Written by Jim Murphy
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Friday, July 25 2008
Ending questions raised by his recent inactivity , “The Last Emperor” made an emphatic statement at Affliction: Banned.
“They’ve all got plans until they get hit”
--Mike Tyson
Were he not insanely humble for a man who can rightfully claim to be the “baddest on the planet”, Fedor Emelianenko could make the same statement. And during a weekend of strange juxtapositions in the MMA world, who better to put the main event of Affliction: Banned into perspective than someone not exactly known for profundity. To make things all the more ironic, Mike Tyson himself was once considered “the baddest man on the planet” but following an almost frighteningly brutal and efficient destruction of two time UFC champion Tim Sylvia there’s few of the 14,000 that witnessed the event that would make that case. Fedor Emelianenko is, without question, the undisputed best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world.
In retrospect, to suggest that Tim Sylvia ever had a chance seems absurd. But to give Fedor his due its important to remember that Sylvia is a two time UFC champion who held the belt for the better part of three years. Sylvia was never a dominating champion, but his “win ugly” strategy appeared to be an advantage in this matchup. After watching Fedor struggle with the insane height and size of Korean kickboxer Hong-Man Choi at Yarrenoka—at least momentarily—it seemed to infer that this would be another Sylvia advantage. While there’s no comparison between Sylvia’s limited formal training as a fighter and Fedor’s sambo and judo virtuosity, “The Mainiac” always got credit for understanding his limitations and “fighting within himself”. More often than not, he’d do a good job maintaining distance with his powerful jab facilitated by an 80”+ reach. He had a reputation as a dedicated student of Pat Miletich, who tireless worked to hone his takedown defense as a means of compensating for his liabilities as a ground fighter. As his career progressed, he rightfully became known as one of the best in the game at defending against takedowns which allowed him to stay out of trouble against opponents like former Abu Dhabi submission wrestling champion and human bulldozer Jeff Monson.
As fight night drew nearer, a few other advantages for Sylvia began to materialize. The Affliction ring was unveiled as a huge 30’ x 30’ monstrosity which, in theory, would favor the rangier Sylvia by better allowing him to stay away from Fedor and work his punishing jab. By weigh in time, there were potential distractions in the Russian’s camp as his brother Aleksander failed his medical evaluation and was denied a license by the California State Athletic Commission. While the CSAC won’t reveal the results of these medical tests, every indication is that Aleksander tested positive for Hepatitis B.
Perhaps the most significant motivation for Sylvia should have come from the fact that for whatever reason he’s never been appreciated by MMA fans. He’s a fairly soft spoken and reserved man, who overcame a rough childhood to take advantage of a freak meeting with Miletich at an early UFC contest and leveraged his skills to become UFC champion. For a short time he had some respect as a “badass following his loss to Frank Mir, where he allowed Mir to break his arm rather than submit to an armbar. That didn’t last long, however, and for the rest of his UFC title reign he was invariably booed against more charismatic opponents like Andrei Arlovski, Jeff Monson and Randy Couture. If you had any doubt that the Cold War acrimony for the Soviet Union was long gone you only needed to witness Sylvia entering the Honda Center with an American flag over his shoulder to a cascade of boos and catcalls.
Fedor Emelianenko, conversely, was treated like a combination of a rock star and a conquering hero as he entered the ring area. Even the taciturn and businesslike “Last Emperor” was a study in contrasts, with his gaudy Affliction signature t-shirt a striking counterbalance to his entrance music—a catchy little number “The Vision of Stepan Razin”. Razin was a Cossack leader who led an uprising against the Tsar’s bureaucracy in South Russia back in the late 1600’s, so we’re not exactly talking Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness” here.
Fedor’s destruction of Sylvia took :36 seconds. After a few seconds at the opening bell, Fedor sprung at Sylvia with a barrage of punches apparently harder than Sylvia had ever been hit with before. By the :23 second mark Sylvia is down on his knees. After a few hammer fists, Fedor takes his back at the :28 second mark. He cinches in the rear naked choke at the :33 second mark and Sylvia has no option but to tap at the :36 second mark.
The victory was the third fastest of Emelianenko’s illustrious career behind a :12 second destruction of Hiroya Takada at a RINGS event in 2000 and a :26 second TKO win over Zuluzinho at a 2005 PRIDE event. Takada finished his career with a 1-3 mark, and Zuluzinho is something of a Brazilian born sideshow fighter like Eric “Butterbean” Esch so these results aren’t particularly surprising. The obliteration of Sylvia is a completely different matter—again, its important to keep in mind that Sylvia is a two time UFC champion who entered the fight with a 26-5 career record. Aside from a loss in his 2nd career fight to Jorge Rivera, the men who’ve beaten Sylvia are a ‘who’s who’ of the sport: Randy Couture, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski.
There’s simply not a compelling argument to suggest that Fedor isn’t the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Theoretically, the UFC heavyweight champion would have a claim to the title but Fedor has a 2-0-1 record against current champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. There are a few heavyweights who’d be decent competition for Fedor including Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski and, of course, Randy Couture. These potential opponents notwithstanding, there’s not a promotion on the planet with a heavyweight champion that can make a convincing claim to being in Fedor’s league.
What’s perhaps most amazing about Fedor is his businesslike approach to his craft. Look at his face in the picture accompanying this article—its not the typical display of intensity seen on most fighters in the heat of battle. It’s somewhere between calm and focus, and this was further underscored by his postfight behavior—there were no Josh Barnett “throat slit” gestures, no Arlovski vampire fang scowls, or even a more traditional embrace of his cornermen. Just handshakes and back slaps all around, as if becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion was just another day at the office. In his postfight interview, Fedor seemed happier about the rapturous support of the American fans than his dominating victory which he brushed aside with a comment that he was “happy with his performance”.
At 31 years old, Fedor’s going to be at the top of his game—and at the top of the MMA world—for a long time to come. For those of you who were too young to appreciate the virtuosity of Muhammad Ali or the brutal aggression of Mike Tyson, the undisputed best heavyweight MMA fighter of the world offers both in the same modest and businesslike package.
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