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Fingers crossed, knuckles squeezed to white, all while grinding my teeth; I was teetering on the brink of blacking out.
I was holding my breath through most of the Fedor fight hoping and praying the Last Emperor would finish this fight. I was scared that this might finally be it, the fight that ended Fedor's legacy.
Like any mixed martial art fan who follows the sport religiously I know Fedor's reputation.
Fedor ranks as my favorite fighter, and I know that eventually his legacy must and will come to an end. However, as he steps before each new opponent I feel none are truly worthy of taking his title away.
So, anyone reading this can imagine my nervousness when he fought Brett Rogers. While I knew Fedor should win, I was scared of the new surrounding called the cage.
Early into the fight Rogers busted Fedor's nose, unfazed Fedor landed solid shots and threw Rogers to the mat. I believed this was the end of the match, but was soon proved wrong.
Rogers scrambled to his feet and managed to nullify Fedor's ground skills. But Rogers retaliated and pushed Fedor against the fence and began to knee his legs.
You see, this is where I began to get nervous for Fedor. He had never fought inside a cage and now, to be trapped against it, suggested Roger's battleground experience would highlight his advantage in this fight.
However, when the cage really seemed to work to Fedor's disadvantage was when he went for an armbar attempt. Fedor had a hard time getting his hips across Rogers body for an arm bar because he was trapped against the cage. In a ring this arm bar would have been much easier to get because there is not chain link getting in your way.
However, despite the overall newness of the cage Fedor still managed to do what Fedor does best and that is hit hard and hit fast.
Despite what Rogers says about not being hurt, he was down holding his head and was about to have Fedor the master of ground and pound resting on top of him and delivering punches to his temple.
It was not an early stoppage, it was the right stoppage and the defense that Rogers seemed to be mounting after being knocked down to canvas consisted of holding his head in pain and not even attempting to tie Fedor up to prevent his punches from landing.
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