Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament: 5 Reasons Fedor Emelianenko Will Win It All

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is set to kick off in less than 24 hours at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva. The anticipation is finally going to turn into some action when we see the first two quarterfinal fights as Andrei Arlovski faces Sergei Kharitonov and Fedor Emelianenko faces Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

Everyone seems to have their own favorite to win this tournament, but the fighter who is being chosen most often by fans to be the winner is former pound-for-pound king and PRIDE heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko.

Fedor lost his last fight against Fabricio Werdum, who is also in this tournament, but there are quite a few reasons that Fedor is still the favorite to win this tournament.

Here are the top five reasons Fedor will win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.

5. Overall Ability

Other fighters in this tournament have their specialties: Fabricio Werdum’s jiu-jitsu, Brett Rogers’ punching power, Josh Barnett’s wrestling, etc. But none of them come close to capturing the level of excellence that Fedor has with his overall game.

Fedor has absolutely punishing knockout power, his balance is excellent, he can wrestle with the best of the best and he can submit practically everyone on the planet.

"Fedor has no weakness,” former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten once said. “I have seen so many fights, and even the best fighters in the world have a flaw in their game, but I have yet to find one in Fedor Emelianenko."

That story still stands true today.

While guys will say that they want to fight Fedor, it’s almost always either because of the potential money involved or because they just want that one shot at making history by actually beating him. No one, though, would prefer to fight Fedor if all things were equal with other fighters.

4. Experience

At 34 years old, Fedor Emelianenko is the oldest but also one of the most experienced fighters in this tournament. Among the fighters in this tournament, only Alistair Overeem has more career MMA fights than Fedor.

Through his 10-plus years in the sport, Fedor has seen it all and done it all as a former RINGS world heavyweight and King of Kings champion, PRIDE heavyweight and Heavyweight Grand Prix champion and the current WAMMA heavyweight champion. He has fought all over the world including Russia, Lithuania, the United States and Japan.

In addition to his where he has fought, Fedor has also made a name for himself by regularly competing against men that are much larger than his 6’0”, 230-pound frame. He’ll have a chance to fight another giant in the first round of this tournament as he faces Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

3. First-Round Opponent

I say this with no disrespect to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, but the guy simply isn’t quite on Fedor’s level at this point in his career.

Silva is a giant who barely breaks under the 265-pound weight limit for the heavyweight division at weigh-ins. He suffers from acromegaly, which causes enlarged facial and body features because of a tumor in his pituitary gland; which makes him look even bigger than he is.

But this isn’t the first time that Fedor has played the role of David and slayed a much larger, Goliath-like giant.

His two most notable victories against fighters much larger than he came against the 400-plus pound Brazilian known as Zuluzinho. “Zulu” came crashing down early in the first round when Fedor hammered him with a thunderous flurry of punches.

The second giant he defeated was a 7’2” true giant named Hong Man Choi. Though Choi actually landed a few shots on Fedor, he would eventually famously submit to an arm bar.

Silva is certainly a more talented mixed martial artist than either Choi or Zulu but he won’t be able to just use his raw size against Fedor to get the win—and it doesn’t seem very likely that he has quite enough skill to pick apart someone as talented as Fedor.

Emelianenko is the biggest betting favorite in any fight on tonight’s card.

2. Mental Stability

Perhaps no fighter in the history of mixed martial arts has the combination of skill and yet the humbleness of Fedor Emelianenko.

Fedor is as strong mentally as he is physically, if not stronger. He rarely makes mistakes and always seems to be prepared for anything that his opponents can possibly throw at him despite looking like he just stumbled into the arena after coming from the bar.

When asked about his feelings on a particular fight, Fedor almost acts like he doesn’t care. He usually says something along the lines of, “It’s a great opportunity to show the world my skills and techniques.”

This type of response isn’t fun for us writers, but it makes sense and it’s a smart play by Fedor. It doesn’t rile up his opponents, it doesn’t say anything positive or negative about his opponent, and it keeps him positive. The word “opportunity” is key because that’s how Fedor looks at every fight—as an opportunity.

We have never had the opportunity to see how Fedor reacts to a (real) loss before so this fight with Antonio Silva will be a great look at whether or not all his quotes about the loss not affecting him are actually true, or if he is just like the rest of us—human.

1. Vegas Odds Say He Will Win the Tournament

The bottom line when predicting fights is always how much money can be made on picking one guy over another. While you may believe that one fighter has a good chance of winning a fight, if the odds aren’t right, it might not be a wise investment.

The Vegas odds-makers make mistakes like anyone else but let’s get one thing straight—these guys make money hand-over-fist for one specific reason—they’re extremely good at what they do. Almost frighteningly good at times, to the point where you have to question if they truly are “in on it.”

Not only is Fedor the biggest favorite to win his first-round fight among any of the fighters, he is also considered the favorite to win the whole thing.

At +170 to win the entire tournament, Fedor narrowly edges out fellow favorite Alistair Overeem, who sits right behind him at +180. These two fighters, though, are significantly ahead of the rest of the pack. Here are the full betting odds on who will win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix:

Fedor Emelianenko: +170
Alistair Overeem: +180
Josh Barnett: +350
Andrei Arlovski: +950
Fabricio Werdum: +1200
Antonio Silva: +1800
Sergei Kharitonov: +2000
Brett Rogers: +2200
Shane Del Rosario: +3200 (potential injury replacement)
Valentijn Overeem: +3500 (potential injury replacement)
Lavar Johnson: +4000 (potential injury replacement)
Ray Sefo: +5200 (potential injury replacement)
Any Other Fighter: +3500 (potential injury replacement)

As can be easily seen by the betting odds, the best predicting minds in the business seem to believe that “The Last Emperor” will regain his throne on top of the world MMA rankings by winning it all.

Who are we, really, to disagree?

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