Farewell to Fedor: Retirement tribute to the First Emperor of heavyweight MMA

[Kickass32]

Uuuumm yeah, he was overrated as hell. For years while he was fighting cans I listened to these delusional fans call him the best fighter in the world. Not just the best HW in the world, but the best fighter from any division, and that was a crock of shit when he was fighting guys like Hong Man Choi and a few others only once a year. People acted like he was the best even when he knocked out Rogers after getting his ass handed to him in the first round almost losing where he looked awful. Fedor conveniently went after fights that he was highly favored in, and when the UFC's HW division got pretty stacked he wanted no part of that, and still called himself the best in the world while turning his nose up at fans. He wasn't classy either like people try to claim. He was part owner of a company that tried to shake down organizations bankrupting them. His fans continue to try and put that all on other management guys, but Fedor is part of that management. No best guy ever would have ducked so many guys like Fedor did. That is not what top fighters do.

I don't think anyone is talking about the same "Fedor era" as you are..........The Fedor in Pride WAS fighting the best HW's in the world and beating them soundly......that is the "Fedor era" most are talking about him being the best HW on the planet.

[Red Tex]

I don't think anyone is talking about the same "Fedor era" as you are..........The Fedor in Pride WAS fighting the best HW's in the world and beating them soundly......that is the "Fedor era" most are talking about him being the best HW on the planet.

Okay fine, he was the best HW for a while. But that was during an era where the HW division was terrible. Being the best HW never made him the best over all champion or MMA fighter in the world like people tried to claim for years. And when looking at a guy's career, you have to look at the entire career, not just one part. His career became very tainted, because he should still be in his prime actually and while he was still undefeated after Pride he purposely "chose" to fight easy opponents that didn't pose that much of a danger to him instead of trying to fight the best challengers that were really coming into their own. People like to sit here and say that Fedor just got old and washed up and all this stuff, but that's not what happened at all. He let himself get passed up by the rest of the competitors in the sport who took the sport a lot more seriously and Fedor made a mockery of the sport and rankings for a long time, by calling himself the last emperor and the best fighter in the world and all of this stuff when he refused to fight a lot of top guys who looked much better than him after while.

He never should have held any title of being the best in the world or just because he was the best HW. I know that the HW division will always be the most sexy division to most people do to the tradition of it in boxing and all, but his reign at the top of that division didn't include a ton of great victories like many other HW's are collecting now and especially tons of other champs in other divisions that are constantly fighting incredibly talented contenders.

[Kickass32]

Okay fine, he was the best HW for a while. But that was during an era where the HW division was terrible. Being the best HW never made him the best over all champion or MMA fighter in the world like people tried to claim for years. And when looking at a guy's career, you have to look at the entire career, not just one part. His career became very tainted, because he should still be in his prime actually and while he was still undefeated after Pride he purposely "chose" to fight easy opponents that didn't pose that much of a danger to him instead of trying to fight the best challengers that were really coming into their own. People like to sit here and say that Fedor just got old and washed up and all this stuff, but that's not what happened at all. He let himself get passed up by the rest of the competitors in the sport who took the sport a lot more seriously and Fedor made a mockery of the sport and rankings for a long time, by calling himself the last emperor and the best fighter in the world and all of this stuff when he refused to fight a lot of top guys who looked much better than him after while.

He never should have held any title of being the best in the world or just because he was the best HW. I know that the HW division will always be the most sexy division to most people do to the tradition of it in boxing and all, but his reign at the top of that division didn't include a ton of great victories like many other HW's are collecting now and especially tons of other champs in other divisions that are constantly fighting incredibly talented contenders.

OK, this much I can agree with...I was only arguing those 4 years or so in Pride.....I agree the rest of his career he ducked, avoided and never fought some of the modern day great HW's.