He can't place his feet, his punches become horrible, and he isn't very good at evading punches. Personally... I would love to see Fedor fight Couture, Arlovski, and Barnett. I really felt that Couture would have a great chance, had they fought in a cage.. a couple years ago. However, with Couture's age, current inactivity, and broken arm in his last fight... I just don't know what he will have left. Also, the cage would have been a much better enviornment for Couture vs Fedor. He could body him against the cage, and keep the fight there. In a ring... I just think that it's a different fight. I think that Arlovski matches up against him perfectly. Arlovski is great with his hands, and has a sense of defense as well. He can also grapple very well with Fedor. Arlovski only concern used to be his ability to take a punch... however it is plain to see that he can take a punch very well when he fights smart. When he is attacking like a lunatic, he would leave himself open to being put out. Fedor vs Barnett is a fight that I have been looking forward to for a long time as well. Fedor is definitely #1 right now though... and it is going to be a hard night for anyone to beat him. They would almost have to fight a perfect fight, and hope that Fedor makes mistakes. His hands are so fast on his feet, and he transitions from striking to grappling, to submissions so fast and fluid... that people just can't process what the hell is happening to them.
That's what surprises me about this guy. It's true , he's rather one dimensional but that didn't stop him from beating arlovski not once , but twice. Vera is more versatile than Sylvia...but Sylvia still won that fight too...Monson is a way superior wrestler...but sylvia beat him. (and obviously took a huge advantage of his size too)...Randy couldn't finish Sylvia but he had a great game plan too. and to answer chrisPontius , the thing is...Fedor already defeated one of the best ever in this sport. that was in 2003.
Did anybody see that older russian guy with Fedor in the ring after the fight pointing at the camera? I think he was a great russian amateur. Does anybody remember his name? I can't.
They don't play songs like anarchy in the UK anymore because Mustaine is a devouted Christian now. :-(
My son, a big Randy fan and UFC fan was thinking that Tim would win by 2nd round KO I predicted a first round submission for Fedor. My son giving the reason Pride was over rated and Fedor hasn't fought anyone. My claim was that he fights in Russia all of the time we donot know how good someof those guys from Siberia are. Sambo is like football to the US.