Fantasy MMA #1 Fedor vs. Cormier

I feel asleep at 1930 last night and woke up around 0430. So I have had nothing to do for the last couple hours and I decided to do this.

Seeing as how very few of us are capable of being impartial and come when it comes to most fighters, I don't expect to come out of posting this unscathed.

Fans either hate Fedor, calling him the ultimate overrated can crusher. Call him the GOAT, who is still able to beat any fighter in the world on any given night. Or they feel that he was a great fighter in a bygone era, who's time has passed.

Most fans universally agree that the 32 year old Olympic wrestler is someone to watch. Daniel Cormier is fighting Josh Barnett soon to determine the winner of StrikeForce's heavyweight "Grand Prix." So for the hell of it, here's a breakdown of the two fighters and what I would expect to happen if they ever meet in the cage/ring.

vs.

Daniel Cormier - 32 years old - 5'11" - Reach: 71" (Ranked 7th Heavyweight)

Record: 9-0 (4 KO/TKO, 5 SUB, 2 DEC)

Last Five: Antonio Silva (W), Jeff Monson (W), Devin Cole (W), Soa Palelei (W), Jason Riley (W).

-EXPERIENCE: IMPROVED STRIKING. WRESTLING (NCAA DIV I, OLYMPIC/WORLD/ PAN AMERICAN GAMES)

-Titles Held: King of the Cage(KOTC) Heavyweight Champion, Xtream MMA Heavyweight Champion, StrikeForce Grand Prix Finalist

Cormier was born in Lafayette, Louisiana and made his pro debut in 2009.

-High school he was a 3 time All State and one time All American. Junior College All American(2x) and Junior College Champion(2x). 2x Big 12 Conference Championship Runner Up. NCAA Division I Championship Runner Up, NCAA Div. I All American (2001)

-2002 Gold Medalist (Pan American Championships), 2003 Gold Medalist (Pan American Games), 2007 Bronze Medalist (Pan American Games), 2007 Bronze Medalist (World Championships). 2x Olympic Competitor, 2004: 4th Place, 2008: Did not Compete due to Kidney Failure)

-Trains at American Kickboxing Academy. His striking improves with every fight. See his fight with Jeff Monson, which was a great amount of improvement followed by his fight with Bigfoot, where he destroyed the far more experienced fighter and KO'd him in the first round. What's interesting is he doesn't always looks for take downs like a lot of other wrestlers, instead he likes to keep fights standing and bang a lot of the time.

-He's 3 years younger than Fedor, and has far less fights under his belt, but it's safe to say his body has taken quite a beating after 2 decades of wrestling. He's a very athletic fighter, but is a bit on the chubby side, and many feel he belongs at light heavyweight. However due to kidney problems cutting weight is difficult if not impossible.

Youtube:

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N3hHpZioO4 (Highlights)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RQgeWoevNY (vs. Antonio Silva)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jta9z3zZkoE (vs. Jeff Monson)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXsenTwcZg (vs. Jason Riley)

Fedor Emelianenko - 35 years old - 6'0" - Reach: 74" (Ranked 11th Heavyweight)

Record: 33-4 (1 No Contest) (Wins: 9 KO/TKO, 16 SUB, 8 DEC) (Losses: 3 KO/TKO[1 Due to Cut], 1 SUB)

Last Five: Satoshi Ishii (W), Jeff Monson (W), Dan Henderson (L), Antonio Silva (L), Fabricio Werdum (L).

-EXPERIENCE: Grand Master Rank in Sambo. Black belt in Judo, Good Striking/Boxing

Titles Held: RINGS Openweight Champion, RINGS Absolute Tournament winner(2001), RINGS Openweight Tournament winner(2001), PRIDE Heavyweight Champion, PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion (2004). WAMMA Heavyweight Champion (LOL)

Fedor was born in Stary Oskol, Belgorod Oblast, Russia and made his pro debut in 2000.

-6x Gold Medalist: Russian Sambo Championships, (2x Bronze), 1997 European Combat Sambo Gold Medalist, 4x Gold Medalist: World Championships Combat Sambo, (1x Bronze).

-2x Bronze Medalist in Judo: World Cup (1999). 2x Russian Judo Championships Bronze Medalist.

-7th Place (Judo) Dutch Grand Prix (2000), 6th Place (Combat Sambo) Russian Combat Sambo Championships (2010)

-Trains with Red Devil Sports Club, known for heroic comebacks and/or dominating one sided beat downs depending on who he's fighting. One of the most polarizing fighters there is, many people either hate or love Fedor. The sport seems to have passed him by, as many feel he's failed to evolve with the times.

-Taken a lot of damage over his career, and was stopped in 3 of his last 5 fights. Consistent level of competition can be called into question, many opponents have less than stellar records, regardless of domination over said opponents.

Youtube:

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rY4gcMz460 (highlight)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUIsVolQqE (vs. Satoshi Ishii)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-xnT0UpJyo (Part 2) (vs. Jeff Monson)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90haGh-yfAk (vs. Dan Henderson)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNFo-2N_kpc (Part 2) (vs. Antonio Silva)

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VacJtJ3k-3A (vs. Fabricio Werdum)

The Breakdown:

This fight, if it ever happens will no doubt be exciting. Both men have fantastic credentials, both in the grappling and striking departments. This fight has the hypothetical potential as a fight of the year.

Grappling: Freestyle Wrestling vs. Combat Sambo/Judo

Cormier has never fought a Sambo specialist, he's faced two Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belts in Bigfoot Silva and Jeff Monson. Fedor has fought NCAA Div I/Olympic wrestlers in the past, but never a wrestler the caliber of Cormier, though he has faced former Olympians; Dan Henderson (Greco-Roman, 2x Olympian, 2000 Pan American Gold Medalist), Ishii (Judo Gold Medalist), Matt Lindland (Silver Medalist Freestyle wrestling). Lindland was also a freestyle wrestler, but his natural weight class was much lower, in fact all three were undersized. Then again Fedor is an undersized heavyweight. I think because of Cormiers fantastic take downs and take down defense he would dictate the location of the fight pretty much at will. Overall grappling ability goes to Cormier, but submissions go to Fedor. I call this EVEN.

Striking: Kickboxing vs. Combat Sambo/Boxing

Cormier is much newer to the striking game than Fedor, but he's improving rapidly. See his KO of Silva as a testament to that. He doesn't throw a ton of kicks, he does throw leg kicks and the occasional head kick, but his hands are heavy and his ground and pound is superb. The differences in his striking fight to fight are very noticeable. He controlled the fight against Monson almost as well as Fedor did, despite having a huge experience disadvantage. I'm looking forward to his fight against Josh Barnett to see just how good his striking has become and to see if it's gotten any better since the Bigfoot fight. He's not afraid to exchange and with each fight expect him to be showing more fluidity and combinations. Fedor when it comes to striking can go from 0 to 100 in a few seconds, standing there with hands low to throwing a 5-7 punch combination, mostly looping hooks and overhand rights. As of late he's become more patient, basically since the Hendo fight. Fedor also has ground and pound that rivals anyone in MMA, past or present, if he gets on top and has the opening to land strikes expect them to come hard and fast. Because of Fedors extreme experience advantage, and his new found patience I give him the edge. But if he gets lazy with his leg kicks he'll be taken down so that shouldn't be forgotten. Fedor wins here.

Common Opponents:

If you look at the common opponents, Antonio Silva and Jeff Monson: Cormier is 2-0 and Fedor is 1-1. Both had decision victories over Monson. Fedor fractured Monsons leg with leg kicks during their fight, dropped him several times; completely out striking him in all areas. Cormier out struck Monson equally so: 120 to 40 landed strikes over 3 rounds, landing fantastic combinations, mixing in body shots, leg kicks and a head kick in the 3rd that landed on the jaw. He also dropped Monson during the fight and had him staggered several times from both left and right hands.

Against Silva; Fedor lost when the doctor stopped the fight at the end of the 2nd round. Corimer dropped Silva twice and KO'd him in the 1st round. Fedor won the first round against Silva, (close round), landing more strikes but it was clear that he didn't have it that night against Silva because at the start of round two Silva took him down. He took Fedors back, mounted him, tried to sink in various chokes. Fedor was unable to get up from the ground beneath the much larger Silva and took a lot of ground and pound, severely damaging his eye. He did attempt to lock in a heelhook at the very end but Silva simply taunted him. The doctor stopped the fight because of the damage to the the eye.

Intangibles:

1) Ring or Cage.

2) Fedor's Motivation/ emotional investment.

3) Cormier's fight against Barnett result.

4) Speed

The Pick:

I'll get hated on for this, but with the exception of may Dan Henderson, I would pick Fedor in a rematch against either Silva or Werdum, especially if he came in properly motivated and trained. I think he's past his prime, but he's still a dangerous fighter and deserves the respect of the fans rather than disdain many show for him.

Cormier is someone to watch and I'm becoming more of a fan after every fight. He's a little old but he could fight another 5-7 years I think and will give us plenty of good fights at either heavyweight or light heavyweight when he joins the UFC after the end of the StrikeForce Grand Prix.

Fedor isn't unstoppable anymore, so it's unlikely he'll have the "Fedor effect" against Cormier, but I think that Fedor might be a little bit faster than Cormier. I think that Fedor would get the better of the striking throughout the fight because of that speed, and Cormier would take the fight to the ground, looking for positional control, looking to ground and pound. He's got a great base and would probably avoid the armbars from the bottom that Fedor is known for and would stay on top save for a few sweeps/stand ups, but I don't think Fedor would be able to get out from under the Olympic wrestler at will and would spend a lot of the fight on his back, taking shots. Barring a flash KO/TKO win for Fedor, I would call for a decision victory by Cormier. Daniel Cormier by decision.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment and let me know if you'd like me to do another match up. If you agree or disagree please state your reasons why. Do not turn this into a Fedor hate/sucks thread please. You people are better than that.