You have to have seen his last three fights to put the losses into perspective.

Against Fabricio Werdum, he actuall dropped Werdum and was hitting him while Werdum was on his back before Werdum, being the BJJ black belt that he is, secured a combination triangle choke/armbar and forced Fedor to tap. Either way, Fedor was close to winning that fight before getting caught.

Against Antonio Silva, Fedor was up against a much larger fighter, was getting beat up, but was in the fight. After the second round, the doctor stopped the fight, but Fedor was ready to go. In my opinion, had the fight gone to the third, Fedor had a good chance to win it.

Against Dan Henderson, Fedor was teeing off on Dan, got him up against the cage and on his back, but slipped, gave up his back, which allowed Henderson to land an uppercut that dropped Fedor, causing the ref to stop the fight. Again, like against Werdum, Fedor was winning the fight and could have stopped it due to strikes if not for a mistake.

On any given day in the cage, Fedor is still one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the business. Unfortunately, that law of averages has caught up with him and he's suffered three consecutive defeats, each of which could have been victories.

There was also talk of retirement after both the Silva fight and the Henderson fight. This leads me to believe that his head may not have been 100% in the game. In the sport of MMA, you have to be mentally and physically ready for a fight. You also have to be hungry for a fight. With the word "retirement" being thrown around, I do question his hunger these days.

Originally posted by bobdigi
You have to have seen his last three fights to put the losses into perspective.

Against Fabricio Werdum, he actuall dropped Werdum and was hitting him while Werdum was on his back before Werdum, being the BJJ black belt that he is, secured a combination triangle choke/armbar and forced Fedor to tap. Either way, Fedor was close to winning that fight before getting caught.

Against Antonio Silva, Fedor was up against a much larger fighter, was getting beat up, but was in the fight. After the second round, the doctor stopped the fight, but Fedor was ready to go. In my opinion, had the fight gone to the third, Fedor had a good chance to win it.

Against Dan Henderson, Fedor was teeing off on Dan, got him up against the cage and on his back, but slipped, gave up his back, which allowed Henderson to land an uppercut that dropped Fedor, causing the ref to stop the fight. Again, like against Werdum, Fedor was winning the fight and could have stopped it due to strikes if not for a mistake.

On any given day in the cage, Fedor is still one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the business. Unfortunately, that law of averages has caught up with him and he's suffered three consecutive defeats, each of which could have been victories.

in the werdum fight fedors fist never even made contact,werdum fell over backwards and fedor "should" have let him stand back up,...around 50% of fedors wins are against opponents taller and heavier than he is...did you check out the fedor vs goodridge fight link that i posted? look how fast,hard and accurate fedors striking "was,"...fedor knocked around tim silvia like a rag doll and tim silvia's weight,height and reach are a lot more than fedor who is 6ft tall,230lbs with a 74" reach, tim silvia is 6ft 8" tall 300lbs with an 80" reach and fedor crushed him really fast,but fedor gets knocked around by bigfoot silva whos a lot smaller than tim silvia !?!?

for the past five years fedor was the main reason why i liked to watch mma...now it nick diaz and i've greatly admired him for quite a while now,nick diaz gets better and better and soon he'll be facing george st pierre! who is not a finisher so i'll go with nick diaz

First of all he got old which happens to every combat sport athlete not named Bernard Hopkins, or Randy Couture. Furthermore, he wasn't the killer that everyone seems to think he was. Yes he beat up Cro-cop and Nog but that was YEARS ago. In his prime he was probably the best heavyweight in the world. He hasn't been in his prime in a long time. It happened to Liddell, Hughes, It's happening to BJ Penn, and it will happen to GSP and Anderson Silva. MMA fans have this strange dichotomous way of thinking where if you win you're unbeatable and as soon as you lose you're done. Fedor is still a good fighter and he has the power in his hands to change the course of a fight with one punch, but his days as the pre-eminent fighter in the division are behind him.

PS if you're using his fights against giants with no fighting ability to prove how great he was you need to go back and watch UFC 1. The Smaller more skilled fighter will win 99 times out of 100.

i dont think the giant fighters he was beating up on were talentless or they wouldnt even be in the ring in the first place.he pounded andre arlovsky 6ft 4",semmy shilt 6ft 11" and tim silvia 6ft 8" ,to name just three...i'd like to see "the non finisher judges champion george st pierre" perpetually beat up on fighters 50lbs heavier than himself...no way... it wouldnt happen...when bj penn loses,people complain that the other guy was 2 lbs heavier!!!

what happened is simple

he is not in 110% in fighting anymore
he's psychically exhausted
and years keep coming. no going back. motive is going down. so many years on top...

he's still good fighter, one of the best if you ask me but he'll keep loosing until he finds new challenge in martial sports. Same thing happened to Mirko Filipović.

While he was hungry for victories, he was in matches 200% in. Then came years, heavy injuries, family.
You know people get old, evolve, have different life motives...

Originally posted by Dinamo
what happened is simple

he is not in 110% in fighting anymore
he's psychically exhausted
and years keep coming. no going back. motive is going down. so many years on top...

he's still good fighter, one of the best if you ask me but he'll keep loosing until he finds new challenge in martial sports. Same thing happened to Mirko Filipović.

While he was hungry for victories, he was in matches 200% in. Then came years, heavy injuries, family.
You know people get old, evolve, have different life motives...

thanx for your comment...did you watch the footage of fedor in the link?...he was intense!

Originally posted by blocula
i dont think the giant fighters he was beating up on were talentless or they wouldnt even be in the ring in the first place.he pounded andre arlovsky 6ft 4",semmy shilt 6ft 11" and tim silvia 6ft 8" ,to name just three...i'd like to see "the non finisher judges champion george st pierre" perpetually beat up on fighters 50lbs heavier than himself...no way... it wouldnt happen...when bj penn loses,people complain that the other guy was 2 lbs heavier!!!

edit on 17-8-2011 by blocula because: (no reason given)

I was referring to the video of Fedor beating Hong Man Choi when I said giants with no fighting ability, but since you brought it up. Arlovski has a Glass Chin but was dominating the fight until his weakness caught up with him. I'd say that fight was an example of how Fedor's skills had slipped since his prime in the middle of the last decade. Semmy Schilt is a Kickboxer with no ground game and Tim Sylvia has been Ko'd by a 40+ Ray Mercer. I'm not saying these guys are talentless.. I am saying that Fedor beating them does nothing to prove he is at the upper echelon of the Heavyweight division. As for GSP... Throw him in against Giant Silva or Hong Man Choi and he'll win... Easily.. In fact I'd give GSP the edge against Fedor giving up 40lbs.

Your boy Diaz is on a tear... I think that stops against GSP. GSP will grind out another lopsided victory without finishing. I'd love to see Diaz take it.. But GSP isn't getting KO'd by Diaz and he isn't getting subbed.

I like GSP as a person but as a fighter he's so boring to watch. You really think Diaz has a chance?