Strikeforce Fedor Vs. Silva Results: What Does Fedor Emelianenko's Loss Mean?

Nick CaronFeb 12, 2011

Last June, the MMA world was flipped on its head when Fedor Emelianenko lost for the first time in nearly a decade and the first time legitimately in his career. Tonight, lightning struck again as Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva stopped the legendary Emelianenko after the second round.

The fight started off competitively with both men landing some nice shots standing, but Silva clearly looking significantly more confident as he closed the gap on Fedor and pushed him into the cage in the first round.

The first round probably could have been scored for either fighter, but it was the second round when the damage was really done.

As the two men came from their corners, Fedor immediately loaded up and threw a big right hand. Silva saw it coming, though, and quickly went for the takedown, securing it with ease less than 10 seconds into the round.

From there, Silva quickly passed Fedor’s guard into half-guard where he landed a couple shots before sliding into full mount still very early in the round. The beating was on as Silva used his sledgehammer-like fists to smash the face of the former top-ranked heavyweight into a bloody pulp, closing his right eye in the process.

Fedor’s face was so messed up after the second round and he couldn’t see out of his right eye enough that the fight was stopped between rounds.

The legendary Fedor has now lost back-to-back fights with this one clearly coming in large part because of the 50-plus pounds he supposedly surrendered to “Bigfoot.”

So what does this all mean for the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time?

I think the first thing that we all need to do is step back for a night and really analyze where Emelianenko can go from here.

We know he’s not the No. 1 heavyweight in the world anymore. That has been proved by him losing back-to-back fights to guys who are competing in this tournament.

But can he still compete in the heavyweight division? That’s really the question going forward, and the question that Fedor is going to have to ask his training partners and himself.

Certainly Fedor could beat up on some of the no-name fighters that Strikeforce has, but is that really what he wants? If he can’t defeat the top guys in the sport, is it really time for him to call it quits?

We’ll likely have the answer to whether or not Emelianenko will be retiring in the next few days, but this discouraging loss may truly be the end of an era.

If it is the end, I hope that us fans remember Fedor Emelianenko as the man who dazzled us with his talent for the past decade and beat the best of the best in their prime. Not as the man who got submitted and pummeled to a pulp in his last two fights.