It started at UFC 88 in Atlanta two and a half years ago, started with a right hand that shook the Phillips Arena and rattled poor Chuck Liddell’s brain. Sitting on press row in the eerily silent aftermath, I watched my brother- in- law Justin cageside, snapping away like it was just another day at the office. The pictures were just as eerie as the dearth of sound – Liddell drooling, Liddell’s eyes rolling back in his head, Liddell one step from death, his brain struggling to turn itself back on.
Little did we know at the time, but we were looking at the end of an era. Not just for Liddell, but for a generation of fighters. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. It happens to athletes across all sports, since time immemorial. Joe Montana, wearing the foreign jersey of the Kansas City Chiefs, head down as he walked off the field a final time. Ken Griffey Junior, once the vibrant young spark leading a baseball resurgence, reduced to a bench player, his bat no longer blazing at unprecedented speeds. Even the great Michael Jordan demanded someone prove to him he could no longer compete. After a long season in Washington, he finally called it quits.
Liddell is part of a generation of fighters who raised this sport up to heights unthinkable just scant years before. These men are like the heroes of old, warriors we will sing about when we are old, boring our grand kids with stories of their skill, heart, and determination. No one will remember Mirko Cro Cop, unable to even bring his legendary left leg high enough to throw a kick, let alone one that could send someone to the cemetery. We won’t recall Matt Hughes, dismissively shoved away by Thiago Alves as the young Brazilian pummeled him in England. And we won’t tell tales of Fedor Emelianenko, the king of kings, trapped beneath an enormous Antonio Silva, closing the book once and for all on his amazing generation.
Instead, we’ll remember these men as they exist in our memories. Liddell, complete with a mohawk and an adorable paunch, sending Tito Ortiz crashing to the mat at UFC 66. Randy Couture, defying age and reason, depositing Tim Sylvia on his ample keister, the crowd for once actually getting behind a display of lay and pray, actually demanding it, holding our breaths waiting for the final bell to ring.
Everything will be bigger in our minds as the years race past. The impish Kazushi Sakuraba will have battled the legendary Royce Gracie for three hours in front of 150,000 silent Japanese salarymen. What followed will be erased for all time, Sakuraba held together by athletic tape and a strong will, demanding things his body was no longer capable of giving. B.J. Penn will be the guy who leaped out of the cage and sprinted to the back after knocking Caol Uno silly, the fierce Hawaiian jiu jitsu god who literally tasted his opponent’s blood. The Penn who lost twice to a smaller Frankie Edgar will be left in the past where he belongs.
Fedor Emelianenko was the last hope of a generation of fighters who gave us the Pride Grand Prix and invented The Ultimate Fighter. The path to his resurgence was even grounded in the past – a tournament, just like the early days of the sport. But you can’t fool father time. Antonio Silva slammed the door shut on a whole generation last weekend. The sport has evolved and there are new heroes to salute. Cain Velasquez, Edgar, and Georges St. Pierre are leading a new breed of fighters into the future. It’s a glorious time, an era where everyone is well rounded, not just an immortal few.
The fighters are more skilled, more fit, better prepared. The future is now. Existing in our imagination, its potential limitless. But as this generation leads our sport to new markets and new opportunities, they’ll be walking on a path carved out in the blood and sweat of men like Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor belongs now to the past, but he’ll have an honored place in our memory, alongside his former opponents, training partners, and friends. His generation has done their work, done the sport proud. It’s time now to rest as the new breed of fighter takes the sport to the mainstream and beyond.