Fedor vs. Henderson: Rumors of Fedor's Demise Have Not Been Greatly Exaggerated

I'll start this article off with a few simple truths. 

One: I am a fan of Fedor Emelianenko. I do think that he is a legend of mixed martial arts and will go down in history as such. This article is not attempting to bash him, it is just attempting to show that...

Two: Fedor has not beaten any credible opponents since he defeated Mirko Cro Cop by unanimous decision at Pride Final Conflict 2005.

Yes, that's right. Fedor has not beaten anybody worthwhile since Cro Cop in 2005. In addition, his two losses in his past two fights were against the first credible opponents in six years.

Since defeating Cro Cop, Fedor has defeated eight fighters. Those eight are Zuluzinho, Mark Coleman, Mark Hunt, Matt Lindland, Hong Man Choi, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers.

Before all of those fighters fought Fedor, they had a combined record of 92-20—certainly a respectable record for any group of fighters.

After, and including, their fights with Fedor, the record of all eight combined is 16-35.

So, there is either some kind of "Fedor-curse" that makes fighters bad after a loss to him, or he has fought all of these fighters on their way over the hill.

But let's take a closer look at each individual fighter.

The first of this group is Wagner da Conceição Bolinho Gorduroso Martins, better known as Zuluzinho.

Zuluzinho is a 6'7'' 390-pound behemoth. He is also, in layman's terms, a "freak show" fighter. Zuluzinho's pro-record is 8-7, with wins coming over not a single fighter of note.

Fedor defeated him via submission to punches in a mere 26 seconds.

The second fighter was 41-year-old Mark Coleman. At one time, Coleman was a force to be reckoned with in MMA, but not as much after winning the 2000 Pride Open Weight Grand Prix.

Coleman was coming off a TKO (injury) win over Shogun Rua, and looked to avenge his loss from Pride Total Elimination 2004, when Fedor defeated Coleman with an armbar in 2:11.

Coleman failed at revenge, as he was submitted with an armbar once again, at 1:15, nearly a minute shorter than the first fight.

Coleman has gone 1-2 since the second loss to Fedor, with his lone victory coming over Stephan Bonnar, and the losses coming to Shogun Rua and Randy Couture.

Coleman hasn't fought since UFC 109, and he would appear to be retired.

The third fighter taken on by Fedor is Mark Hunt.

Hunt was coming into the fight with a record of 5-2, but coming directly off a loss by kimura to Josh Barnett.

So he came into the fight with Fedor looking to win the Pride Heavyweight Championship.

He couldn't do it, and he was submitted, again with a kimura, at the 8:16 mark of the first round.

Since losing to Fedor, he went 1-4, getting submitted three times, KO'd once and, in his lone victory, he defeated Chris Tuchscherer via KO.

Fourth in the streak was the Olympic wrestler Matt Lindland.

Lindland was 37 at the time, had defeated Carlos Newton with a guillotine choke in his previous fight and had a record of 20-4 going into the fight.

Not only was Lindland seven years older than Fedor, but he also usually fought at middleweight. For the fight against Fedor he weighed in at 212.5 pounds.

Well, it didn't take long for Fedor to take him out, as Lindland was submitted with an armbar at the 2:58 mark of the first round.

Since that time, Lindland has gone 2-4, with victories over nobody of note.

The next fight was the second "freak show" fight in this bunch, when Fedor took on the 7'2'' kickboxer, Hong-Man Choi.

Choi had only one professional MMA fight prior to the fight against Fedor, which he won via TKO in 16 seconds over Bobby Ologun (2-1 at the time).

Long story short, Fedor easily submitted Choi with an armbar at 2:11 of the first round.

After that fight, Fedor took on the former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia.

In a mere 36 seconds, Fedor was able to rock and submit Sylvia with a rear-naked choke.

It's a fine line between a great performance by Fedor or a terrible one by Sylvia.

After Sylvia, Fedor took on another former UFC champion, Andrei Arlovski.

For the first time in his career, Fedor appeared a little "flustered" by the speed of his opponent. Well, that is until Arlovski attempted a flying knee and got KTFO'd.

Since the fight against Fedor, Arlovski has gone 0-3, including two more (T)KO losses.

And now, we come to Fedor's most recent victory in the cage.

In Fedor's Strikeforce debut, he took on the 10-0 Brett Rogers.

After a back-and-forth first round, which saw Fedor take some big shots, and also threaten with submissions, Rogers survived till the second round, and became the first fighter since Coleman to last that long.

Then, in the second round, Fedor hit Rogers with a big right hand and got the TKO victory at 1:48 of round two.

Since that time, Rogers has gone 1-2, with the lone victory coming to Ruben Villareal.

Then Fedor fought, in my opinion, his first legitimate opponent since Cro Cop.

Fabricio Werdum was 13-4-1 coming into the fight with Fedor and was a massive underdog.

We all know what happened, and that it only took 69 seconds for Werdum to get Fedor in a triangle-armbar.

That fight was awarded upset of the year and submission of the year.

Many called it a fluke.

They said Fedor simply got caught.

But then he got beat again.

In the quarterfinals of the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix, Fedor took on another legitimate threat, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.

Silva was 15-2 coming into the fight and, again, Fedor was the favorite.

The oddsmakers were proven wrong once more, as Fedor was battered for 10 minutes before Silva earned a doctor stoppage between the second and third round.

At this point, people started to wonder: Was Fedor done as an elite mixed martial artist?

I say yes. But it was well before the loss to Silva.

MMA has never been a sport of numbers and statistics but, before I end this article, let me give you a few.

The eight fighters Fedor took on between December 31, 2005 and November 7, 2009 had a combined record of 92-20 before facing Fedor.

Their combined records, five fights before they fought Fedor: 30-5.

After they fought Fedor, and including the losses to him, their combined record is 16-35.

The record of those 16 is a combined 23-25-1.

So now it begs the question: Has Fedor fought anyone decent? Has he fought people who are on their way over the hill? Or is there really a curse when you lose to Fedor?

The fight against Dan Henderson will be a very telling fight. We'll know much more come July 30th.

As a note: I'm sure there will be people who want to comment and tell me how wrong I am. I expect it and look forward to debating with you. I simply ask that you keep it respectful. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for reading!