Fedor Emelianenko Lost To Fabrico Werdum, Now What?

Saturday night was insanity. The only sporting moment that I can remember coming close to the pure shock of Fedor Emelianenko’s loss to Fabricio Werdum was when Mike Tyson got knocked out by Buster Douglas. The supposed baddest man on the planet took on a respectable foe, but not one given a real chance by most fans and experts, and was knocked from his throne. It feels like a slight to Werdum, but the real story in the wake of the fight is what happens next for Fedor. This is a man who ruled the heavyweight starting with his shocking destruction of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE 25 (March 16, 2003) with no one making a legitimate run at his No. 1 spot.

And that is the difference between combat sports (boxing, MMA, kickboxing) and other sports, you expect losses in football, baseball or basketball. You don’t expect professional sports teams to go undefeated for a season let alone ten seasons, you don’t expect Nadal or Federer to go 10 years without a loss and you don’t expect Tiger Woods to win every tournament he enters in a decade.

This unbelievable run is what made Fedor special. It is also what made him a man who was able to get away with his management making outrageous demands or renegotiating contracts after only one fight. Being so clearly the unstoppable No. 1 in the world meant that he did not have to give in to the bully tactics of Dana White and the UFC. Fedor was a man making his own rules, and will likely be the last man that is able to do so while having an honest claim to being the best fighter in the world.

So now that he was forced to submit to a Fabricio Werdum triangle choke, where does this leave Fedor?

Over at Bloody Elbow, Jonathan Snowden is pushing the idea that it is time for the “pudgy” Fedor to make the cut to light heavyweight:

We saw Fedor get bulled around the cage by a green Brett Rogers. Tonight, he looked like a much smaller man than Fabricio Werdum. And, scarily enough, at 6-4 and 238 well proportioned pounds, Werdum is not a big heavyweight. It’s no longer 2005-and Fedor Emelianenko is no longer the fighter he once was. To compete realistically against the best fighters of the modern era, Emelianenko needs to be physical equals with the man staring across the cage at him. In short, Fedor needs to drop to 205 pounds.

Fedor at 205 would be interesting but as long as he fights outside the UFC there just are not any compelling fights for him to take other than possibly a single bout with “King” Mo Lawal. Of the top 25 light heavyweights in the world, 21 of them are in the UFC. Compare that to 12 of the top 25 at heavyweight and it seems like a much more lucrative proposition for Fedor to stay at heavyweight.

Kid Nate attempted to sell the idea that “everyone in MMA lost” when Fedor tapped. But I just can’t get on board with this idea. It may actually turn out to be a small loss in a bigger victory. The somewhat nefarious M-1 Global (Fedor’s Management/company he co-owns) now has no real leverage when Fedor’s Strikeforce contract runs out after his next fight. The UFC will come calling and for once M-1 is in a position where they can not use the fact that Fedor is the best as a roadblock for standard UFC negotiations and contractual structure.

Sure, a fight like Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko loses a little bit of steam with Fedor not being in that same top spot, but the chances of actually seeing it probably increased greatly with his loss.

There is also the question of what Strikeforce does for Fedor’s last fight. Champion Alistair Overeem is now off the table and if Scott Coker is smart a rematch with Werdum is out of the question as well. There is no reason to give Fedor the chance to avenge his loss to Werdum and leave for the UFC. Let Werdum and Overeem fight to determine your promotion’s top heavyweight and move forward. Fedor could rematch Andrei Arlovski or maybe take a fight with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Then go to the negotiating table and if you can bring him back on a new deal, that would be the time to do the Fabricio Werdum rematch.

We’re now under one week away from watching Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin fight at UFC 116 with the winner being crowned not only the UFC heavyweight champion but the undisputed best heavyweight in the world. As the landscape of MMA’s heavyweight division continues its drastic shift we are left, as we have been so often in the past, with Fedor’s future as one of the most intriguing stories in the sport.