Debunking The Fedor Emelianenko Talking Points

Debunking The Fedor Emelianenko Talking Points
November 3, 2015
By Ryan Porzl

On July 14, 2015, it was announced that MMA Legend Fedor Emelianenko was making his return to fighting after a three year retirement. To no surprise, he quickly became highly in demand and many people began to believe that after all these years, he was finally heading to the UFC. However, on September 19th, Emelianenko announced he would compete on a New Year's Eve card promoted by former PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara. To no surprise, the media and certain fans are back to 2007 to 2012 by claiming Emelianenko doesn't want to fight "the best" or "he's scared". To say the least, this is very tiresome to hear the same talking points. As a result, I decided to write this article to debunk the talking points. Whether you think Emelianenko is the best or not is your opinion, but these talks of cowardice or fighting cans his whole career needs to stop because it's not true.




First item on the menu is the obvious one which is people saying he doesn't fight the best or want to test himself or fight in the major leagues. Now anyone who believes this either isn't a long time MMA fan or biased or doesn't follow MMA history. This isn't meant to sound insulting but if you look up MMA history and Emelianenko's history, you would see nothing could be further from the truth. From 2002 to 2007, Emelianenko was competing in the number one organization in the world which was PRIDE Fighting Championships. Like PRIDE or hate it, it wasn't "one of the biggest promotions in the world" or "Japan's biggest promotion" but rather the biggest promotion and was number one from 2000-2006 as it ran stadiums drawing 20,000 to 50,000 many times a year and it was on broadcast TV with Fuji TV. It had no equal. Even the UFC was no where near PRIDE's level at that point. They had great fighters but had little depth especially in the lighter weight classes. Not to mention, the UFC didn't get a TV deal until 2005 and prior to that, was a blip on the radar, and 44 million dollars in the hole. It really wasn't until 2006 when the UFC started to eclipse PRIDE but that was a combination of UFC along with MMA in America gaining momentum while PRIDE lost it's TV deal due to yakuza connections. Even when Emelianenko went to Strikeforce and Affliction, people can make great arguments that their heavyweight divisions were stronger than the UFC's was. Affliction had fighters like Fedor, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Josh Barnett to name some while Strikeforce had fighters like Emelianenko, Arlovski, Brett Rogers (back when he was considered a top ten), Fabricio Werdum, and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva while they were able to get Alistair Overeem to commit more while signing Josh Barnett & Sergei Kharitonov and developing Daniel Cormier. In fact, you look at the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament, you'll see that all the participants are still fighting with the majority currently competing in the UFC (Cormier, Overeem, Werdum, Barnett, Silva, and Arlovski) and the ones in the UFC have done well with Cormier and Werdum winning titles (Cormier won a vacant light heavyweight title) while Silva has been a title contender. Ironically, if Fedor was afraid to fight top fighters than, he would've fought in the UFC. In 2002-2007, The UFC had lacked the depth while 2007-2012 featured some great fighters like Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos but also flashes in the pan like Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Now as far as Emelianenko beating only Nogueira and Cro Cop or him being a "can crusher", that's another myth. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying every fighter he faced was elite but a lot of them were either elite or at least good. It's really no different with other elite fighters as fighters don't always face the best especially if the best are coming off losses or they had busy schedules so they ran through most of the elite fighters quickly. Such was the case for Emelianenko who fought 3-5 times a year from 2000 to 2005. In case you don't know, PRIDE's schedule was different. For more than a decade, it's common for the top UFC fighters to mostly fight two times a year though they sometimes fought three. PRIDE fighters fought three to five times a year and sometimes even more. Not to mention that Emelianenko has also continued to compete in sambo competitions which gave him less time to recover from past fights as well as prepare and train for upcoming ones which is a testament to his skill. During Emelianenko's career, he proved himself worthy of the hype. If you don't believe me then let's take a look at his other notable wins besides Nogueira and Cro Cop along with many underrated ones. I want to clearly state that not all these wins are amazing or massive as some are against gatekeepers or fighters who flamed out. However, a lot of these wins are great and even the gatekeeper wins are decent to good. Then there are some that are underrated as some are against talented fighters that are overlooked. For the record, I want to state that the former UFC fighters Emelianenko beat were not cut from the UFC with the possible exception of Mark Coleman but that was in 1999 which was five years before the first fight and he later redeemed himself with the 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix. Tim Sylvia and Jeff Monson were coming off a loss each but the fights were title fights and they requested their releases. Andrei Arlovski, Kevin Randleman, and Gary Goodridge were coming off wins with Arlovski being on a three fight win streak. Matt Lindland was fired but it wasn't due to losses as he won his last two fights with his last fight being considered a title eliminator but rather that he supposedly was fired due to a sponsor on his shirt being considered a conflict of interest or a breach of contract. Kohsaka lost his last two UFC fights but they were three years apart. I mention this because I want everyone to know that these fighters weren't "washed up" or "damaged goods" that were cast aside.

Ricardo Arona- Then 2-0 (Emelianenko was 3-0 so the they had equal MMA experience) with a win over Jeremy Horn. Would later be the first and only RINGS Middleweight Champion, the 2001 RINGS Middleweight Championship Tournament Winner, and the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight (205 pounds) Grand Prix Runner Up as well as become a PRIDE World Middleweight Championship contender. Would score wins over Jeremy Horn, former PRIDE title contender Hiromitsu Kanehara, Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Alistair Overeem.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral- Then ranked the #8 heavyweight in the world according to Fight Matrix and the #9 heavyweight in the world by MMA Writers Top Ten. Then 19-2 with wins over Mikhail Ilyukhin, Hiromitsu Kanehara, Maurice Smith, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, and two over Kiyoshi Tamura while his only losses were to Dan Henderson and Valentijn Overeem. Was the 1999 RINGS King of Kings Tournament Runner up. Would later win the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship and become the International Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Tournament Winner while becoming a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship contender. Would get wins over Trevor Prangley, Chael Sonnen, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Travis Wiuff, Bobby Southworth, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Robbie Lawler, and 2010 DREAM Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Runner Up Tatsuya Mizuno.

Semmy Schilt- Then ranked the #10 heavyweight in the world by MMA Media Top Ten and the #9 heavyweight in the world by Stephen Quadros. Then 22-10-1 with wins over Minoru Suzuki, Masakatsu Funaki, three over future Pancrase Heavyweight Champion & UFC 12 Lightweight Tournament Finalist Kazuo Takahashi, Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa, Yuki Kondo, 1995 Pancrase Neo Blood Tournament Winner Takafumi Ito, 1994 King of Pancrase Championship Tournament Runner Up Manabu Yamada, Guy Mezger, and Pete Williams. Was a former King of Pancrase Openweight Champion. Would later score a win over former UFC Title contender Gan McGee.

Heath Herring- Then ranked the #4 heavyweight in the world by MMA Media Top Ten as well as by Associated Fight Press-Fightsport, #3 heavyweight in the world by Stephen Quadros, and #7 heavyweight in the world by MMA Weekly Fan Vote. Then 20-7 with wins over Evan Tanner, Tom Erikson, former Shooto Light Heavyweight Champion & UFC 13 Lightweight Tournament finalist Enson Inoue, Mark Kerr, and Igor Vovchanchyn. Was the World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC) 9 Tournament Winner, The Bas Rutten Invitational 3 Tournament Winner, The World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC) 8 Tournament Runner Up, The Superbrawl 13 Tournament Semifinalist, and a former PRIDE World Heavyweight Championship contender. Would later score wins over Gan McGee, Kazuo Takahashi, an aging Gary Goodridge, and Cheick Kongo.

Kazuyuki Fujita- Fujita was a gatekeeper, no doubt, but was ranked the #10 heavyweight in the world by MMA News. Then 9-3 with wins over Mark Kerr, Ken Shamrock, and Gilbert Yvel. Was a 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix Semifinalist. Would later score wins over Bob Sapp, James Thompson, and Peter Graham.

Gary Goodridge- Goodridge was another gatekeeper but he had his share of success. Then 17-13-1 with wins over UFC 12 Lightweight Tournament Winner Jerry Bohlander, UFC 6 Tournament Winner Oleg Taktarov, and 2000 RINGS King of Kings Tournament Runner Up Valentijn Overeem. Was the International Vale Tudo Championship 1 Tournament Winner, UFC 8 Tournament Runner Up, and a UFC 10 Tournament Semifinalist. Would later score wins over Dan Bobish and Don Frye.

Mark Coleman- Then ranked the #8 heavyweight in the world by Max Fighting/Josh Gross and #10 heavyweight in the world by Fight Matrix (the rankings are during Coleman's first fight with Emelianenko as he wasn't ranked during the second fight). Then 13-5 (First Fight) and 15-7 (Second Fight) with wins over Gary Goodridge, two over Don Frye, Dan Severn, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Igor Vovchanchyn. Was the first ever UFC Heavyweight Champion, UFC 10 Tournament Winner, UFC 11 Tournament Winner, and the 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix Tournament Winner. Would go on to score a win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Kevin Randleman- Then ranked the #10 light heavyweight in the world by ADCC MMA Top Ten, the #8 light heavyweight in the world by Fighters & Broadcasters Poll, and was the #9 light heavyweight in the world by Stephen Quadros (Randleman and Fedor met in the quarterfinals of the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix). Then 15-7 with wins over Dan Bobish, Pete Williams, Maurice Smith, Pedro Rizzo, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. Was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, the Universal Vale Tudo Fighting (UVTF) 4 tournament winner, The UFC Road To The Heavyweight Title Tournament Runner Up, and the Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 6 tournament runner up. Would later score a win over Ryo Kawamura.

Naoya Ogawa- Then ranked the #15 heavyweight in the world by MMAFighting. Then 7-0 with a win over Gary Goodridge. Was a 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinalist. This was a 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinal fight.

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka- Then ranked the #17 heavyweight in the world by MMAFighting and the #15 heavyweight in the world by Fight Matrix. Then 26-15-2 with wins over Maurice Smith, two over Mikhail Ilyukhin, Kimo Leopoldo, Volk Han, Pete Williams, Gilbert Yvel, Fedor Emelianenko, and Ron Waterman while going to draws with Kiyoshi Tamura and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Was the first and only Pancrase Super Heavyweight Champion, the 1995 Lumax Cup Tournament of J '95 Winner, a 2000 RINGS Rising Heavyweight Tournament Semifinalist, and a UFC Heavyweight Championship contender as a participant in the four man UFC Road To The Heavyweight Title Tournament in 1999 for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship. Would later score a win over Mario Sperry.

Mark Hunt- Then ranked the #9 heavyweight in the world by MMA Weekly & MMA News, the #7 heavyweight in the world by MMAFighting, and the #5 heavyweight in the world by Associated Fight Press. Then 5-2 with wins over Dan Bobish, Wanderlei Silva, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Would later become a UFC Interim Heavyweight Title contender and score wins over Cheick Kongo and Roy Nelson.

Matt Lindland- Then ranked the #8 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by MMA on Tap, ranked the #1 middleweight in the world by MMA Weekly and MMAFighting, ranked the #3 middleweight in the world by MMA News, and ranked the #2 middleweight in the world by Bloody Knux. Then 20-5 with wins over Ricardo Almeida, Pat Miletich, Jeremy Horn, and Carlos Newton. Was a UFC Middleweight Title contender. Though Lindland was a middleweight, this was a heavyweight fight but Lindland was familiar with moving up as he fought Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at light heavyweight a year before where he lost a close split decision.

Tim Sylvia- Then ranked the #4 heavyweight in the world by Sherdog and the #5 heavyweight in the world by MMA Weekly, MMAFighting, and Bloody Elbow. Then 24-4 with wins over Ricco Rodriguez, Gan McGee, Former King of Pancrase Heavyweight Champion Assuerio Silva, two over Andrei Arlovski, and Jeff Monson. Was a former two time UFC Heavyweight Champion and Superbrawl 23 Return of the Heavyweights Tournament Winner.

Andrei Arlovski- Then ranked the #19 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by Yahoo, the #2 heavyweight in the world by Sherdog, Bloody Elbow, & Sports Illustrated/Josh Gross, and the #3 heavyweight in the world by MMAFighting. Then 15-5 with wins over Vladimir Matyushenko, Tim Sylvia, Justin Eilers, Fabricio Werdum, and Roy Nelson. Was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion. Would later score wins over Mike Kyle, Antonio Silva, and Frank Mir.

Brett Rogers- Then ranked the #7 heavyweight in the world by Fight Matrix, the #6 heavyweight in the world by Sherdog & Independent World MMA Rankings, and the #8 heavyweight in the world by MMA Weekly. Then 10-0 with wins over James Thompson and Andrei Arlovski. Would later become a Strikeforce Heavyweight Title challenger and would score a win over first ever DEEP Megaton Champion Yusuke Kawaguchi.

Jeff Monson- Then 42-12 with wins over Kazuyuki Fujita, an aging Mark Kerr, Ricco Rodrigeuz, Roy Nelson, three divisional King of the Cage champion Tony Lopez, and Sergei Kharitonov. Was a former Cage Warriors Heavyweight Champion and a former UFC Heavyweight Championship contender along with winning many regional belts. Would later score wins over Oleksiy Oliynyk/Alexey Olenik and Alexander Emelianenko.

So as you can see, to anyone who thinks Emelianenko only fought cans or his only good wins are against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop, they're mistaken. Emelianenko has plenty of very good to great wins over ranked fighters and decorated fighters. All in all, he also beat a King of Pancrase, a Strikeforce champion, four former UFC Heavyweight Champions, a few UFC title contenders, a Strikeforce title contender, a RINGS champion & PRIDE Grand Prix runner up, and WVC Tournament Winner. Even gatekeepers like Gary Goodridge and Kazuyuki Fujita had something to offer as both had some good wins under their resumes along with mostly losing to top notch competition. Both were also semifinalists in big tournaments while Goodridge won one in International Vale Tudo and was the runner up in a UFC tournament. I would also add Pedro Rizzo, Satoshi Ishii, and Ryushi Yanagisawa but I decided not to as the Rizzo fight was Rizzo's first in two years, Ishii has beat name fighters but they're all aging and passed their prime, Yanagisawa was a tournament runner up and title contender in Pancrase while beating some names but he never won the big one . If it weren't for those factors then I would include them. Now, like any fighter, Emelianenko has faced his share of cans, no doubt. He fought a few in RINGS when he started but this isn't anything unusual compared to other legends as they all started small.

What's interesting is that despite not having fought in the UFC, Emelianenko has beaten many UFC alumni. His hitlist includes four former UFC Heavyweight Champions, a future UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion, a future UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship contender, three former UFC Heavyweight Championship contenders, a future UFC Light Heavyweight Championship contender, a former UFC Middleweight Championship contender, and a UFC tournament runner up & semifinalist.

In fact, during his prime, Emelianenko fought only three cans: Yuji Nagata, Zuluzinho, and Hong Man Choi but each came for certain reasons. Nagata is a legendary Japanese pro wrestler that was forced to fight by New Japan boss Antonio Inoki for his Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye show and Emelianenko was in it for a good payday because he's a prize fighter who makes a living fighting. Zuluzinho was mostly because there was nobody else besides Sergei Kharitonov. By December 2005, Emelianenko had already beat Coleman once, Noguiera twice, Cro Cop, Randleman, and Kohsaka. Barnett, Rizzo, Werdum, and Nastula were coming off losses (Barnett & Rizzo were winless in PRIDE at the time while Nastula was winless in his career at the time). Hunt hadn't fought in exactly a year. Gilbert Yvel was in and out at the time all the while not being that successful in PRIDE. He probably wouldn't fight his brother Alexander or team mate Roman Zetsov (Zetsov was also on a four fight losing streak). Say what you will about Zuluzinho but he was 5-0 with one no contest in sanctioned MMA and has a supposed 38-0 Vale Tudo record with all wins by knockout but this has never been confirmed. Honestly, besides Kharitonov, if Emelianenko fought anyone else then critics would still complain as they would either say he beat someone he already beat or he beat someone coming off a loss and they were not at their best or they would say he took advantage of Hunt not having fought in a year or would say Yvel was a gatekeeper at the time. As for Choi, Emelianenko was between companies as PRIDE shut down months earlier, he didn't go to the UFC, and there wasn't many other major companies. Sure Choi was 1-0 and beat someone insignificant but that's better than James Toney who had no MMA experience but signed with the UFC for a one fight deal against Randy Couture. It's better than CM Punk who signed with the UFC who not only has no MMA background but no combat sports or grappling background. At least Choi was 1-0 in MMA, had fought in K-1 where he won a tournament, and was a Ssireum national champion in South Korea (Ssireum is a type of Korean folk wrestling). That's also not as bad as Brock Lesnar signing with the UFC despite being 1-0 and not only was his opponent a can but was also a replacement for Choi. You can bet that if Lesnar beat Choi instead of Min Soo Kim that would still be enough for a UFC contract. This isn't me trying knock on the UFC but my point is, Choi isn't the worst opponent in the world even if he is a can. Now don't get me wrong, I'm trying to claim that Nagata, Zuluzinho, and Choi weren't cans or be anti-UFC. My point is that it's not the most damning thing in MMA history and Emelianenko had his reasons instead of being "scared" or "not wanting to fight the best".

Also, by not competing in the UFC, Emelianenko likely wouldn't have fought the competitiors with the type of great backgrounds they had. Arona was highly decorated in submission wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as he won a gold medal in Confiderate Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's Brazilian Championships as well as two golds and two silvers in the World Championships. He also captured three gold medals in the Abu Dhabi Combat Club along with defeating two time UFC tournament winner Mark Kerr and was also the first (and to date only) competitor to not only be undefeated at the ADCC but he never lost a point. Babalu was a senior Brazilian freestyle national wrestling champion and placed sixth in the Pan American Championships. Semmy Schilt would later become one of the greatest kickboxers of all time but prior to the Emelianenko fight, Schilt was a two time International Budo Kai European Champion in full contact karate and a three time IBK Dutch Champion in full contact karate. Noguiera won two gold medals and a bronze in the CBJJ's Brazilian Championships, two golds in their Pan-American Championships, a silver and a bronze in their World Championships. Fujita was a national greco-roman wrestling champion and missed qualifying for the Japanese Olympic team by one point. Goodridge was an amateur boxing champion. Coleman was an NCAA Division I champion in freestyle wrestling, won three gold medals in the Pan-American Championships, one gold in the Pan-American Games, a silver in the World Championships, and placed seventh in the 1992 Olympics. Randleman was a two time NCAA Division I Champion and a runner up in another while having one of the best three year runs in the history of the NCAA and the third best winning percentage in Ohio State University history. He likely had a good chance to threepeat but didn't wrestle during his senior year to due academic issues. Ogawa was an Olympic silver medalist in judo. Cro Cop is a world class striker as he has a 40-5 record in amateur boxing as well as winning two silvers & two bronze medals and is a highly successful kickboxer with his biggest achievement at the time being the runner up in the 1999 K-1 World Grand Prix (K-1's highest honor). Hunt was the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix winner, placed third in 2002, and won three other K-1 tournaments. Lindland is an Olympic silver medalist in greco-roman wrestling. Choi is a Ssireum wrestling champion. Werdum, who he lost to, is a world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Monson has won many medals in submission wrestling from Abu Dhabi Combat Club and FILA Grappling World Championship as well as being a world champion in no gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ishii is an Olympic gold medalist in judo. All in all, Emelianenko could've face some decorated fighters in the UFC but he would've missed out on many others. He also wouldn't have face world class strikers like Cro Cop, wrestlers that were as decorated as Coleman or Randleman, and olympic medal winners like Ogawa or Lindland or Ishii.

Now let's a look at the UFC roster and why it's not that big of a deal that Emelianenko has not competed there. While I will come off picky in some cases, the standards have to be high. People say Emelianenko has to fight in the UFC so the fighters have to be great not simply good. I'm looking for guys who were champions or top contenders and had longevity. I'm not interested in fighters who never won a major title or challenged for one in the UFC or outside of it. I'm not interested in gatekeepers. I'm also not interested in fighters that may have won titles but flamed out very quickly. We'll look at the roster in three parts. Part 1 will be from 2002-2007 when Emelianenko was in PRIDE, part 2 will be 2007-2012 which was between PRIDE being purchased and Emelianenko's retirement, and part 3 is his comeback this year.

From 2002-2007, it's clear UFC's heavyweight division was terribly weak and Emelianenko had no reason to be there.

Randy Couture- A legend in MMA but Couture went winless in 2002 and from there, the two wouldn't have fought as Couture dropped to light heavyweight in 2003 and remained there until his eleven month retirement from 2006-2007.

Josh Barnett- Another legend who won the UFC Heavyweight Championship in March 2002 but was then stripped of it and suspended in July after testing positive for three different steroids. From there, Barnett left the UFC and wouldn't return until 2013.

Ricco Rodriguez- A good fighter who won the UFC Heavyweight Championship but lost it in his first title defense and fizzled from there as he was gone by late 2003. He's been a very active and successful journeyman but has never been an elite fighter again likely because of his drug addictions.

Tim Sylvia- Fedor would beat him anyway in 2008.

Frank Mir- Was mostly an up and coming fighter from 2001-2003 with his only notable wins being against Pete Williams (who he retired) and an aging, one dimensional Tank Abbott. He won the UFC Heavyweight Championship in 2004 but then spent August 2004 to February 2006 out of action due to a motorcycle accident and then stumbled through the rest of 2006 as he attempted to regain his lost momentum.

Andrei Arlovski- Fedor would beat him anyway in 2009 when he was considered a concensious top three fighter.

Kevin Randleman- Randleman's last UFC fight was in January 2002 and that was at light heavyweight. Fedor would beat him anyway in 2004.

Gan McGee- A decent fighter but had only one notable win which was against Pedro Rizzo and never achieved his full potential. After failing to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship and not being given a rematch after Tim Sylvia was stripped due to a failed drug test, he left the company and admitted he lost his passion. During his career, McGee wouldn't defeat any other name fighter and never won a major championship

Justin Eilers- A decent fighter that got a UFC Interim Heavyweight Title shot and later, an EliteXC Heavyweight Title shot but was never a great fighter and only had one notable win over Mike Kyle. He was around when the UFC Heavyweight Division was weak and he went 1-3 in the promotion. Along with this, Eilers never won a major championship or scored any other good wins as he lost to every other good fighter he faced.

Pedro Rizzo- Fedor beat him anyway in 2012. To be fair, he did beat him when he was coming off a two year lay off. Nevertheless, Emelianenko still beat him and even if Rizzo was passed his prime, Fedor was too so it's not like a young up and comer smashing an old fighter. Not to mention that as good as Rizzo was, he was also one of UFC's biggest chokers as he ties with Kenny Florian and Chael Sonnen with the record of most title shots received without ever winning a UFC Title (3).

Jeff Monson- Fedor would beat him in 2011 and honestly, it was better that he waited. Monson in and out of the UFC during this period anyway. Not to mention that while he was the Cage Warrior Champion and received a UFC Title shot, he didn't score any notable wins until after he left the UFC.

Paul Buentello- A decent fighter that got a title shot and is a former King of the Cage Heavyweight Champion but was gatekeeper material that only got a UFC Title shot because the division was weak. He went 3-1 but outside a win over Eilers, his other two wins were over tomato cans.

As you can see, The UFC only really had two opponents at the time Fedor could've faced in Sylvia and Arlovski but he beat both of them anyway later. PRIDE clearly had the better options as they not only had the fighters Fedor beat but they also had Don Frye, Mark Kerr (Kerr only fought once during Fedor's PRIDE run but would've likely been in the heavyweight grand prix if he beat Yoshihisa Yamamoto), Igor Vovchanchyn, Sergei Kharitonov, and Josh Barnett. Not to mention that Japan allowed openweight fights so there was possibilities that Fedor could've faced fighters like Wanderlei Silva or Kazushi Sakuraba. So now let's take a look at the roster from 2007-2012. Now here, we get some more options and a few dream fights but at most, we only got four big opponents for Fedor which is Randy Couture, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, and Junior Dos Santos.

Brock Lesnar- Lesnar won the UFC Heavyweight Championship but he was a flash in the pan that didn't even last ten fights which I think was a combination of the diverticulitis and getting exposed. Lesnar was nothing more than a great one dimensional wrestler who got into MMA to make money. He never had a lot of passion, never evolved as a fighter (choking out a gassed Shane Carwin doesn't count for improved grappling), and was known to mentally fall apart whenever he got hit in the face. Fedor would've been in a lose/lose situation anyway. If he beat Lesnar before 2009, critics would say he beat a green Brock. If he beat Lesnar during 2010-2011, critics would say he beat a Lesnar who suffered from diverticulitis and he wasn't at his best. Another thing is besides size, what did Lesnar have to offer that Fedor didn't face before? Lesnar was basically a super size Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman who was mostly a wrestler who would live and die off his wrestling. If he could take fighters down then he was a threat but if he couldn't, he was screwed as he showed in the Velasquez and Overeem fights. Speaking of Coleman and Randleman, you could argue that they were better wrestlers. Lesnar was an NCAA Division I Champion but so was Coleman. Coleman was also a gold medalist at the Pan American Games and a silver medalist at the World Championships along with placing seventh at the 1992 Olympics. Randleman won two NCAA Division I Championships.

Shane Carwin- Another flash in the pan who crushed ten tomato cans and only had two good wins which were over Gonzaga and Mir before bottoming out against Lesnar and Dos Santos. Carwin didn't last long and got exposed as a fighter that didn't have the best cardio and didn't have any other way besides his knockout power to win. Sure, Carwin had one punch power but he showed in the Lesnar and Dos Santos fights that if he couldn't knock them out then he had no plan b and would proceed to get crushed. Injuries were also a big issue and would ultimately end his career.

Gabriel Gonzaga- A former UFC title contender who did get a win over Cro Cop but Gonzaga was mostly a gatekeeper. He's a good fighter but not an elite fighter much less someone a fighter has to beat in order to prove they're "for real".

Cheick Kongo- Another good fighter with a win over Cro Cop but another gatekeeper who wasn't elite. Not a bad fighter by any means to have on your resume but not an amazing one either. Was never a title challenger in the UFC nor did he ever score another win over a big name like Cro Cop.

Roy Nelson- An Ultimate Fighter winner and former IFL Heavyweight Champion but yet another gatekeeper who never reached elite status and was not much a threat to elite level competition. He's never been a UFC Champion or title contender. He never beat anyone of note before going to the UFC though his loss to Jeff Monson was considered controversial and his only note worthy wins in the UFC at that point are against an aging Mirko Cro Cop and Cheick Kongo.

Brendan Schaub- An Ultimate Fighter runner up who started very well but has since turned out to be nothing more than a middle of the pack fighter with a horrible chin. Once his chin was exposed, he never showed the same potential he seemed to have early in his career. Only notable stuff was wins over Cro Cop and Gonzaga.

Matt Mitrone- Like Schaub, Mitrone is another football player turned MMA fighter that is a middle of the pack fighter. Mitrone has had some success but he's not and never will be an elite level fighter. Not to mention that during this period, he didn't have a win over a name fighter.

Ben Rothwell- Not an elite fighter and he looked dreadful during this period even in victory. He was destroyed by Velasquez, looked atrocious against Yvel, and outgrappled against Hunt. He was also out of action for a certain period due to injuries. Not to mention that Rothwell hadn't won a major title though he did have a couple of notable wins.

Travis Browne- Good prospect but at the time, he didn't have any notable wins and wasn't a title contender.

Mirko Cro Cop- Fedor already beat him in his prime.

Heath Herring- Fedor already beat him in his prime.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira- Fedor already beat him twice in his prime.

Mark Hunt- Fedor already beat him.

As you can see, there was definitely some nice dream fights but the majority of UFC's heavyweight division during this period weren't elite or major fighters. In fact, you can make an argument that the better heavyweights were outside the UFC. During this time, Emelianenko had a lot of fighters to compete against outside the UFC. There was Tim Sylvia who he ended up beating. Andrei Arlovski who he ended up beating. Josh Barnett who he was supposed to fight before Barnett failed a drug test. Alistair Overeem who was one of the most successful combat sports fighters during this period as he held two MMA belts in Strikeforce and DREAM while also venturing into K-1 Kickboxing and winning their 2010 World Grand Prix. Antonio Silva, who he lost to, held three different heavyweight championships in Cage Rage, Cage Warriors, and EliteXC while having beat some solid fighters during this period including Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez, former UFC Interim Title contender Justin Eilers, and former King of the Cage champion Mike Kyle. Daniel Cormier was also beginning his rise in 2010 when he won the King of the Cage Heavyweight Championship and then began to climb the ladder in Strikeforce although his rise was faster than expected due to Overeem pulling out of the heavyweight grand prix. Then there was Sergei Kharitonov as he vs. Fedor was a fight that was never done in PRIDE. Jeff Monson voluntarally left the UFC so he wasn't damage goods. Along with that, he was already a former Cage Warriors Heavyweight Champion and UFC Heavyweight Championship contender while beginning to score some name wins as well as win three regional belts. He also had one of the busiest schedules in MMA going 24-7-1 between 2007-2012. There was also King Mo who had a good track record at this point, won the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship, and defeated Emelianenko's former team mate Gegard Mousasi. Best of all, Mo has competed at heavyweight so it wouldn't be unusual for them to fight there. I would like to put Fabricio Werdum on here as he was a top ten when he beat Emelianenko but since he was cut from the UFC and didn't win any major title or tournament yet then he was considered damaged goods.

Now we'll take a look at 2015 which is the return of Emelianenko. Once again, we got some good fights but again, there isn't like a ton of elite and decorated fighters and some of the ones that are there are either not as hot as they were years ago or Emelianenko beat them already and he shouldn't have to beat them again to prove himself. At this point, the only fights Emelianenko would NEED to have is Fabricio Werdum & Bigfoot Silva as they are still top heavyweights as well as having beat Emelianenko before.

Cain Velasquez- This is one of those fights that seems like a no brainer but as of writing, it's not. Since Velasquez won the title from Brock in October 2010, he has not scratched the surface of what he can accomplish. While he has the talent, hit list, and trophy case, he also has two big problems. First is that as champion, Velasquez went a four year period where he only fought the same two guys. While Junior Dos Santos and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva are great fighters, you can't spend a four year period having only fought the same two opponents. His recent fight against Werdum was the first fight in five years where he didn't face either JDS or Bigfoot. A second and much bigger problem is health. Velasquez has earned a very awful reputation as injury prone. It's gotten to the point where he not only seems to be hurt all the time but suffers serious injuries that keep him out for long periods. He only fought once in 2011, he didn't even fight at all in 2014 as he entered the year hurt and then got hurt again before a scheduled fight, and is only scheduled to fight once in 2015. Velasquez has potential to be an amazing champion but before Emelianenko NEEDS to fight him in order to "prove himself", Velasquez has to defeat more guys and prove he can stay healthy. I have no doubt this can be a great fight but given the current situations with Velasquez, does Fedor really have to fight him in order to prove he's for real? No. I also would want to see if Velasqeuz bounces back from the Werdum loss and proves to be a force to be reckoning with. The last thing Emelianenko should want is to sign with the UFC, Velasquez loses to Werdum, and then Emelianenko possibly beats him so then the critics (especially those who said Velasquez is the greatest heavyweight of all time) can say that he beat a declining Velasquez instead of a prime one.

Junior Dos Santos- Like Velasquez, JDS is another one that seems to be good but he's another one who's seen better days. His third fight with Velasquez two years ago seem to be one of those fights where someone got the prime beat out of them. Since that destructive loss, he's only fought once in two years and that was a year ago. Speaking of that fight, he looked lackluster and while he beat Stipe Miocic, you could argue he should've lost. Like Velasquez, his schedule has also been limited as he only fought once in 2014 and he'll only fight once in 2015. His upcoming fight with Overeem will also show where JDS is at this point. If he beats him and looks incredible then you could make a good argument for a Fedor/JDS fight but if he loses or looks terrible then it can be argued that JDS is in decline. Like Velasquez, I don't want to see Fedor enter the UFC and possibly defeat a declining JDS especially since critics will try to cheapen the win and say he didn't beat him at his best. Plus, Dos Santos may not return to top form and flame out quickly like Lesnar and Carwin.

Alistair Overeem- This fight would've been better five years ago when Overeem held the heavyweight titles in Strikeforce and DREAM while also winning the K-1 World Grand Prix title which made him one of the top combat sports fighters, period. Since then, Overeem has suffered a couple of upset losses which hurt his stock, he failed a drug test, and has yet to receive a UFC Title shot, let alone win the belt. Beating Overeem is always a good achievement but not as big as it was five years ago or something Emelianenko needs to do giving Overeem's recent setbacks.

Josh Barnett- This fight would've been better when it was supposed to happen six years ago. Back then, Emelianenko was ranked the #1 heavyweight in the world while Barnett was ranked #3. However, it didn't happen when Barnett failed a drug test while attempting to renew his fight license. If this fight never happens, nobody can blame Emelianenko as he agreed to fight Barnett but Barnett screwed up. Meanwhile, Barnett's future is up in the air anyway as he only fought once in the past two years and it's unknown when or if he'll fight again.

Daniel Cormier- Another fight that looks great but the problem is that Cormier has cut to light heavyweight and recently stated that he doesn't plan to move back up. It's not known if a fight with Emelianenko will entice him to move back up or not but probably not since beating Emelianenko is not the white whale it was five years ago before the Werdum loss. Don't get me wrong, beating Emelianenko still and will always mean something but is it enough for a guy to move back to a division his good friend is a top star at and one Cormier moved away from because he and his friend didn't want to fight? Probably not. If Cormier is interesting then it is a fight seeking but not one he should sign with the UFC over unless it's guaranteed to be on the table.

Frank Mir- One of UFC's all time greats but his days are over. Mir is 2-5 since 2012 and while he lost to great competition, he wasn't competitive in those fights. In fact, there were even calls for him to retire before he beat Antonio Silva as he lost four in a row and wasn't very active. Even worse is that he not only saw his two fight win streak get snapped by Arlovski but he looked awful and out of shape. This is another fight that would've been better years ago.

Andrei Arlovski- Fedor already beat him in 2009 when he was ranked as high as #2 in the world. Unless Arlovski becomes the #1 heavyweight in the world, then there's no reason for Fedor to have to fight him again to prove he's for real.

Roy Nelson- Other than knock out a washed up Nogueira, Nelson hasn't done anything of note in years and is currently riding a three fight losing streak as of writing. If anything, Nelson is barely hanging on to his job at this point.

Travis Browne- Browne has scored some big wins against Gonzaga, Overeem, and Barnett while looking like a star on the rise but he has also lost badly whenever he seems to be on the verge of a title shot. While losing to Werdum and Arlovski aren't bad losses at all, he still looked horrible in both. Now he's banging his head on the glass ceiling as his momentum has stalled and he still hasn't competed for the championship.

Stipe Miocic- Miocic is probably the brightest prospect in the heavyweight division but is still a few fights away from a title shot and only has two notable wins which were over Roy Nelson & Mark Hunt (though his loss to Junior Dos Santos was controversial). Has potential to be great but isn't in the position yet where Fedor has to fight him in order to prove himself.

Mark Hunt- Fedor already beat him and shouldn't have to do it again to prove himself unless Hunt were to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Ben Rothwell- Rothwell has been on a winning streak as a writing with a big upset win over Overeem but he's still not a title contender nor has he gotten a title shot yet. He's not in the position where Fedor needs to face him.

So again, there's some options but unless Velasquez, JDS, and Overeem show resurgences and/or Travis Browne and Stipe Miocic take that next level then Fedor has two opponents that he really needs to seek out. Once again, beating these fighters are good to great achievements but again, if people say Emelianenko has to compete in the UFC to prove himself especially after all the years of success he's had then I want a murderer's row of elite fighters. I also want the top fighters to not show decline because if Fedor was to beat them, I don't want any excuses about him beating them passed their prime. As for outside options, I can't make any comparisons because Rizin Fighting Federation is a new promotion. We have to wait and see who they sign. While they do have deals and partnerships with Bellator MMA, BAMMA, KSW, and Jungle Fight to name some but we don't know who will they will send over.

In the end, it's a matter of opinion whether you think Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest fighter ever. However, I hope this article explained that The Last Emperor is no farce who only fought cans his whole career as he clearly fought many good to great fighters. I also hope that this article showed that a career doesn't live or die on the UFC and that you can have a legendary career without stepping foot into the octagon especially when your prime was at a time when PRIDE, not the UFC, was the place to be.