The Assassination of Fedor Emelianenko

With surprising speed for a man of his size (6’3” 250 lbs.), Barnett should not have a tremendous amount of difficulty taking Fedor to the mat; both Coleman and Randleman were able to do so, although such tactics were not to their advantage. Once on the ground Barnett will have to use his size intelligently, by attempting to apply leverage specific submissions to keep Fedor from eluding him and regaining his feet.

Barnett has proven that this strategy will work in his favor, as was clearly witnessed in his victory over Fedor’s brother, Aleksander, whom he defeated on the ground by maneuvering Aleksander into a disadvantageous position and quickly applying a keylock.

If Fedor does somehow manage to return the fight to a stand up battle, it behooves Barnett to be elusive and not trade punches with the Russian, who is a superior striker.

Rather, since Fedor will be looking for Barnett to shoot in for the perennial double-leg take down, it would be wise for Barnett to use his greater size and employ clinch take downs, similar to those made famous by Randy Couture in his five round war against Tim Sylvia.

However, if Barnett is absolutely forced to fight a stand up battle with Fedor, he will need to close the gap with the champion in order to cut down on the strength of Fedor’s vicious punches, the most devastating of which Fedor throws from a discreet distance. If Barnett catches Fedor just right with a left hook, it is quite possible that Fedor could experience the first knock down in his career.

By using his superior size, submission skills, and world class grappling ability, it is highly likely that Barnett would be able to defeat Fedor Emelianenko, either by submission or judges decision; a knockout or a TKO victory is an extreme long shot and is more than likely to be the manner in which Fedor wins, if he wins at all.

That said, Barnett has an Everest-sized mountain to climb in his potential fight against Fedor. In essence, Barnett is the last fighter that Fedor has yet to face who could possibly defeat him. If Barnett fails, Fedor haters will have nothing left to do but pin their hopes on Brock Lesnar and Kimbo Slice.

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