I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I’m hiding them after the jump.
I’m not going to say I suddenly jumped into the Fedor camp, but after watching him knock Andre Arlovski out cold in mid air was definitely one of those things that had to be seen to be fully appreciated. Arlovski simply got too aggressive in the corner and got tagged, in the air, and crumbled to the ground, face first (the shot above is a frame grab of the moment that vicious right connected with Arlovski’s chin). He was out cold for at least a minute before he was brought to a sitting position, and didn’t look a whole lot better when he sat up.
Honestly, it was a great performance and a very enjoyable fight. I would’ve liked it to go longer, but so be it. With that being said, was it really Emelianenko winning the fight? Or what it Arlovski losing it? That’s where the debate will be, I think, for the post fight discussion.
For most of the round, Arlovski had his way with Emelianenko. He wasn’t bullied, didn’t back down, and continued to throw strong punches. Emelianenko was tagged a few times and, if I had to score the round, I would’ve given it to Arlovski, hands down. I don’t know how it would’ve panned out had the match continued, but the first round to the point of the knockout was Arlovski’s. Even the knockout wasn’t an attack by Fedor, but a counterpunch that caught Arlovski square on the chin.
And that’s what brings me to my gripe with the coverage of the fight. Afterward, the ringside mouthpiece mentioned Tiger Woods, Mohammed Ali, and other great champions right next to Fedor and told us that there was no room to doubt his greatness. Tito Ortiz got into the ring and did one of the most sycophantic sucky face interviews with Fedor and told him if anyone doubted him that doubt was now gone because he beat two former UFC champions. We’re meant to believe that Fedor is the greatest fighter ever, now?
I’m not trying to take anything away from Fedor. The man is a monster and he’s definitely one of the best that has ever stepped into the ring/Octagon, but did a one punch knockout of an overly aggressive fighter who owned the fight for most of its time and who no one really thought would win (although there was no doubt he could have won) really solidify Fedor’s greatness in any tangible way?
Not in my mind, and I’m sure not in the mind of many others. Fedor’s big game is the ground game, not the knockout game, and he never got the match to the canvas. Arlovski kept him standing the whole time and at one point they jostled for position, but the referee broke it up and brought them back to the center of the ring. That was as close to a takedown as the fight came. In essence, Fedor spent the whole time fighting Arlovski’s fight.
Fedor’s next fight is Josh Barnett, whose record lives at a lofty 24-5-0 (after last night’s action). No matter how dangerous they push Barnett to be, is Barnett really going to be a big fight for Fedor? The same Barnett whose fight was won by submission during punches at the edge of the ring? Ummm… Okay…
What I sense Affliction doing with Fedor reminds me of what EliteXC did with Kimbo Slice. Kimbo had some great knockouts and did some hard core ass kicking, but he did it to people who weren’t all that great. Fedor obviously has fought better fighters than Kimbo did, but in the end until Fedor fights guys like Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Brock Lesnar (he has a belt, don’t argue with me), and Frank Mir, he’s just a big fish in a smaller pond. I would call those four fighters the best in the world right now, and you can add Anderson Silva to that list, but all of them fight the best opponents in the business; the UFC. Fedor can fight around the world until he’s black and blue with blood coming out of his ears and I’ll never be convinced of his greatness until he steps into the ring with one of those guys.