The Assassination of Fedor Emelianenko

While MMA fans will always be inclined to debate the pros and cons of their favorite fighter, it is quickly becoming an exercise in futility to argue about who is MMA’s greatest competitor.

Having never known the ignominy of defeat, at least not in the true sense of the word, Fedor Emelianenko has dominated the world of mixed martial arts like no other fighter before him.

Sure there were those who seemed invincible (Royce Gracie, Matt Hughes, Rich Franklin, and Mirko Cro Cop come immediately to mind) but, as time has proven, these once feared fighting gods have been exposed as mere mortals.

Their reign as resident MMA badass was short lived, in as much as they were quickly replaced by ever evolving fighters such as Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre; fighters whose willingness to expand their repertoire of skills enabled them to make quantum leaps in the sport.

Yet, what separates Fedor from the Silva’s and the GSP’s is the fact that not only has he never lost a match, but it can be reasonably argued that he has never even lost a single round in over eight years of professional fighting.

Furthermore, he has never once been put in a disadvantageous position.

Even when it appeared as if Fedor might be in trouble, as was the case with Fujita, who almost knocked him out, and Randleman who applied a textbook suplex that would have ended any other fighter’s career, Fedor managed to submit both opponents less than a minute after it looked like he was certainly going to be defeated.

Such an uncanny ability to shrug off punishment is not just abnormal, it’s unheard of. While there have been many fighters who are able to absorb an absurd amount of abuse and still get their hand raised in victory at the end of the night (see Nick Diaz and his broken orbital bone), there has never been a fighter who appears to be immune to the physical suffering that often goes hand-in-hand with a top level MMA contest.

It is the aura of invincibility, whether real or merely imagined, that has allowed Fedor to cast a Rasputin-like spell over the world of MMA.