2010 Bloody Elbow Reader Awards: Submission of the Mid-Year

Was it hubris? A technical mistake? A glitch in the cyborg software?

Few gave Fabricio Werdum a chance when he stepped into the cage against Fedor Emelianenko. That’s not to say the threat the Brazilian posed went unnoticed. He is, after all, a two time Abu Dhabi Combat Club champion above 99 kg.

But this was FEDOR. He doesn’t make mistakes; he just gives you a false sense of hope. Slam him on his head, wobble him with a haymaker, and he’ll shake it off. Hell, the man resigned himself to beating the snot out of “Minotauro” Nogueira from guard. Twice.

So when Fedor knocked down Werdum (or did the Brazilian tactically drop to the floor?), our hearts continued their regularly scheduled beats. We expected Fedor’s escape when Werdum tried to isolate an arm. When the Brazilian secured a triangle position in the ensuing scramble, the MMA fans’ collective hive mind surely thought Emelianenko would explode through the danger.

Except, this time, he didn’t. Werdum held on to Fedor’s wrists while keeping a tight lock on the triangle. There was still chance of an escape at that point, however small.

But that window for escape dangled briefly. Emelianenko needed a miracle once Werdum locked his left ankle under his right knee. The same miracle he found when Kazuyuki Fujita had him fish flopping. The same miracle he found when Kevin Randleman spiked him on his neck. The same miracle he found as Andrei Arlovski floated in mid-air.

There would be no miracle this night. As Fabricio Werdum forced Fedor’s shoulder into his carotid artery, the Emelianenko empire came crashing down all around him. The mystique he had built as an undefeated fighter, flawed only by an illegal blow, was no more. The mystery of a simple, pudgy, pious man from the depths of Russia vanished. Some say Vadim Finkelstein could be seen sobbing uncontrollably cageside.

An era had ended.

FEDOR became Fedor.