After Fedor Emelianenko ended his Strikeforce run earlier this year in devastating fashion, knocked unconscious at the capable hands of equally legendary Dan Henderson, his future remained somewhat in doubt. Seemingly unable to commit to retirement or another fight after the loss, Fedor would be released from his contract and left walking into the world that is the MMA world outside of the Zuffa umbrella. Using his parent company to stage a comeback of sorts, Fedor has taken a tough first assignment in the rehabilitation of his career: Jeff Monson. And for Fedor, this fight means just as much if not more than the Henderson fight did earlier this year. Why?
Because now it’s do or die time for Fedor.
Before Monson you could always make an excuse to why he lost. Werdum is an absolute killer on the ground, one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu players on the planet, and getting caught up in his guard is something plenty of guys have succumbed to. Fedor unwisely took the fight to the ground and Werdum is perhaps the best in the division off his back. There’s nothing dishonorable about getting caught by a guy who regularly competes at the highest levels of BJJ.
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s size is something that has overwhelmed plenty of smaller opponents; much like other heavyweights who cut to 265, Silva is adept at using his massive size as a weapon. Part of the heavyweight division’s uniqueness is that there’s a sixty pound variance in it as opposed to the 10-20 lbs between the majority of weight classes in MMA. For every fighter like Silva who cuts weight to make 265 there are an equal number of guys like Fedor who don’t. There’s nothing dishonorable in being overwhelmed by a guy who’s done the same to other fights.
Dan Henderson’s right hand famously has knocked out many opponents with equally tough chins; you could almost argue that it was a tad too early and Fedor had recovered from Henderson’s barrage. Michael Bisping will forever be immortalized in highlight reels on the other end of Henderson’s big right at UFC 100. There’s nothing dishonorable with getting caught from a kill-shot that’s taken out many other fighters.
In all three cases he lost to tough opponents and in all three cases there’s nothing inherently horrible about how he lost. He got caught and stopped; just this past weekend Cain Velasquez had something similar to happen to him. The best fighters in the world have all had similar things happen to them and Fedor isn’t immune to it.
But there’s something he has to be immune from this weekend: Losing to patently inferior competition.
That’s the only thing you can call Jeff Monson at this point in both their careers. Monson is an undersized heavyweight and a journeyman in the truest sense: he’s years removed from his peak, which you could argue culminated with a fight against Tim Sylvia in 2006. He’s a similar fighter in stature to a guy like Travis Fulton. Fulton recently was on the receiving end of a beautiful head kick knockout from Andrei Arlovski. Arlvoski’s win, while spectacularly ending after a boring 14 minutes plus of relative non-action, was as perfunctory as his previous win over Ray Lopez. They are fights he was supposed to win and he did just that: win them. And Fedor has to do exactly that this weekend.
Win.
Nothing else will do at this point. If Fedor has anything left in him then Jeff Monson will be a perfunctory win at worst and a spectacular finish at best. If he has anything left to offer, and is still a top 10 heavyweight in the world, then this is the fight he has to show it. Monson is a tough fighter, and far from an easy victory, but he’s someone that even at this stage in his career (the downside) that Fedor has to beat to maintain any sort of relevance.
His glory days in Pride keep getting further in the distance with the advancement of time, which waits for no man. Victory is a must for “The Last Emperor” to even justify a fringe Top 10 ranking at this point and every loss throws fuel onto the fire of every criticism ever lobbied at Fedor since the end of the glory years in Japan. Nothing else can do.
