Fedor Delivers But Vulnerable
November 9, 2009
The consensus choice for world’s greatest mixed martial artist delivered this past Saturday night on CBS, knocking out Brett Rogers in the second round of their scheduled three-round bout.
Payout Perspective:
The biggest question coming out of Fedor’s win over Brett Rogers on Saturday is whether Fedor is a bona fide human being. I’m not kidding — this kind of question is all over Facebook, with most people questioning whether Fedor is indeed flesh and blood.
I was all over Facebook Saturday night (readers are welcome to request an add: dwolf0823@aol.com) gushing over Fedor, as well — after all, Brett Rogers was the Last Emperor’s second straight opponent to drop as if he’d just taken a bullet.
That’s just devastating power, and the thing that gets to me more than anything else is that I’m just about certain there’s never been a greater disparity between the punishment a person looks like he’s capable of inflicting on another human being and what that person can actually inflict. I mean, Fedor looks as if he should be driving a bus; surely he doesn’t look like the baddest man on the planet. But he is. The man could be a poster boy for the old maxim, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Anyway, despite how impressed I and just about every other viewer was with Fedor, for the second straight fight, though he appeared super-human, he also showed vulnerabilities (Joe Rogan was all over Fedor’s having been “exposed,” arguing on Twitter that Alistair Overeem is capable of giving Fedor fits in the cage).
Brett Rogers connected early in the first with a jab that cut and hurt (or might have even broken) Fedor’s nose, and later in the round with some ground ‘n pound that wasn’t too far from finishing the fight. There was a moment too after Fedor unloaded with a barrage of punches and dropped his hands for just a second, and Rogers hesitated, but had he delivered a right cross at that moment, it would have been lights out for Fedor.
Fedor came out victorious but by no means did he appear unstoppable.
Joe Rogan might be looking ahead to Overeem, but the talk is that Fedor’s next fight will be against Fabricio Werdum. Werdum’s no joke, and he’s more experienced (with a run in the UFC) and has a better overall game than does Brett Rogers.
All the talk of whether Fedor will eventually go to UFC after his Strikeforce contract expires is very premature. Fedor will have two tough fights before then, and if he loses either one, nobody knows what Fedor’s marketability will be like the next day, though you can be assured he wouldn’t have half the earning potential he had before the loss.
11 Responses to “Fedor Delivers But Vulnerable”
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I think Strikeforce is pretty sly/strategic in letting Werdum fight Fedor first. If all goes accordingly, Fedor will win that fight and then go on to fight Overeem. He’ll probably win that fight as well and become the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, but more importantly, he won’t be able to sign with the UFC because of the championship clause, correct?
A couple of observations:
(1) Did anyone else notice the prevalence of Clinch Gear as a sponsor? Multiple fighters were wearing Clinch Gear shorts and Clinch Gear was featured prominently on Fighter’s Sponsorship banners. Could this be part of Strikeforce’s strategy to sign Dan Henderson? Perhaps part of their deal with Hendo is to treat Clinch Gear as a “preferred” sponsor, much in the same way Zuffa backs TapouT.
(2) As a fan of grappling, I enjoy watching Jake Shields fight, but he definitely lacks casual fan appeal. His ground game is very solid and technical (and he is probably the best American not named BJ Penn at applying BJJ to MMA), but he lacks the flashy ground game of someone like Demian Maia or Dustin Hazellet, (one-dimensional fighters who have more fan appeal because of their slick moves – flying armbar, anyone?). Shields’ stand-up is still very sloppy. His striking game reminds me of an American League pitcher trying to bat in an inter-league series, or a Punter trying to make a tackle on a return. Shields is more than a worthy champion, and I think he is the #2 welterweight in the world, but his fighting style is going to be hard to market to the casual fan.
(3) The Silva-Werdum fight was much more entertaining than I expected. Werdum’s overall game has evolved significantly over the last 3 years (he was basically a heavyweight version of Jake Shields when he fought in Pride and UFC), and Bigfoot proved that he can hang with an elite heavyweight. Strikeforce’s Heavyweight division is rather thin (as are most of their divisions), but, if they can keep guys like Werdum active, and they can develop Heavyweight prospects like Silva and Dave Herman (I assume he’ll eventually fight for Strikeforce), they could compete favorably with UFC at 265.
Fedors aura has been built around him getting hurt or being in compromising positions and still winning. I don’t understand why people have a hard time understanding that. Nog appeared to be locking in subs in their fights and Fedor would get out of them. Nog would even sweep Fedor but Fedor would still dominate. Fujita almost KO’d him, Randleman supplexed him on his head, Hunt gave him all he could handle, CC landed some great shots and even backed Fedor up, Arona some say beat Fedor, AA had Fedor backing up and looking uncomfortable, he had a huge cut early against Lindland and even HMC was getting some big shots on Fedor. This is nothing new and I cannot understand how people who have watched Fedor for so long do not realize this.
I’m disagree with the whole “vulnerability” aspect of this article. Fedor is not more or less vulnerable today than he was five years ago when Randleman smashed him to the canvas PRIDE. Fedor is the greatest because he does not panic – he finds way to win even in the midst of a near impossible situation.
I also disagree with the statement that had Rogers not hesitated, it would have been lights out for Fedor. That’s pure speculation and highly doubtful since Fedor was taking Roger’s punches on the ground and still managed to escape and win the fight.
Roger’s opened a cut on Fedor’s nose that never healed from sparring with his brother six months ago. The nose is not broken.
On Fedor’s first visit inside a cage he knocked out a stronger, taller, heavier opponent. This is fighting and if Fedor’s fights go over ten seconds there is suddenly talk that he is vulnerable. Rogers proved himself as a great fighter and one that will only get better – already he could beat anyone in the UFC. I think Fedor deserves the accolades he is receiving. He simply is that good and it is ok to acknowledge it.
What an amazing night for MMA! Strikeforce’s product blew me away. As an avid MMA fan, I am very excited to see how strikeforce responds after this Nov. 7 success. 3 great fights and 1 ground and pound war solidified strikeforce as a serious contender to oppose Zuffa.
agreed, excellent night of fights and to tip a great atmosphere from the crowd for the main event. i disagree with joe rogan, fedor has always looked vulnerable (think fujita, randleman, aa) the key is that he turns what appear to be his weaknesses into a positive. rogers was at least 50 pounds heavier yet could not out wrestle fedor, rogers was suppose to have heavier hands yet fedor knocked his lights out. fedor is amazing not because he’s a android, but because he is human and his vulnerabilities are out there for all of us to see. overreem will not beat fedor, maybe give him a stiff test in the first round but he will suffer the same fate as rogers.
Rogers beat anyone in the UFC? He was completely gassed by midway of the first. That kind of preparation sends you home on a stretcher in the big show. Fedor is the best heavyweight in the world, but thinking he would dominate Lesnar seems less logical after that fight. If he can’t armbar Brett Rogers, and got swept by Brett Rogers, what do you think Lesnar would do to him?
Lesnar is not in Fedor ’s class, UFC tried to sign Fedor and failed. The UFC is not the NFL there are other MMA options and competion is the key to greater product. I hope Strike force is very sucessful cause the UFC is starting to market their product like the WWE and it is beginig to show in their match ups.
Dream and Strike Force are turning out great shows.. The UFC is turning into the Fox news approach of making up stories to fit there image. Joe Roggan’s comments on FEDOR are a joke made by a paid informant of the UFC.
F*** Ho Rogan.
The dialogue surrounding Fedor’s victory over Rogers is an exciting testament to the advancement of mixed martial arts and the intellect of its fan base. Despite the wide ranging opinions condemning Fedor , i.e. Joe Rogan, to others commending him for continuing to be victorious, the most accurate assessment is most likely somewhere in the middle.
Clearly, Fedor failed to dominate Rogers in the manner most MMA fans expected. There were several moments in the bout where it appeared quite feasible that Fedor could lose. However, you have to give The Emperor credit for maintaining his composure in the face of Roger’s successful flurries and ultimately flooring the much larger man. Speculation aside, Fedor remains atop the MMA food chain until someone dethrones him. Might that someone be Alistair Overeem, let’s wait and see.
[...] Fedor deliveres, but is vulnerable Vera ready to realize potential [...]