PART 7
The King of the world for the longest time was Fedor Emelianenko. While everyone in the world had elite sparring partners and extravagant “training camps” tin preparation for their fights. Fedor was running on a dirt road somewhere in the snow on his way to the neighborhood playground to do pull ups on the monkey bars in between the children’s recess. He was wrestling bears and throwing punches in the air that made God shudder. It’s scary to imagine how much better he could be had he went to other places to train other than his neighborhood park.
I like to believe that he is in some way a genius, when I spoke with him and his translator minced my words I asked him if he would be a rocket scientist or something similar had he not been a fighter. His modest answer was, “Nope, I would be a common worker.” That alone lets you know how great the guy is. While he seems to have lost interest in fighting some time ago. Be it 1 month ago or 10 years ago none of us really know. The guy has been training hard, longer than most of us have been alive. That wear and mental tear weights on someone. As much as fighters say, I love my job. I love doing this, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get monotonous running up and down a snow covered road every single day.
The other thing that people tend to forget about Fedor is that first he fought a lot of freak show fights just for the entertainment of the Japanese. Hong Man Chow is big, and actually did really well against Fedor. Mark Hunt a k1 fighter and striker his entire career looked to put Fedor in danger with a kimura. While I like many other people are enamored with the W’s next to Fedor’s name and the incredible win streak, as well as his impressive dismantling of Minatouro there are some real stinkers in his fighting history. Remember that Fujita almost knocked him out. The Hunt Kimura, The Hong Man Choi fight that went 5 minutes longer than it should have, The Werdum slip up doesn’t count, that could happen to anyone, so could the Giant Silva fight/ When someone outweights you buy 50 to 60 pounds and has a leg bigger than you, it’s astonishing that he did so well in the fight at all.
The Henderson fight I believe was a legit stop but when two people are throwing with 100% of their heart and soul someone has to go down. This time it so happened to be Fedor. Arlovski was actually giving him a boxing lesson before he attempted to be Superman. While Fedor does have the most impressive resume and streak there are some Wins that should have happened easier, damage that shouldn’t have been taken and fights that should not have happened. His fight with Brett Rogers should have been a replica of his fight with Gary Goodridge. Instead he got his nose broken on the first punch. Fedor may be the greatest fighter on Earth and of all time because he fought above his weight class his whole career and did so because he was either to lazy to cut weight or because he knew that there are no challenges facing him under heavyweight.
Fedor was doing what people wish GSP and Silva would do before you even knew those fighters names. The fact that people like Lindland put up such a fight against him showed holes in his greatness, but his ability to finish those fights and in impressive fashion say something. Seeing a motivated Fedor against Junior Dos Santos, or Cain Valesquez. Would be amazing. It’s not his fault that he fought in the 2005 era and not the 2010’s. Fedor is so admired that even when Henderson beat him, he begged him to keep fighting. That’s how good of a fighter he is. His wild flailing could put anyone down in a second. His ground game is tight and while he might get hit here and there, when he decides to end the fight he ends it. While I mentioned Fujita hitting him and having him do the fish dance for a second, I forgot to mention the part where he got back up and hit Fujita with a combination that would have killed a regular person.
Fedor’s record may have some padding, but that isn’t his fault either. At high of his career he beat everyone that was worth beating. And then he beat the other guys. Isn’t that what all the other people we think are so great are doing now. Fedor wiped out the planet. And became the most beloved Russian in the world because of it. Put Fedor in the cage with anyone, and I can promise you that outside of cutting him, if he wanted to fight you. “He crush you.”
This will be the last entry, although I’d always be happy to add Emmanual Yarborugh or Joe Son. It’s hard to say that Anderson Silva is not the greatest fighter on Earth. Of today, yesterday and everyday going forward. If the world doesn’t end in 2012 people will say it’s because of him. He has without a doubt beaten everyone ever put in front of him. He has had few easy fights ever handed to him and he made those fights look easy. He was disqualified once, and proved in his rematch with Okami, that Okami should have just walked around telling people that he beat up Anderson Silva as opposed to actually trying it. He lost twice in Pride and I don’t care what anyone says, until I’m proven otherwise I’m saying those fights were rigged.
As Japan was notorious for rigging fights. (Why do you think they were shut down?) Maybe the Chonan fight did happen because that was a freak finish that is both impossible and somehow completely feasible. How else can you beat Anderson besides land something normally impossible? But the Takase fight. No. I won’t accept that loss. The strong argument for Anderson Silva is that he actually hasn’t been tested in his fights. He fought with a broken rib against Sonnen and still won. Anderson’s biggest test in a fight wasn;t the fighter, it was the broken rib going into the fight. Which means at this stage having him tie his arms down would make things even between him and his opponents. If I broke my rib I wouldn’t even write anymore and I do that from a computer chair 14 feet from my bed.
Outside of the Sonnen fight where Sonnen was juicing anyhow, Anderson was broken before the first bell even rang and he still managed to submit him before the last bell rang. Anderson has beat everyone to the point where we no longer wonder who will win, we wonder how Anderson will do it. Anderson has made professional athlete’s, grown men lose weight so they wouldn’t have to step into a cage with him. The betting odds become a joke as people put money down on his opponent hoping for the long shot. If it weren’t’ for people doing this, there would be no 4 to 1 odds. I would be 40 to 1. Anderson Silva has shown the strangest of abilities to beat everyone and make it look easy. He fights the same way Michelangelo would teach us to paint. We the simple minded many see the Sistine Chapel yet he the talented few see’s brush strokes. While we see incredible knockouts. Anderson see’s well timed jabs. Which is funny, I’ve thrown jabs a million times Boxers throw hundreds of jabs each fight.
Heck, each round. And don’t achieve the same results. I’ve thrown a million Teep kicks to. Not as many as Pramuk Buakawa, but neither mine nor Pramuk’s seem to knock people out. Mike Tyson didn’t even knock people out with Jabs, And Semmy Schilts occasionally knocks people out with Teep kicks but he’s also 300 pounds and 20 foot twelve. I don’t want to sway people’s opinions, but like I said about BJ Penn, if you found out that Anderson was fighting light heavy weight or even heavy weight. There is a big part of you that would think. He’s going to knock that guy out. His footwork, accuracy and flat out ability to fight could very well make him the greatest living fighter of all time. What separates him from Fedor is the fact that he hasn’t been beaten or taken any damage in the process of winning.
The fights he was suppose to win. He won. Without question, he won. Fights he was supposed to have a challenge in. He won those fairly easily as well. Anderson will lose someday, it will happen by him fooling around and losing on points. Or him just not being interested and handing the fight away. While I think he should avoid ever boxing Roy Jones Jr. I’d almost like to see how well he would do. Anderson Silva lives in the world of the Matrix. Things fly past him slower than they do us. In that downtime, he catches people off guard. And will do so for as long as he chooses. What makes Anderson Silva the potential cadidate for greatest fighter of all time is this. No matter who is fighting, and no matter at what weight.
If they win, the first thing we say is, you should fight Anderson Silva. If GSP wins, if Jon Jones wins, BJ Penn, Aldo, Valesquez. Anyone. Once they win, the first thing people say, you should challenge yourself and fight Anderson Silva. He has never been outclassed outside of fighting with a broken rib. He has never been beaten up. He has never taken unneeded damage. He can beat anyone now. He can beat anyone then. And he can beat anyone in the foreseeable future. Going forward, we will only appreciate how good he is in retrospect. We will talk about Anderson Silva, and all these fighters really, with the same Nostalgia that people talk about Muhammad Ali. But of all the people we talk about. It’ll be Anderson Silva who could have beaten anyone on the list. No matter the weight.
*Sakuraba vs Belfort was fixed. It’s fact. So I left it off his accomplishments.
** GSP grease fiasco. Did he, didn’t he. Well, it’s not the first time he’s been blamed. Hopefully it never comes up again. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it’s a duck.
