An Outside the Box Look at Potential Opponents for Fedor
It’s no doubt that Fedor Emelianenko at 31-4 was one of the best heavyweight fighters ever to grace combat sports. Now that he has turned out three depressing loses in a row, many fans have turned their backs on him and demanded him to hang them up. While many fans might disagree, the fight has not left “The Last Emperor” and he will continue to fight.
With the fans against him and without a home with Strikeforce anymore, Fedor needs a fight that will have everyone talking and one quality win could easily get Fedor back on track. Preferably this fight should happen in a ring where Fedor feels most at home and where he could channel the old school, pre-Strikeforce Fedor. Here are three possible opponents for Fedor, one obvious, one long past its relevance and one out of left field.
Alistair Overeem would make for a huge M-1 fight in the ring, no matter where in the world this fight would take place not many MMA fans would consider missing this fight. While Overeem would most likely be the most dangerous opponent for Emelianenko to take, a win would skyrocket him back up the rankings. (Reality Check – This fight could actually happen but since neither side could arrange the fight before, it’s doubtful now.)
Randy Couture has expressed interest in a fight pairing two legends of the sport against each other and it almost happened many years ago. This would probably be the fight with the best odds for Emelianenko to win and would be a great way to finish a career if that’s the route he was interested in. (Reality Check - This fight should have happened years ago but the UFC blocked it and now that Couture is once again retired it’s not going to happen, even it Couture wanted it too.)
Last but not least a matchup with “Don’t call me the Kimbo Killer“ Seth Petruzelli would be a great way to reinvent his MMA outlook against a game opponent who just absolutely destroyed another tough MMA veteran in Ricco Rodriguez at Bellator 48. It would be a great fight with promised fireworks and could be a tossup of who wants further fighting success more. (Reality Check - Yes, this match-up seems odd at best, it is also the one that would face the least resistance from the two parties, still a long shot though.)
Want a few more names? How about Jeff Monson, Ricco Rodriguez or Gabriel Gonzaga……
Whatever is the ultimate decision; the true fans will always stick around and respect the MMA greats. Fedor has been a name that causes fighters to tremble for quite some time and his ultimate impact will always be important for a fairly new sport.
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Category: M1 Global, MMA, Opinion, Strikeforce, UFC
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A college student residing in Arizona, coming off of active duty and continuing to work for the government. I hold a black belt in Hapkido, and have high school wrestling experience paired with multiple grappling tournaments. I spent six months training Authentic Muay Thai and now I am currently enrolling in Gracie B.J.J/MMA this week. I plan on starting my amateur fighting Career sometime late this year to early next year and also plan on entering B.J.J. tournaments through the year.Subscribe
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Offers are already out from what I hear to Travis Wiuff and Mike Whitehead. Expect it to be some journeyman that will pose a semi-legitimate threat to giving Fedor his 3rd loss in a row. But realistically, he needs a win so bad Evgeni Kogan can taste it. So you’ve got a better chance of seeing Harold Howard vs Alistair than Fedor vs Alistair. And while Randy could “unretire” for the fight, I would suspect that he’s a loyal enough company man that he wouldn’t do anything outside of a UFC promoted event.
What people aren’t talking about enough, I think, is the idea of Fedor shedding some of the baby weight and coming down to 205. Lob some soft light heavyweights at him in an M-1 ring to build him back up, because really, he isn’t that old. If he’s got Randy Couture type stamina, dude still has a strong decade left in him. But he’s got to come down to LtHwy to get back into the conversation.