Should Fedor Quit Sambo?

There's a big misconception about the reasons the UFC and Fedor Emelianenko didn't come to an agreement.

For some reason, a lot of people think the problem was related to Fedor's insistence on competing in Sambo competitions. This is simply not true.

Emelianenko is without question the best Sambo competitor in the world. He has gone undefeated in the world Sambo Championships for years. This year, however, he lost in the semifinals.

After losing, he said, "I missed a throw. Sambo obviously has different rules, and in an MMA fight, if that were to happen, then it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it’s a different scoring system and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do certain things that I would do in an MMA ring."

He further went on to contend that he still considers Sambo to be simply a hobby and not nearly as much of a focus as MMA.

Fedor's loss came as a surprise to many, but in reality, is quite understandable. While Fedor attempts to peak for MMA bouts, his competitors all see him as their biggest possible adversary. Such was likely the case for Blagoi Ivanov, Fedor's Sambo conqueror.

All that being said, it is this writer's opinion that Fedor should retire from Sambo competition. He has reached the absolute pinnacle of that sport, and frankly, there is little else to be gained from further competition.

Like amateur boxers quit Olympic boxing when they become professionals, Fedor should quit Sambo.

It's not as if Fedor's presence in Sambo is going to bring a lot of new interest in professional Sambo bouts either. Sambo is similar enough to MMA, that asking MMA watchers to watch Sambo instead would be like asking hockey fans to start watching roller hockey instead. It just isn't going to happen.

Every professional athlete needs to make some sacrifices if they want to be the best that they can be. While Sambo is good practice for MMA, it must be somewhat of a distraction that cannot ultimately help him become the best MMA fighter.

The only athlete who kept his hobby is Michael Vick, and we all know how that went.  (Not to compare Sambo to dog fighting.)

I wrote an article recently about the negotiations, and someone replied to me that telling Fedor to quit his hobby would be like asking a guitar enthusiast to quit playing guitar...

Well...first of all, most athletes are told not to play other sports for fun. I know of professional hockey players have been suspended for playing other sports because of risk of injury. Same thing with basketball, or football. Don't jeopardize your career over a sport in which you have nothing left to prove.

But in keeping with the guitar comparison, there are some other big flaws in that logic. First of all, playing the guitar is a lot less dangerous than competing in Sambo.  Furthermore, it isn't the case that Fedor would be unable to do Sambo at all, it would simply be that he wouldn't be allowed to compete major events.

He still would probably incorporate Sambo into a lot of his training for MMA.

Add on to that, Fedor's own comments after his loss. He basically said that if it was MMA, he still would have won. This seems like a bit of an excuse to me. It's like if Eric Clapton went into an acoustic guitar competition, and lost, then Clapton says, "Well, if I was allowed to use my electric guitar, I woulda won."  It just doesn't make any sense.

If he wants to use those MMA moves, and MMA scoring, he should definitely stick to MMA. This is the greatest proof that Fedor didn't turn down the UFC because of Sambo.

If Fedor really wanted to do Sambo that badly, he wouldn't be complaining after Sambo matches about how he wished the fight was MMA.

All of this being said, I am a big Fedor fan, and I hope that he comes to the UFC soon.