F. Scott Fitzgerald famously declared that “There are no second acts in American lives.” If he’d lived to become an MMA fan he’d probably have to eat his words to a slight degree, with aging fighters like Randy Couture and Dan Henderson proving there’s a second act for a cagey veteran at the right moment at the right time. And that’s where we find Fedor Emelianenko right now: waiting to see if he has another run in him.
Some fighters can have that second act of a career like Henderson is having, and Couture had, by adapting a new fighting style or weight class. Couture dropping down from heavyweight, fluctuating up and then down before a permanent move to light heavyweight for one last run, gave him a run unlike any other in MMA. When all is said and done Randy Couture’s legacy will be as a top contender no matter what weight he fought at. And he’s not the only one.
Henderson has had a career surge after moving back to light-heavyweight after a career spent as a middleweight. Alistair Overeem went from a fringe fighter at light-heavyweight to a Top 5 heavyweight; Brian Stann and Chael Sonnen have taken good, but not great, careers at light-heavyweight and made them into top caliber careers at middleweight.
Some fighters aren’t so lucky.
Others fall to the wayside to history like Ken Shamrock, fighting in glorified freak shows and trading on their earlier, stellar careers to provide them a paycheck. Shamrock has gone from being a pioneer of the sport to a cautionary tale about holding on for too long. And unfortunately he’s not the only one, either, as there are a long list of fighters who are still trying to show the world that they can rise above the rest and fight for a UFC title in the near future.
With Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira coming back after being similarly written off as Couture and Henderson were at one point, the man with the biggest climb back to the top from the height of the Pride era seemingly is Fedor Emelianenko. Stopped dramatically in his last three fights, the last two by knockout, Fedor is at a crossroads in his career few thought possible. In 2009 no one thought Fedor could be beaten; in 2011 he has three straight losses and is far from a fighter able to contend for a legitimate world title as it stands right now.
Out of Strikeforce, and fighting under the banner of the promotion he has both an ownership stake in and widely blamed for keeping him out of the UFC in M-1 Global, Fedor’s fight with Jeff Monson will perhaps give us the best gauge of where Fedor is in his career right now. He might be stuck between a rock and a hard place, career wise, but Monson isn’t a tomato can nor is he a top level heavyweight at the moment. Monson doesn’t have a lot of current top fighters on his record but he has a grappling pedigree and fought a tough decision loss to Daniel Cormier recently. He may not be a Top 25 fighter but he’s not someone there to pad Fedor’s record, either. He may not be a lot of things but he is one perfect thing though: the best judge of Fedor’s abilities and skill set as they stand right now.
Not what they were in Pride.
Not the mythic abilities often given to him by his ardent fan base.
Not the perceived level of the few who refuse to admit that perhaps Fedor’s abilities aren’t what they used to be.
This will be the most honest test of his abilities since his days in Pride; Monson is perfect in this regard. He’s one of the handful of fighters out there that you could make a case is a good choice for Fedor right now, admitting along the way that he’s not a top fighter and is ranked as high as he is because of his name more than his ability. The fight with Monson is going to show us a lot about “The Last Emperor.” He’s not a gatekeeper to the top ten, nor is he a guy fighting on the regional circuit that’ll never amount to greatness. He’s a tough fighter that gives a gauge to how good a fighter could be; he’s a heavyweight version of Stephan Bonner. He’ll give you a heck of a fight in the cage but neither Monson nor Bonner are going to be contending for a world title in anything but a lower level tier of competition.
But the one thing they do very well is give a tough fight to nearly anyone. It’s why Bonner has become a good measure of prospects and why Monson was a good gauge as to how good Cormier is. And he’ll be a better one as to how much Fedor has left.
