This weekend, the legendary Fedor Emelianenko fights for the final time.
Sure, we’ve heard this before, but there is an air of finality around the 46-year-old legend announcing his retirement this time as he heads into a heavyweight championship rematch opposite Ryan Bader in the main event of Bellator 290 on Feb. 4. Win or lose, “The Last Emperor” leaves MMA with an unimpeachable resume and a lengthy list of memorable moments. But is he the greatest heavyweight of all-time?
For much of MMA’s brief history, Emelianenko was the default answer in heavyweight GOAT conversations, but we are now over 15 years removed from his PRIDE prime and the game has changed since then with a new breed of big men ushering in the modern era. It is important to ask the question again: Who are the “Baddest Man on the Planet”, and what criteria do they use to determine this title? In no division are the parameters of greatness more difficult to define than in the chaos dimension that is heavyweight.
The MMA Fighting panel consisting of Steven Marrocco and Steven Al-Shatti as well as Damon Martin and Alexander K. Lee along with Jed Meshew, are present to answer questions on Fedor’s departure in vain hopes of settling the matter (or until Emelianenko book his next fight).
Lee: As someone whose MMA fandom kicked off in earnest well after the prime Fedor era, it would be easy for me to favor the modern heavyweight over the undersized Russian whose career feels like it exists in alternate timeline at this point. But I broke it down and reasonably, I can’t come to any other conclusion: The GOAT is still the GOAT.
This is what I see :
Emelianenko wins the first two categories easily.
During his legendary PRIDE run (at this point guys like Fedor, Shogun, and Wanderlei Silva should share a copyright on the phrase “legendary PRIDE run”), Emelianenko went 14-0 (1 NC) with wins Mirko Cro Cop, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice), Mark Coleman (twice), Kevin Randleman, and Mark Hunt among others. This was at that time the most popular heavyweight division and Emelianenko was undisputed champion. Those 15 fights comprised the body of a 28-fight unbeaten streak that is still spoken of in hushed tones to this day.
Longevity?
Longevity? Even just viewing that as a token gesture to send him off in style, the fact is that Fedor has remained competitive in his 40s. He’s 9-2 since 2011 (let’s call that 8-3 since he definitely did NOT win a 2016 contest against Fabio Maldonado) and that includes wins over relevant — if a tad shopworn — names like Quinton Jackson, Chael Sonnen, and Frank Mir. Fedor’s twilight years have seen many heavyweights look worse than Fedor against less formidable opposition.
Hypothetical head-to-heads are where this argument gets tricky (and fun! ), but you know what? Emelianenko has a chance against any person you can think of, and I love that. Brock Lesnar? Incompetent and too chinny. Stipe Miocic? Emelianenko and Stipe Miocic are a great matchup. Emelianenko works Emelianenko on both the feet as well as the ground. Francis Ngannou He is dangerous, but we witnessed Miocic fight him by grappling their first fight. Emelianenko could execute this strategy better. Cain Velasquez Got me there, but Emelianenko trumps him in peak performance and longevity by a mile.
It’s not an airtight case. We’re talking about heavyweight, after all, the most volatile division in the game, especially the closer you get to the top. Only one person has ever been able to bring stability to the ranks of heavyweight, defeating the very best PRIDE and UFC (at that time) and this was during MMA’s boom decade. And that man is Fedor Emelianenko.
Meshew: It’s Fedor and it’s not close.
In heavyweight GOAT conversations, Stipe is often the man some people (incorrectly) claim has surpassed Fedor. But that’s absurd. From a purely numbers stand point, Miocic was the consensus Baddest Man on the Planet from 2016-2021, minus a year during which Daniel Cormier held the title. This is four years of total time at the top of the mountain. Fedor was the consensus top heavyweight in the world for seven years and change. That’s almost twice as long. We are doing what?
People also like to parrot a common Dana White refrain of “He’s beating cans!” and to some extent, that’s true. Zuluzinho and Matt Lindland aren’t stellar wins, but Fedor was also supremely active during that time, and they aren’t all going to be winners. During his seven-plus year reign, Fedor fought 19 times. The UFC heavyweight title and multiple interim belts were collectively defended 16 times. And if you go back and look through the track record, this “Fedor fought cans” argument starts to fall apart when you consider that Justin Eilers, Paul Buentello, and Jeff Monson all fought for the UFC title during that stretch. There’s also definitely some revisionist history about Fedor’s wins over Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. Both men were top 10 guys at the time, and Arlovski was the No. 2 heavyweight in the world! White admitted that these were wins of quality, even though he was reluctant to admit it.
Here is where I will also note that the most infuriating part of GOAT conversations are how heavy post-prime fights weigh. For guys like Fedor and Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, who stuck around longer than they “should have,” newer fans just look at the numbers and say, “Well, they lost a bunch. It was insane. If Fedor had retired after knocking out Andrei Arlovski, no one would doubt his greatness. And yet, here we are.
That brings me to Fedor’s real motivation for being the GOAT. They are, however, more than enough. The true reason Fedor holds the top spot is because during his peak, everyone, be it fan or fighter, viewed him as the best guy in the world, and that lasted for nearly a decade. I don’t think people recognize how truly insane that is. There were first-graders in 2009 who had never lived in a world where Fedor wasn’t the best fighter in the world. That doesn’t happen. And the unanimous respect and adoration of his peers is unparalleled. Talk to any fighter who came up during Fedor’s reign, and all of them will speak about him with reverence the same way they do with Aldo and Silva. Is Stipe held in the same regard? No. No. They are respectful of him and recognize his grandeur, but not in awe. And that’s the difference.
*Stipe Miocic has been called the greatest heavyweight. Prime Stipe would defeat prime Fedor. Because time advances and the sport continues to improve, Stipe will win. And Stipe is a legend in his own right and a future Hall of Famer, but there’s a difference between legends and gods, and Fedor is one of the very few people MMA has ever produced that are the latter. His praises be.
Al-Shatti: There is no division in MMA with a more nebulous GOAT conversation than heavyweight. Full stop. Although people can and will argue about the matter, most other weight classes have a pretty consensus answer. (Jones Silva, St–Pierre, Nurmagomedov. Aldo. Cruz. Johnson. Nunes. Shevchenko. Jedrzejczyk). The big boys are not so lucky. Why? Perhaps that is just the nature and character of the beast. When 260-pound monsters are throwing hammers at one another with four-ounce gloves, the margins between victory and defeat are so impossibly thin, it’s a minor miracle for anyone to achieve any modicum of sustained success.
If you break it down by eras, Fedor Emelianenko was heavyweight’s first extinction level event. Fedor Emelianenko was the meteor who killed the dinosaurs. He was the first heavyweight to legitimize the division the way it should be. And he held that crown longer than anyone. Emelianenko was the Fighter of the Decade in the 2000s for a reason. There were 28 fights that went without loss. Nearly a full decade undefeated. His run in a division that was dominated by volatility was unprecedented and continues to be so today.
By that measure, no other resume compares. Emelianenko defeated the top of his generation, and he is the No. 1 MMA fighter in the world. 1 ranked heavyweight. He was the shoo-in answer as the greatest for the sport’s first two decades. Is he the best of all time? This is a completely different matter. It’s unlikely. At his peak, the indomitable Russian was basically a blown-up light heavyweight — barely 6-foot tall, barely 230 pounds. I’d pick a number of this era’s super-sized heavies to beat him (Ngannou, Gane, Miocic, Blaydes), and I’d probably pick peak Velasquez and Cormier as well.
The crop of the past decade and a quarter is dominated by Miocic as the viable GOAT. Despite being as outstanding as Velasquez or Ngannou, they don’t have the same amount of success as the others at the top. Miocic’s three consecutive UFC title defenses remain the benchmark for UFC heavyweight greatness, and his hit list includes nearly every worthwhile name of his era — an era that boasts far better talent than the golden era of Pride FC heavyweights, as much as it pains my soul to admit. That’s just how things work in a young sport — the level of talent rises over time. Are Miocic and his team the best heavyweights ever? He probably is. But does that make him the greatest? But I am not sure.
*All this is just a way for me to express my dismay. For me, Emelianenko and Miocic are the 1A and 1B of this conversation. If I am forced by Mr. Lee to pick, then I would probably choose Miocic. But I don’t feel good about that.
Martin: There is no tougher division in all of mixed martial arts to determine the greatest of all-time than at heavyweight. Some might say the easy answer is Fedor Emelianenko — he did put together an unprecedented 28-fight undefeated streak — but his entire record can’t be ignored with a lot of wins over overmatched, outsized or simply outgunned competition not to mention some emphatic losses along the way.
That’s why Stipe Miocic edges past Emelianenko as the best heavyweight in history because his biggest wins match the legendary Russian but perhaps, more importantly, his losses just don’t diminish his resume as much.
Yes, Miocic has the most title defenses in UFC heavyweight history with three, which is more than Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, or even Cain Velasquez could muster. It’s not a staggering number like what Demetrious Johnson did at flyweight but it’s been well documented that heavyweight is the most dangerous and unpredictable division in the sport and that stands across every promotion.
At his very best, Miocic finished ahead of names such as Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Andrei Arlovski. He went 2-1 against Daniel Cormier, who might have been able to enter the GOAT conversation himself at heavyweight if he hadn’t left the division out of respect for Velasquez, his friend and teammate.
The only truly notable loss on Miocic’s record came against Stefan Struve back in 2012 but his other three defeats came again a trio of UFC champions (Ngannou, dos Santos and Cormier). There’s no shame in that. It doesn’t make sense that he lost against Francis Ngannou in his latest loss, considering Miocic had beaten him so badly in their first meeting.
The only thing Miocic could have done differently to truly separate himself would be staying more active, which became a problem once he won the UFC heavyweight title. He competed only once per year over the past three years or maybe he could have picked up a few more marquee wins to build up his resume a bit more.
That said, Miocic’s record stands firm with victories over five former UFC champions and there’s no padding in his win streak. For the eight past years, he faced only top opposition and this record has helped him to secure GOAT status…for now.
Marrocco: There is no doubt that, for his time, Fedor Emelianenko was the greatest heavyweight in the world. Cain Velasquez is my favorite example of talent all around. He gets my vote for the Baddest Man On The Planet.
I’m aware that this decision is more based on emotions and “matchup projections” than rationality. Velasquez did not fight during PRIDE’s glory years, and so didn’t have to face the murderer row of heavyweights. He did not defend the UFC title as much as Miocic. Through the injuries gaps, he could have fit in several Bellator tournaments. Then there’s his toughest-ever opponent: Altitude. Yet, of all the heavyweight contenders, Velasquez is my favorite.
Ground-and-pound? Give me Velasquez any day over Fedor. Striking? I’ll take him over Miocic. Power? Okay, Ngannou wins. But let’s say Velasquez faces the current No. 1 heavyweight in 2011 instead of 2019, when a career’s worth of injuries and damage from his wars with Junior dos Santos had caught up, and Velasquez finishes him in three rounds or less.
There is simply just no one who was better when he was at his best. Velasquez would have defeated Fedor. His tighter, more technical striking would have shut down the Russian’s looping hooks. His aggression would have overwhelmed “The Last Emperor.” If we’re talking Miocic, yeah, that’s a tougher fight, but I still think Velasquez is the better version of the boxer/wrestler. Don’t @ me.
The asterisks that Velasquez has used in his career have been difficult to overcome. That’s why criteria are the most important part of any debate. Were it not for a knockout loss to dos Santos and a sea-level drowning against Fabricio Werdum, I don’t think this would be much of an argument. You can poke a lot of holes in what I’m saying here, but if you take peak performance and apply it to all the candidates, hopefully you see why Velasquez is the best.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/1/29/23575076/roundtable-who-is-the-greatest-heavyweight-of-all-time?rand=96749
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