because he did not lose for 10 years back in pride, his adversaries consisted of the best fighters at the time such as those of big nog x2, mirco cro cop, young renato babulu, k1 superstars: mark hunt, and semmy schilt, prime mark coleman x2, ricardo arona, prime kevin randleman. He also fought some of the modern hype machines of america such as tim sylvia, brett rogers and andrei arlovski. The fact that he even fought in a weight class that was higher above him gives him testament that he is a fighter with heart and courage, not like the heavyweights nowadays. Fedor also produced some of the best knockouts and submissions in my opinion during his time in pride - the fight with mirco cro cop was the best heavyweight ever! His accomplishments Championships and accomplishments [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Network_RINGS"]Fighting Network RINGS[/ame] RINGS Openweight Championship (1 Time, Last)[115] 2002 RINGS Absolute Class Tournament Winner [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRIDE_Fighting_Championships"]PRIDE Fighting Championships[/ame] PRIDE World Heavyweight Championship (One time; Last) [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRIDE_Shockwave_2004"]PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion[/ame] [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Belt_Magazine"]Black Belt Magazine[/ame] 2004 NHB Fighter of the Year[116][117] [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherdog"]Sherdog[/ame] 2009 Knockout of the Year vs Andrei Arlovski[118] [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_Observer_Newsletter"]Wrestling Observer Newsletter[/ame] 2005 Most Outstanding Fighter how can you hate on that? :good
Im not hating on him at all. His accomplishments are indeed great But Mark Coleman was not in no way shape or form Prime. He was a takedown guy who didnt develop his MMA game one iota. Same goes for Randleman , who was basically cannon fodder for Mirko, but pulled off a shock upset Bablu and Arona are LHW's, and there's a case that he lost the Arona fight K1 superstars Mark Hunt and Semmy have achieved very little in MMA. Hunt lost to two LHW's and achieved an SD v the third and his 2nd best win is Ben Rothwell in MMA. And Schilt has zero ground game, and both Nog and Josh were able to finish him there, something Fedor didnt achieve and his best wins are McGee & Pete Williams Sylvia lost to a 45 year LHW in his fight prior to Fedor, Rogers is a lump with a right hand and his best win is the chinny Arlovski, who, by the way, isnt American
Typical nut hugging from you i see. Just because Anderson started off slow doesn't mean he didn't mature into the GOAT. Fedor is certainly finishing slow. Pacman in boxing got beat 3 times before hitting he's straps and now look at him.
Errsta once said that the Beatles were simultaneously the most overrated, underrated, and greatest band of all time. :hat
The same arguments that are used here against Fedor being the GOAT could also be used against Spider, GSP or whoever else you want to throw in here. The difference with me here is that during his prime there was no-one even close to him. GSP got caught with a shot, Spider was taken to the fourth by Chael's LnP(not completely Spider's fault). Fedor faced some non-ATG fighters in his day ok, be he handled them like he should have with 1st round finishes. Also he took on more fights per year than either of those two as well. I am not saying GSP or Spider will not approach him, but it would take some spectacular things. People are adding his last few fights to the equation, this is really not the same guy.
Fedor's resume is inferior to a number of current fighters.......... ok he was unbeaten for 10yrs, but seriously some of those opponents left a lot to be desired......... the half dozen opponents before his last 3 losses were atsch
I think you are echoing most of the board with your 1st paragraph BK, he beat the best available, generally speaking it's kind of looking back at Joe Louis' resume and comparing it to Ali's as an example. He beat the best available to him, that's all anyone can do What kind of spectacular things would GSP and Anderson have to do? There's an argument that they have both beaten better fighters more constantly. But by saying something like that you arent necessarily down playing Fedor's record. But it is what it is, the fighter's of this era are not necessarily better in their main stregnths, but have less weakness to exploit due to the nature of the growth in the sport But Fedor was an essential part in that growth. Fighter's were inspired in this generation to improve beyond being highly skilled in just one aspect and I think that's his real achievement as opposed to who he beat
This is exactly what I am talking about, you want to tell me why there was Hardy? Kos 2? Lutter? Fedor gets put to a different standard than most other ATGs are.
Maybe you can say on average GSPs and Spider's opponents are a bit better but Fedor still has two things going for me: 1. He fought more opponents on average in a calendar year, so there were some fill-in guys, usually from New-Japan Wrestling if I understand correctly, but during the year there were 2-3 quality guys he would end up facing. 2. No-one has matched the aggressiveness and risks he took during his undefeated streak with that much success, he went beyond the call of the win, and while some people can argue this does not matter I think this is why he will still be considered above Spider and GSP by most, despite having his detractors. EDIT: See poll for empirical evidence
