Fedor Emelianenko and the 10 Fighters Who Couldn't Keep Up with the Times

Fedor Emelianenko will go down as one of the best stars of his generation. He will also likely be remembered for his inability to keep up with the new waves of heavyweights. However, Emelianenko isn't alone in his struggles.

As fighters continue to age, it becomes even tougher to stay near the top as a new batch of fighters break into the sport each year. These "old dogs" are usually tossed to the side and used to make a name for their younger counterparts.

Whether it be age or a lack of developing an all-around game, these fighters were unable to keep up with the times and were left in the dust by the new breed of MMA fighter.

Ken Shamrock

When Ken Shamrock coached opposite Tito Ortiz on Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter, we were able to witness that transition of the light heavyweight division.

During the early years of the UFC, Shamrock was among one of the most feared men to step in the Octagon. Possessing a bodybuilder physique with fighting skills to boot, Shamrock was a dangerous opponent for anyone to take on.

But Shamrock never truly evolved from his early methods of training and it showed in his rivalry with Tito Ortiz. Ortiz battered Shamrock in their first encounter which forced a corner stoppage. The other matches all ended with Ortiz badly beating Shamrock as well.

Since leaving the UFC, Shamrock has enjoyed very little success and has looked downright awful in some of his matches. His bout with Pedro Rizzo was particularly difficult to watch.

Andrei Arlovski

Andrei Arlovski at one point was among the top five heavyweights in the world. Possessing some of the best boxing in the division, Arlovski could run circles around his opponents and had power to boot. His UFC title run included a handful of KO's which featured amazing combinations.

What Arlovksi failed to utilize during his career thus far has been his background in sambo. One of the best practitioners in MMA, Arlovski had only one submission victory in his UFC career; an Achilles lock that was set up by a knockdown.

Arlovski's failure to use his grappling skills has left him exposed in recent years as fighters are not only connecting on Arlovski's chin but are knocking him out cold.

If Arlovski would've utilized his grappling skills more throughout his career, he wouldn't have to worry about every single incoming strike being a KO blow.

Phil Baroni

Once believed to be one of the best middleweights in the world, Phil Baroni became one of the most prominent fighters during his initial run with the UFC. Sandwiched between two tough losses against Matt Lindland, Baroni secured one of the greatest highlight-reel KO victories over Dave Menne.

After the second loss to Lindland, Baroni would lose an additional three straight and be handed his walking papers. Baroni did enjoy success in Pride but when he returned Stateside his record began to tally up the losses again.

Baroni is a very powerful striker, but his inability to evolve his ground skills and cardiovascular conditioning have left him on the outside looking in with the UFC for a second time in his career.

Matt Hughes

One of the greatest UFC champions of all time, Matt Hughes simply couldn't keep up with the new wave of welterweights. His rivalry with Georges St-Pierre was the visualization of a torch being passed from the old guard to the new generation.

Hughes always had dominant wrestling which he used to control his opponents. Impressive takedowns and slams were a staple of a Hughes fight. To his credit, Hughes did evolve his game at one point by creating a nice blend of submissions and ground strikes into his grappling repertoire.

But it has always been Hughes' striking that has failed him in the majority of his losses. Unable to take his opponents down, it was as if a countdown clock had started until Hughes would be dropped.

He displayed some improved striking against Renzo Gracie, but it's clear that Hughes hasn't evolved enough to deal with the bigger, faster, stronger welterweights.

Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman burst onto the MMA scene by winning back-to-back UFC tournaments. Coleman used his superior wrestling to take down his opponents and begin a vicious offense of strikes while on the ground. For this reason, he is widely regarded as "The Godfather of Ground and Pound."

Enjoying much of his success in the early days of MMA in the United States, Coleman found mixed results in his early ventures to the international scene. His wins were mildly impressive, but the losses were what really caught people's eyes.

His recent return with the UFC was particularly telling, as Coleman would routinely gas out and hadn't evolved his skill set to keep up with the well-rounded fighters of today.

Coleman's lack of ability to keep with the times was coupled with a slew of personal issues that have made his decline one of the most difficult to watch.

Mark Kerr

Clearly earning his nickname as "The Smashing Machine," Mark Kerr simply ran through the competition at UFC 14 and UFC 15.

A notable collegiate wrestler, Kerr used his wrestling along with superior physical gifts to simply dominate his UFC opponents. Only one of them was unlucky enough to last longer than two minutes in the cage with Kerr.

Kerr took his talents to the Pride organization and got off to a good start. But then his personal demons began to take over his life. His drug addiction clearly hindered his fighting performance, and Kerr has gone 2-10 in his last 12 bouts.

A sad decline was displayed for all MMA fans to see, as Kerr wasn't able to sustain his great physical condition and was surpassed by both the young and older stars.

Tito Ortiz

During his time as champion, Tito Ortiz employed one of the most dominant forms of ground and pound. Mark Coleman may be "The Godfather of Ground and Pound," but Ortiz perfected it. Able to KO opponents from their guard, there effectively was no safe haven for Ortiz's opponents.

Ortiz may have been a dominant champion, but his recent run in the UFC has been anything but good. He's won just one out of his last eight fights and has looked dreadful in most of his recent losses.

Whether his self-diagnosed injuries are true, Ortiz's skills have been on a steady decline since his rivalry with Ken Shamrock.

At least Ortiz is realizing he's near the end of his time and seems ready to hang up the gloves instead of heading out in an ugly manner like some of his other legendary counterparts.

Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko had one of the greatest runs in MMA history; a winning streak that will likely be never seen again.

As good as Emelianenko was during his Pride tenure, he's been just as bad under the Strikeforce banner. The Russian made a successful Strikeforce debut by KO'ing Brett Rogers in impressive fashion but struggled with a much lesser talented fighter.

A simple mistake in his bout with Fabricio Werdum left the former Pride champion in a position he was not used to; losing. The aura of Emelianenko would be crumbled by devastating losses to Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson.

Recently, Emelianenko has bounced back with not only some wins but also a technique-improving striking attack. It still likely won't be enough for Emelianenko to get back near the top of the rankings, but at least he isn't going out on the three straight losses.

Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar's tenure in MMA may have been short and sweet, but he definitely displayed the characteristics for failing to keep up with the evolving nature of the heavyweight division.

Lesnar, a freakish athlete for his size, was able to utilize his great physical gifts to achieve success early in his MMA career. The mammoth heavyweight was also able to use an excellent wrestling background to smother his opponents but clearly failed to develop his striking.

Possessing great power, Lesnar couldn't translate the power into technique and clearly couldn't take a punch. His last three bouts with the UFC displayed his shortcomings in the stand-up game.

Realizing he simply couldn't keep using his size to overpower his opponents combined with health problems, Lesnar retired in 2011 after being embarrassed in his last two MMA bouts.

Quinton Jackson

There's no denying that on any given night, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson can KO anyone. The problem is that "Rampage" has been unable to connect his dangerous punches with his opponent's chin in recent years.

Jackson made a name for himself in Pride by being one of the most exciting fighters at 205 pounds. His rivalries with Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell were some of the best bouts of their day. Unfortunately, Jackson hasn't evolved his game from those days.

His inability to use his full skill set has cost Jackson dearly during his UFC career. He has a good overall game but chooses to try to box with fighters.

Not being able to keep up with the times has also seemed to wear Jackson down mentally, as he's had a number of mental breakdowns that are very uncharacteristic of the normally charismatic fighter.