Fedor: The Legacy

Following his almighty beasting at the hands of Bigfoot Silva in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, a lot has been made of where Fedor goes from here. Is now the time to call it day? Go out gracefully? Will his evil overlords even let him? It would appear not. So who's next for the fallen icon?

A HW fight with the current LHW champion, of course...

Anyway, Mr Harry Borovick takes a look at the legacy of Fedor and his imprint on MMA:

31-3-1 is an exceptionally impressive record for any type of modern professional combatant. But is a world-class record enough to really build a world-class legacy? This writer thinks not. Fedor will either be remembered by many as the greatest heavyweight to ever step into the cage, or as the most over-hyped, over-protected and over-lauded fighter that has arguably done more to damage the image of the sport than any other athlete in recent times (Jose Canseco doesn't count).

The way in which "The Last Emperor" allowed himself to be managed by the M-1global businessmen such as Vadim Finkelstein showed he did not respect MMA as a sport whatsoever. Those who respect the rise of mixed martial arts as a legitimate form of sports entertainment understand its popularity and growth stems from unified management by organizations rather than selective promoters (a la boxing). This has eliminated much of the ego in the forming of deals and the staging of fights. A fighter signs a contract, and then he consents to do whatever that organization tells him to do. At the very core of Dana White's success (and to some extent CEOs such as Scott Coker and Bjorn Rebney) is his establishment of who's the boss between them and their fighters. Obviously fighters have to be respected to a certain extent as they are the show-piece and the actual mechanism for profit, but no fighter is so exceptionally valuable that he out-values the entire organization for which he fights for. Even fighters such as Georges St. Pierre, the most marketable athlete in MMA, understands that their career and success depends on good fights, strong promotion and the health of the sport in general.

Fedor's time as a great fighter was up when he got demolished twice in two fights, even he had to admit that. It is in a way ridiculous that he would not have been fighting for Strikeforce, but would have been in the UFC fighting for a considerably higher sum and a better deal if he had not consented to the poor management of M-1. I say this is ridiculous because Fedor's record was only built up in the first place because of such extraordinarily selective fight choices up until that point. This shows that not only has poor management in Fedor's case by his manager Vadim Finkelstein built a fake legacy around a fighter, but that it has damaged the sport as a whole because when a fighter is built up so highly and then is knocked down so easily it damages the legitimacy of a sport. When there is such a high level of professionalism all fights are expected to be highly competitive, close, and entertaining. Watching Fedor he has been none of these for a considerable period of time, something which is highly concerning for anyone who cares about the health of this sport.

M-1, Vadim Finkelstein and others of the same school of management need to leave MMA well alone if the sport is ever to grow and be respected universally. This is by no means a dying sport like boxing, however it is certainly increasingly restrained by unscrupulous people trying to take advantage of sportsmen to make a quick buck and further purely selfish ambitions.

UFC 128: The Winds Of Change

Whilst we enjoyed our Bones Lamb Pie, Mr Stu Furay was paying close attention to UFC 128. Not that we didn't, it's just difficult to concentrate with food that good...


The winds of change are blowing through MMA and the UFC. The sports changing, the companies changing and the fighters are evolving. Pride; gone. WEC; Gone. Strikeforce; All but gone. One by one the old guard are being picked off by a new breed of younger, hungrier, athletic, explosive, multi-talented super-fighters. Cain Velazquez, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, GSP and Jose Aldo all sit at the top of their respective trees. In recent times we have seen Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell retired and the myth of Fedor Emilianenko destroyed.

After Saturday night, you can add two more names to that list. First off, Brendan ‘The Hybrid’ Schaub struck another nail into the long and illustrious career of Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filopovic. Quicker, bigger, stronger and more athletic than Cro Cop, Schaub was never really troubled barring a nice short elbow that landed flush on his nose. Schaub used his size and reach advantage to keep Cro Cop at distance or pinned up against the cage to nullify those infamous kicks, and nicely timing his takedowns to slip Cro Cop’s big left and put Cro Cop on his back. Cro Cop looked one dimensional and out of his depth. Schaub brought the fight to an abrupt end with a crushing right hand in the third round, practically dropping Cro Cop on his head. After Two defeats on the spin, the sun is surely setting on Cro Cop’s career.

Then in the main event, came the culmination of the meteoric rise of Jon ‘Bones’ Jones. Jones has blown away everything and everyone in his path. Never troubled, never rocked and barely even getting out of breath. His fight against the champion, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, was no different. Only hours before the biggest fight of his life whilst meditating in a nearby park, Jones chased down a mugger, kicked his ass and turned him over to the police. You have to wonder if the mugger put up more of a fight than Shogun did. Shogun looked slow, flabby and ponderous, whereas Jones looked like he always does; in peak physical condition, ripped to the bone and focused like a laser. Within thirty seconds Jones had his first takedown. He was his usual bag of tricks of flying knees and spinning back elbows and it wasn’t long before he started to dominate. Shogun had no answer to his speed, reach, athletic ability, explosiveness and multitude of strikes. The fight was brought to an end in the third round after Jones beat Shogun to the ground and the referee mercifully called it off in the most one-sided championship bout you are likely to see. After the fight Bones was barely out of breath, while Shogun looked like he had been mugged himself. The time it was Jones doing the mugging, and he casually walked off with Shogun’s gold.

So, what next? I wouldn’t be surprised of Cro Cop hung up his gloves for good, and Schaub is looking like a dangerous prospect in the Heavyweight division.

After Shogun’s performance, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him follow former Pride fighter Wanderlei Silva down to middleweight.

We know Jones is facing former team-mate Rashad Evans in his first title defence, after Evais announced he would no longer be training with Greg Jackson. Don’t expect Evans to fair much better. The UFC and Jonny ‘Bones’ Jones are looking unstoppable.

The Downfall Of The Last Emperor

Get over it.

TPK's Revised Rules of MMA - Part One: The Coleman Clause

Following on from our '10 Ways To Improve MMA' we bring you: 'The Revised Rules Of MMA'. Why? Because we are the way, people.

THIS IS ALL FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

We're bringing you the sweet and sexy MMAids courtesy of Mr Brendan Rowe.

Warning: This blog may require the reader to have a knowledge of MMA that extends beyond the UFC...

Part One: The Coleman Clause.


1 - Even if the rules state otherwise, Mark Coleman is allowed to strike his opponent any way he wants, with any part of his body that he wants, until such time that he scores a KO or TKO.

A - His opponents are never allowed to do the same, ever.
B - If Coleman is submitted, he gets a mulligan in the form of one free shot to any part of the body of his opponent.


2 - In the event of a round or fight ending due to time out, Coleman gets a one-minute grace period in which he pins his opponent in North/South or a sprawl until he scores a TKO via knee strikes.

3 - Should his opponent break a limb during combat, the opponent's team must sit on the sidelines and watch while their man gets thumped.

A - Only Wanderlei Silva may enter the ring, regardless of affiliation.

1 - Wanderlei Silva must be present at every fight Coleman is at.
2 - Rampage must also be present.

B - Herb Dean is allowed to use tranquilizer darts if Coleman's blood lust hasn't been sated.

C - Phil Baroni must be choked out, regardless of where he is, every time this happens.