What Fedor Emelianenko's Loss Really Means For Strikeforce and MMA

The unthinkable happened on Saturday night.

Fedor Emelianenko lost.

It wasn’t to a young gun, or one of these monster “new breed” heavyweights; it was to an extremely talented, yet far from dominant fighter, by the name of Fabricio Werdum.

This wasn’t technically the first loss of Emelianenko’s career, but it does mark the first legitimate loss he has suffered in his long and illustrious career.

The moment that Werdum sunk in that deep triangle choke, it was apparent that Emelianenko was in trouble, but there was this overwhelming feeling that at any moment he would reverse the position and pull out yet another thrilling victory.

Sadly, that never happened.

Now the entire MMA world is left wondering where it all goes from here.

What Emelianenko ’s Loss Means For Strikeforce

It’s never a positive thing when the biggest name on your roster takes a loss, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is not the death blow to Strikeforce that many feel it could be.

Obviously, Strikeforce has some problems at the moment with four of their most promoted fighters suffering lopsided losses. 

Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Brett Rogers, and Dan Henderson are all very talented, but when you lose in the manner that they did, it will affect their marketability moving forward.

When you are already working with a thin roster and the very strong possibility that one of your champions will be jumping ship, it’s time to reevaluate everything you have done up to this point.

As far as talent is concerned, Strikeforce has done a spectacular job of getting pieces in place to make most of their divisions interesting.

Unfortunately, they are terrible when it comes to marketing that talent.

Ask the average MMA fan to name 10 fighters under contract with Strikeforce, and it would be surprising if that fan could name more the five or six. Strikeforce must market the great talent that they have in house if they ever want to get out of the UFC’s shadow.

Emelianenko’s loss is going to require Strikeforce to either correct that issue or fade into MMA obscurity.

What Emelianenko ’s Loss Means For MMA

Simply put—NOTHING.

While Emelianenko’s loss is a major moment in the history of MMA, it means very little in the grand scheme of things. Emelianenko losing isn’t going to hamper the sport’s growth, nor it going to stop its evolution.

If anything, Emelianenko’s loss signifies that the rest of the sport has finally caught up with and perhaps even surpassed one of the greatest to ever compete.

MMA will continue to move forward.