Perhaps the most amazing part about Fedor Emelianenko is that he is just a man. He’s not chiseled out of stone, he has plenty of weaknesses, and he bleeds like the rest of us. He is mortal.
Throughout his career, the most famous moments are those in which he looked vulnerable. When Fujita rocked him. When Randleman slammed him. When CroCop landed on him. When Lindland landed and cut him. When Arlovski stalked him. And then tonight, when he was cut early and Rogers was on top landing, I wondered if the magic would really end with Brett Rogers. It didn’t.
Fedor continued his streak of highlight real KO’s with an overhand right that would make Chuck Liddell blush. Rogers immediately melted, along with his chance of making history. After the fight, Rogers said that if he had another chance he would win. That’s what they all say after losing to Fedor.
While I would love to see Fedor fight Brock Lesnar, there’s a small part of me that thinks it should never happen. For Fedor to lose his streak at the hands of a giant 60 pounds bigger than him seems like an injustice to the greatest fighter in the history of the sport. I won’t complain about seeing Fedor fight for free on CBS against dangerous opponents.
Brett Rogers proved me wrong, and brought more to the table than I expected. He fought patiently, which was the right tactic. I expected him to bullrush Fedor and get crushed, but instead he fought a smart fight for the most part. His key mistake was moving away from the jab and failing to continue pressing the fight up against the fence. Out in the open he was just a slow-moving target and Fedor ate him alive. I do think he put in a good enough performance to warrant an opportunity for a rematch if he can win 3 or 4 fights in a row.
Who’s next for Fedor? My guess is Fabricio Werdum, which isn’t exactly thrilling, but I don’t have faith they’ll be able to get Overeem back any time soon. More important for his career are the ratings, which could push his value even higher if they come in strong.
It was fairly surreal to see an American broadcast network promoting a show around a mysterious Russian. But by the time the bell rang for the fight, there really was a “big fight” atmosphere, and the fight delivered in spades. The only question remaining is: how many people saw it?