After His Exit From the Big Stage, How Will MMA Remember Fedor Emelianenko?

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Fedor EmelianenkoFedor Emelianenko doesn't have to go home to Stary Oskol, but he can't stay in Zuffa. After three straight losses in Strikeforce, the man who once demanded the sun and the stars in order to sign with the UFC now can't even hang on in the company's second-tier organization.

Unlike the surprising decision to drop several promising Golden Glory fighters with one big slash of the ax, this is one we should have seen coming.

But now that the man who was once the world's greatest heavyweight has been given his walking papers, what does it mean for his immediate future? And decades from now, when we sit our grandchildren on our robotic knees in front of our holographic fireplaces, how will the firing of Fedor color the story of his legacy?

The answer to the first question ought to be simple. With the doors of the two biggest MMA organizations now closed to him, and with the numbers suddenly piling up in the loss category, now might be the time for Fedor to seek out the retired life that he's been eyeing for a while now.

I say it ought to be that simple, but that doesn't mean it will be.

There's only thing that Fedor's M-1 Global management team likes better than using him as their walking billboard, and it's touting their credentials as fight promoters. It's not at all hard to imagine Fedor getting talked into one or two more can-crushing contests in some half-full arena somewhere, and -- who knows? -- maybe now that Alistair Overeem doesn't have much going on, the Golden Glory and M-1 Global beef could be set aside in the name of making the only available fight that might matter for either of them.

But that still leaves us with the bigger question of legacy. After dominating the Japanese scene and then crumbling shortly after coming to the U.S., will Fedor's glory days still seem so glorious when we look back on them after his story is finished?

The answer to that question will depend largely on how fans remember Pride. Back when it was still alive and kicking, the Japanese organization was a viable rival to the UFC. Sure, it had its problems (not to mention the occasional doubts about legitimacy), but to many fans those seemed more like endearing quirks. I might not want to show a clip of some poor schlub getting headstomped if I were trying to make my case for MMA as a whole, but I'll still throw in the 2005 Grand Prix DVD if I'm home alone and feeling nostalgic.

But Fedor's greatest accomplishments across the Pacific were wins over the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, both of whom seemed a lot more beatable within a few years of coming to the UFC. The generous fan will chalk that up to the ravages of age, but not every MMA fan is so generous.

As a contrast, look at the legacy of Wanderlei Silva. He made his name in Pride, and hasn't done much of note in the UFC. Even so, fans still regard him as a hero from a bygone age, and that's without a winning streak to match Fedor's.

So what's the difference? For starters, Silva's reputation was built more on style than on dominance. He won a lot of big fights against a lot of big fighters, but even his losses were something to see. He brought the excitement and the intensity every time, and that's something you can't take away from him even if you chip away at the quality of his opponents. We know now that beating Yuki Kondo isn't the pinnacle of athletic achievement, but so what? Wanderlei is beloved for being Wanderlei, and that won't change no matter how many times he gets knocked out.

Fedor, on the other hand, was all about perfection. He went a decade without losing, which not only made up for his lack of a personality, but made it into a part of a larger mystery. If people begin to lose their sense of awe at his wins in Japan, or even his wins in the U.S. (face it, beating Sylvia, Arlovski, and Rogers doesn't mean what it used to) then his string of losses in Strikeforce might seem like more than just a natural decline.

What's easy to forget, however, is that at a time when Pride had the world's best heavyweights, Fedor was the best among them. Back when the UFC heavyweight division was the Sylvia-Arlovski show over and over again, Fedor was running through the best competition of his day.

And really, isn't that what should matter most -- a fighter's performance in his prime against the best of his time? By that metric, Fedor is still one of the best to ever do it, regardless of whether you think the heavyweights of 2005 could hang with the big boys of today.

The biggest problem for Fedor's legacy isn't his performances, but his management. By keeping him out of the UFC and then, even after signing with Strikeforce, dodging Alistair Overeem, M-1 Global gave legs to the argument that Fedor was ducking top competition. They tried to make Fedor a promotion unto himself, and in the process they kept him out of the fights fans really wanted to see.

That's the worst part. As Fedor fades away, it's hard not to wonder what he might (or might not) have been capable of back when he was at his most capable. Just because he loses a few fights in his mid-thirties, that doesn't mean he wasn't one of the sport's great ones. Few fighting careers end on high notes, after all. That part is nothing new.

What will hurt Fedor more than anything is that, when the time came to choose between forging a legacy and cutting a deal that would let him splash the words 'M-1 Global' all over the cage, he chose the deal. Or at least, he chose the people who chose the deal on his behalf. He wanted it his way, and that meant more to him than how he'd be remembered. Now that he's gone, at least from MMA's biggest stages, don't be surprised if that's a part of what people remember.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/08/04/after-his-exit-from-the-big-stage-how-will-mma-remember-fedor-e/

Dan Bobish Vagam Bodjukyan Kotetsu Boku  Tony Bonello

Marquardt signs with the U.K.?s Bamma

Nate Marquardt isn't waiting around for the UFC to change its mind. The elite middleweight has decided to fight for one of the biggest international promotions, Bamma in England.

Bamma is highly successful promotion in the U.K. The next scheduled card comes in early September. That includes 185-pound title fight with Frank Trigg challenging Tom Watson. Paul Daley has been a big draw in the past as well for Bamma.

Through BAMMA P.R., Marquardt had this to say:

"Offers came in from several fight promotions, but we felt that BAMMA was definitely the best fit. They put on high-quality shows, stack their cards with top-level fighters, and sign those fighters to multi-fight deals.  They are also the only fight organization in the UK that implements PED testing," Marquardt said. "To be honest, that is one of the main reasons that we chose BAMMA. I want to prove to my fans and to the world that I'm the real deal and that I belong on top."

Liam Fisher from Bamma jumped at the chance to sign Marquardt.

"As soon as we received word that the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission lifted Marquardt's suspension we jumped at the chance to sign him. He is a top ranked contender and an asset to any promotion. Words cannot express how excited we are that Marquardt is now fighting under the BAMMA banner," said Fisher.

Marquardt is expected to speak at length about the signing tonight on ESPN's MMA Live.

Marquardt and his management team spoke with U.S.-basedBellator, arguably the No. 1 non-Zuffa owned MMA promotion in the country, but nothing officially materialized.

Bellator was hoping to set up a fight between Marquardt and the promotion's unstoppable champion Hector Lombard. Lombard lashed out again at Marquardt on a local Miami-area radio station.

"He's getting offered more money than me, more money than anybody and he doesn't want to take the fight," Lombard told 790 the Ticket in Miami. "They offered him a one-fight deal. They didn't offer him any contract, a one-fight deal. Way more money than he was making in UFC."

It was previously thought that Marquardt may have turned down the deal because he was asked to enter a Bellator middleweight tournament and work his way up the ladder to get Lombard.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Marquardt-signs-with-the-U-K-s-Bamma?urn=mma-wp4948

Akihiro Gono Gabriel Gonzaga Lyman Good Gary Goodridge

After His Exit From the Big Stage, How Will MMA Remember Fedor Emelianenko?

Filed under:

Fedor EmelianenkoFedor Emelianenko doesn't have to go home to Stary Oskol, but he can't stay in Zuffa. After three straight losses in Strikeforce, the man who once demanded the sun and the stars in order to sign with the UFC now can't even hang on in the company's second-tier organization.

Unlike the surprising decision to drop several promising Golden Glory fighters with one big slash of the ax, this is one we should have seen coming.

But now that the man who was once the world's greatest heavyweight has been given his walking papers, what does it mean for his immediate future? And decades from now, when we sit our grandchildren on our robotic knees in front of our holographic fireplaces, how will the firing of Fedor color the story of his legacy?

The answer to the first question ought to be simple. With the doors of the two biggest MMA organizations now closed to him, and with the numbers suddenly piling up in the loss category, now might be the time for Fedor to seek out the retired life that he's been eyeing for a while now.

I say it ought to be that simple, but that doesn't mean it will be.

There's only thing that Fedor's M-1 Global management team likes better than using him as their walking billboard, and it's touting their credentials as fight promoters. It's not at all hard to imagine Fedor getting talked into one or two more can-crushing contests in some half-full arena somewhere, and -- who knows? -- maybe now that Alistair Overeem doesn't have much going on, the Golden Glory and M-1 Global beef could be set aside in the name of making the only available fight that might matter for either of them.

But that still leaves us with the bigger question of legacy. After dominating the Japanese scene and then crumbling shortly after coming to the U.S., will Fedor's glory days still seem so glorious when we look back on them after his story is finished?

The answer to that question will depend largely on how fans remember Pride. Back when it was still alive and kicking, the Japanese organization was a viable rival to the UFC. Sure, it had its problems (not to mention the occasional doubts about legitimacy), but to many fans those seemed more like endearing quirks. I might not want to show a clip of some poor schlub getting headstomped if I were trying to make my case for MMA as a whole, but I'll still throw in the 2005 Grand Prix DVD if I'm home alone and feeling nostalgic.

But Fedor's greatest accomplishments across the Pacific were wins over the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, both of whom seemed a lot more beatable within a few years of coming to the UFC. The generous fan will chalk that up to the ravages of age, but not every MMA fan is so generous.

As a contrast, look at the legacy of Wanderlei Silva. He made his name in Pride, and hasn't done much of note in the UFC. Even so, fans still regard him as a hero from a bygone age, and that's without a winning streak to match Fedor's.

So what's the difference? For starters, Silva's reputation was built more on style than on dominance. He won a lot of big fights against a lot of big fighters, but even his losses were something to see. He brought the excitement and the intensity every time, and that's something you can't take away from him even if you chip away at the quality of his opponents. We know now that beating Yuki Kondo isn't the pinnacle of athletic achievement, but so what? Wanderlei is beloved for being Wanderlei, and that won't change no matter how many times he gets knocked out.

Fedor, on the other hand, was all about perfection. He went a decade without losing, which not only made up for his lack of a personality, but made it into a part of a larger mystery. If people begin to lose their sense of awe at his wins in Japan, or even his wins in the U.S. (face it, beating Sylvia, Arlovski, and Rogers doesn't mean what it used to) then his string of losses in Strikeforce might seem like more than just a natural decline.

What's easy to forget, however, is that at a time when Pride had the world's best heavyweights, Fedor was the best among them. Back when the UFC heavyweight division was the Sylvia-Arlovski show over and over again, Fedor was running through the best competition of his day.

And really, isn't that what should matter most -- a fighter's performance in his prime against the best of his time? By that metric, Fedor is still one of the best to ever do it, regardless of whether you think the heavyweights of 2005 could hang with the big boys of today.

The biggest problem for Fedor's legacy isn't his performances, but his management. By keeping him out of the UFC and then, even after signing with Strikeforce, dodging Alistair Overeem, M-1 Global gave legs to the argument that Fedor was ducking top competition. They tried to make Fedor a promotion unto himself, and in the process they kept him out of the fights fans really wanted to see.

That's the worst part. As Fedor fades away, it's hard not to wonder what he might (or might not) have been capable of back when he was at his most capable. Just because he loses a few fights in his mid-thirties, that doesn't mean he wasn't one of the sport's great ones. Few fighting careers end on high notes, after all. That part is nothing new.

What will hurt Fedor more than anything is that, when the time came to choose between forging a legacy and cutting a deal that would let him splash the words 'M-1 Global' all over the cage, he chose the deal. Or at least, he chose the people who chose the deal on his behalf. He wanted it his way, and that meant more to him than how he'd be remembered. Now that he's gone, at least from MMA's biggest stages, don't be surprised if that's a part of what people remember.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/08/04/after-his-exit-from-the-big-stage-how-will-mma-remember-fedor-e/

Mac Danzig  Karen Darabedyan Viacheslav Datsik Marcus Davis 

Grove wallops Jensen and calls out Konrad at Bellator 47 opener

Zak Jensen and Neil Grove opened Bellator 47 with a bang. The heavyweights, who both reside just under the 265 pound limit, collided from the opening seconds like brahma bulls. Grove was rocked just five seconds in, but recovered to gain top control and smash out Jensen in exactly minutes in Rama, Canada.

Grove (11-3-1) showed he's tough. From the opening bell, the bulky big guys threw like wild men and Jensen clipped Grove with a right hand that dropped him. In the past, the South African fighting out of England with no formal wrestling training when he entered the sport, may have panicked and bailed mentally. With better training under his belt, Grove grabbed a leg and eventually flipped to work for a kneebar or heel hook.

Then both fighters sat up on the rear ends and wailed away at each other. Jensen couldn't keep pace and dropped back where Grove jumped into his guard. The 6-foot-6, 264 pounder got off six hammerfists and referee Yves Lavigne jumped in to save the American.

"He hit me with a couple of hard shots. I'm happy that I took them and because I've been spending so much time in America training some wrestling, I've been learning what to do when I'm on the ground. I made use of it," Grove told Bellator's Jimmy Smith. "When I was on the ground I just knew I had to let my hands go. The man can take a punch!"

Grove, 40, has been working on his grappling and ground work. It's always been the big hole is his game. It was exploited during Bellator's Season 3 Heavyweight tournament by former Div. 1 NCAA wrestling champion Cole Konrad. Konrad scored an early takedown and eventually got a first round win via keylock at Bellator 32 back in October.

"My loss against Cole Konrad is something of the past. I've been training everyday since that fight to get back into the heavyweight tournament," Grove said as he held up his fists. "And Cole you're going to say hello to goodnight and sleep tight when we meet next."

This was the ninth first round KO of Grove's brief career. The loss was the third in four fight for Jensen, a Season 10 "Ultimate Fighter" alum.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Grove-wallops-Jensen-and-calls-out-Konrad-at-Bel?urn=mma-wp4999

Gerard Gordeau Jonathan Goulet Wilson Gouveia Jason Grace

UFC 133 Keys to Victory

On Saturday night the UFC returns to Philadelphia for UFC 133. The card is headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz. MMAFrenzy takes a look at what each fighter on Saturday's PPV card must do to win. Saturday's PPV card starts at 9pm EST with prelims airing live on Facebook and Spike TV at 6pm and 8pm respectively. Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy for complete coverage of Saturday's card.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/23691/ufc-133-keys-to-victory/

Wes Soldier Combs  Ray Cooper  Kit Cope  Wesley Cabbage Correira 

Don?t pick against Jackson: Couture called a ?fake [expletive] has-been? for doing so

There are two Quinton Jacksons. The boisterous, cocky "Rampage" who showed up at the UFC 135 press conference on Tuesday in Denver and hypersensitive, delicate Jackson who lashes out like a youngster if he's criticized or called on the carpet.

We saw a great example of that when he threatened to quit MMA in late 2009 claiming he was being mistreated and used by the UFC. That came roughly 14 months after UFC management bailed him out and stuck with him after a bizarre driving rampage in Southern California.

This week, in between dropping some epic trash talk on young Jon Jones, Jackson flipped out on Randy Couture. What did Couture do? The retired UFC legend had the nerve to pick against Jackson in his last fight!

A Twitter war unfolded between the 33-year-old Jackson and Couture, 48.

Here's the video where Couture hurt Jackson's feelings:

Jackson wore Xtreme Couture/Affliction gear during his walkout at UFC 114x in May of 2010. It sounds like he's suggesting Couture's "anti-Jackson" picks are motivated by Rampage changing apparel providers.

Twitter graphic via USA Today

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Don-t-pick-against-Jackson-Couture-called-a-fa?urn=mma-wp4893

Kendall Grove Clay Guida Jason Guida Melvin Guillard

Working in MMA: Agent Malki Kawa talks about the business

This week, Cagewriter is taking a look at the jobs that make the MMA world go 'round. See the rest of the series here.

Today, we look at Malki Kawa, the president of First Round Management, an athlete representation agency that has on its roster of fighters UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Chris Leben, Carlos Condit and Thiago Alves, among other fighters.

Cagewriter: What is your job title?

Malki Kawa: Sometimes I'm called an agent, sometimes I'm called a manager.

CW: What's the difference?

MK: An agent's job is to put their guy in a position to capitalize on every opportunity they can, whether it's off a fight, a movie, or whatever. A manager is supposed to guide a fighter's career. I help guys reach their financial and their career goals. In the NFL, I was an agent, but in boxing and MMA, it's more manager. I like to think I'm a great manager, where I help guide their careers, and an even better agent, where I help them secure the financial and career goals.

CW: What's an average day like for you?

MK: I like to be in control and in the know, so when I wake up, I start checking everything out to see what happened overnight and catch up anything I missed. When I get to the office, I catch up on emails and create any proposals for any East Coast sponsors, or Joe Silva [the UFC matchmaker], because he's on the East Coast. At 12:00, the West Coast starts to happen.

From 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., my phone is ringing nonstop. I check in with most fighters, I look to see what's out there, and view a lot of different information. I look into what people are being paid, I compile a lot of data, I do a lot of market research. One of the reasons I've been successful in getting guys sponsorships is that I have a better handle on what's out there.

CW: Do you talk to your fighters everyday?

MK: No. I like to check in with every fighter at least once a week. If I don't have something to talk them about, I don't call them. There might be a fighter I don't talk to for a week. That doesn't mean I'm not thinking about them. It just means that there's not anything going on right then.

CW: What's a fight week like for you?

MK: We basically mirror them the entire time. If I have a fighter fighting on Saturday, I'll land with them either Tuesday or Wednesday. It's my job to make sure that everything is very comfortable and very easy for them. My week becomes a week to service the fighter. I'm there to be an extra hand for his team. That's when I take care of their shorts and their banner, and I make sure their corner knows what they have to wear. I don't really get a chance to rest until the night of the fight and their fight is done. If I have a main event guy, that's when I get to stop, unless they have an after-party, and then I make sure they get there, that they're safe and that they get paid.

CW: What's the best part of this job?

MK: The fighters themselves. Just going through the motions with the fighters everyday, and watching them grow. Like, watching Jon Bones grow from being a potential great fighter to being a champion. Watching Carlos Condit go through the ranks, and watching Thiago Alves try to make himself a little better. I also like watching when I come up with ideas that help change a fighter's life.

Look at Kenny Florian. It was my idea for him to drop to 145. Watching guys have faith in you, and then coming up with ideas of how they can get to certain places. I think that's why guys sign with me. Beside the fact that I make them money, and I am going to do the best I can for them. I think I'm intelligent, I think I know what people want and I think I know what the UFC wants, and I'm going to fight for my fighter.

CW: But no job is perfect. What's the worst part?

MK: Watching other managers who aren't good at what they do, who undercut their fighter's careers, they'll take a guy from you and mess things up, or fighters who become disrespectful. But honestly? I can't complain. I have the best job in the world. I think the traveling sucks. After a while, you want to be home with your family.

CW: What advice do you have for someone who wants to become an agent?

MK: If there's a guy or girl who wanted to get in this business, my best advice would be to set your mind to a goal of what you want your life to be at certain points. Set timelines. Let nothing stand in the way of that goal, and don't ever be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to go after what you want to get. Look around the room at my peers, and they come from all different backgrounds, but the one thing that they lack is the desire and drive I have. That's the reason I'm at the top of this game.

Follow Malki Kawa on Twitter here.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Working-in-MMA-Agent-Malki-Kawa-talks-about-the?urn=mma-wp4940

Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam Hermes Franca Rich Franklin

Phan fighting to break Asian stereotypes

Nam Phan admits he's a bit of a nerd, but he wasn't about to follow the traditional path that many Asians follow when they come to the U.S. Phan hated school, but wasn't a bad kid. That's when he turned to martial arts.

"You have to understand that where I grew up, living like a tough guy was attractive at the time," Phan told Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News. "Girls like bad boys, right? But I guess that's why I never got girls because I was the nerdy one. My brothers were much older than me and while they were going clubbing, I was always home alone. They never knew that while they were out, they stressed my parents out. I said right then, 'I am not going to do that, I am just going to do martial arts.' "

Phan's parents arrived in the U.S. in 1975 settling in Orange County. The 28-year-old says that California county is a little rougher than what you've see on television.

"I want to specify the northern part of Orange County, not the cushy one you see with all the surfers and girls in bikinis on MTV," Phan said. "They got [to America] and thought they were going to be safe and then my dad gets shot standing outside of a jewelry store and both of my brothers, Tan [34] and Khanh [32] have been victims of drive-by shootings . . . I've always thought that if there were more role models, there would be less crime."

By turning to athletics, Phan bucked what he says has become the traditional Asian path in the U.S.

"Look, man, it's a fact that people look at Asians in this country and they know we can excel as a lawyer or a doctor - but physically we aren't that gifted," Phan said in a phone interview Monday. "There are very few top Asian athletes, singers and actors, but mainly because there is so much pressure from family to be engineers and doctors."

Phan has a chance to jump to the next level at featherweight when he faces former 145-pound champ Mike Brown this weekend at UFC 133. Phan is the first Vietnamese-American to fight under the UFC banner.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Phan-fighting-to-break-Asian-stereotypes?urn=mma-wp5318

Shinya Aoki  Andrei Arlovski  Ricardo Arona  Noboru Asahi

Strikeforce "Challengers 17" Picks And Predictions

We?re now only a day away from Strikeforce?s ?Challengers 17? event. In the main event, Roger Bowling faces Bobby Voelker for the third and final time in what has been a very under-rated series of fights. The co-main event will also be an interesting match-up, as top female fighters Liz Carmouche and Sarah Kaufman battle [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/21/strikeforce-challengers-17-picks-and-predictions

Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er  Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada

MMA Marketplace: Hendo vs. Fedor ? the shirts!

Time to break down the most important part of this weekend's face-off between Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson: the walkout shirts!

Both fighters are sponsored by Clinch Gear, the clothing company owned by Dan Henderson. That means Henderson is sponsoring his opponent. Fedor should keep that in mind -- don't let Hendo break his hand. He still needs to sign checks.

Fedor's shirt looks like they took a perfectly nice design with a cool crest and then just spray painted some letters over it. Unless it's an homage to graffiti art, it's a little odd. Buy his shirt for $32.95.

Henderson's shirt plays up the America vs. Russia angle, using stars and stripes to make up Henderson's nickname and adding a "Made in America" tag. I'd much rather wear this shirt on Fourth of July than some of these American flag abominations. Buy it for $32.95.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/MMA-Marketplace-Hendo-vs-Fedor-the-shirts-?urn=mma-wp5063

Gerard Gordeau Jonathan Goulet Wilson Gouveia Jason Grace