Fedor Emelianenko: Could He Be a Legitimate UFC Contender?

After going almost 10 years without a true loss, Fedor Emelianenko submitted to Fabricio Werdum.  Dana White fired back with an "I told you so" type of attitude and tries to dismiss him as being a fake, phony fighter.  This is where a point needs to be made.  

Any professional fighter that goes on a 10-year, 27-fight win streak is legitimate.  I don't care what type of competition you're facing.

Let's look at Fedor, for a moment, through his own eyes.  

Fedor has, on more than one occasion, said he truly doesn't care about his legacy or whether he was viewed as the baddest man on the planet.  He didn't even like the nickname "The Last Emperor."

And now that he's lost, he doesn't have people on the Internet saying he's some invincible monster incapable of losing.  He can now finally go out and just be a fighter and fight.  He has a clear conscience now that people finally stopped talking him up.

Now if we look at Fedor as a fighter, he has the skill set to be the best. 

He proved that years ago.  

Fedor is known as just being the most well-rounded, transitional fighter there is.  People have been claiming that he can not hang with the new, up-and-coming UFC heavyweights that are big and powerful.  Well, watching the fight this past weekend between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin proved something to me.  

Both fighters are still young and they both have holes in their game that will get exposed when facing top competition. 

I'm not saying Fedor would smash them, I'm just saying that the holes are there.  Ironically, that is how Fedor made a name for himself coming up in Pride—by not having holes in his game and also being able to expose holes in other fighters' games.

I made this article for two reasons, one being to say that Dana was correct about Fedor not being an invincible monster that would destroy his heavyweight division. And two, to say that Fedor is definitely a top fighter who has a massive amount of skill and is not a fake or a phony.  So Dana, please sign Fedor and let him showcase some of his world-class talent in the UFC.  

He wont go undefeated, but that doesn't mean he couldn't become champion, or just have some great fights.  How are you gonna sign James Toney then call Fedor a fake?!