Who Has The Greatest Legacy Between Fedor Emelianenko And Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira?
by Kelvin Hunt on Aug 31, 2009 10:35 PM EDT
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I saw this discussion on another forum and read some interesting points in regards to both fighters and how they will be remembered. Of course all of this has come about because of Nogueira's thrilling win over UFC legend Randy Couture this past weekend at UFC 102.
Fedor Emelianenko is basically undefeated in over thirty fights, he has fought and beat a great deal of top heavyweights, and he has two decisive wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In fact, a great deal of his legacy is built off of those two wins over Nogueria. Because Nogueira was the #1 ranked HW in the world at the time they fought. However, Fedor has taken some hits in the credibility department in regards to a number of freak-show fights since the collapse of PRIDE. But, he's rebounded to take out two former UFC champions in Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. Let's take a look at some of the top heavyweights defeated by Fedor:
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria(2x)
-Heath Herring(Herring was highly thought of at the time)
-Mirko Cro Cop
-Mark Coleman
-Tim Sylvia
-Andrei Arlovski
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is basically thought of as the second greatest heavyweight of all time by some because he's beaten pretty much everyone except Fedor. He's best known for taken obscene amounts of punishment only to come back and win the fight. It's arguable that Nogueira has faced tougher competition more consistently than Fedor. In fact, he's probably the only fighter from PRIDE that has been able to enjoy success inside the octagon. Let's take a look at some of the top heavyweights Nogueira has beaten:
-Mark Coleman
-Heath Herring(3x)
-Mirko Cro Cop
-Ricco Rodriguez(When Ricco was still Ricco...although some argue Nogueira lost this one)
-Sergei Kharitonov
-Fabricio Werdum
-Josh Barnett
-Tim Sylvia
-Randy Couture
So who has the greatest legacy between the two legendary fighters? Holla back with your thoughts....
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Minotauro is unquestionably the # 2 ranked heavyweight of all-time in my mind. Fedor’s two wins against him by decision would, I’d think, push him above Nog.
Word
BUT, would facing the tougher opposition kinda of equal out the two victories over Nogueira? I mean he wasn’t able to finish Nogueira either time….also, Nogueira has proven that he can win in a cage….whereas Fedor hasn’t…??
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Fedor at this point. But let’s hypothetically say Fedor gets KO’d against The Grim and Nog beats Lesnar, then it’s not so clear any more.
A legacy is not necessarily tarnished because you lost; Sakuraba got brutalized a few times around and he still is a legend in my mind.
Bloody hell.
You soled Fedor short without mentioning Randleman, who just beat CC before they fought and was a former champ. Also Hunt, who was ranked in the top10 and held wins over TK, Wand and CC. His apathy towards fighting since then shouldn’t negate a quality win then. Also Fujita had defeated a prime Kerr and only lost CC prior to Fedor (Coleman doesn’t count) and Schilt was favored over Fedor in their fight too.
And even if Fedor loses to Brett, it’s still clear Fedor’s legacy is better than Nog’s.
Welcome to the site man
Thanks for commenting…
-Randleman had just beat CC but had just lost back to back fights to Sakuraba and Rampage…
-Hunt wasn’t top ten…the only notable win was Cro Cop via split decision…Hunt’s win over Wanderlei..he outweighed the guy by a ton…and still only won a split decision..
-Fujita was good…not great…but I could have put him on the list
-I could have put Schilt on there…I could put him on Nog’s as well…
If Fedor takes an L to Rogers…I don’t see how his legacy is THAT much better than Nog’s at that point….it’s definitely debatable IMO.
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That’s the way it goes when you don’t fight “where it’s at”… I dare you people to feed me a bunch of shit of how Fedor doesn’t need to prove himself, because I happen to be one of the biggest Fedor fans ever.
Bloody hell.
by 3PA on Sep 1, 2009 8:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Regardless of the losses Randleman was coming off the win over a top5 HW.
MMA Weekly had Hunt ranked. I remember that. Split decision or not he won. ANd Fedor wasn’t even supposed to go up against him but Barnett decided to fight Nog instead (one the many he turned down).
Nog has also fought more smaller fighters than Fedor has, including a loss to the much smaller Hendo. Fedor gets flack for fighting Lindland (where there was only 18lbs difference) but people gloss over the fact Nog fought Tamura x2,Horn, Kanehara, Hendo, Kikuta. ( I stil think those are quality wins sans Kanehara although he’s no canI would also add Enson to Nog
Also on top of that. the Sergei, Ricco and the 2nd Barnett fight all could have went either way. And Ricco was truly robbed to set up the Fedor rematch. I personally believe the PRIDE criteria was used as a cop out in that fight.
Two awesome fighters but I’ll take the guy who won the head-to-head matchups.
by The Real T-Bone on Sep 2, 2009 12:45 PM EDT reply actions
Wow
When you put their stats down like that, both are pretty impressive. Nog is a true BJJ fighter like Gracie was where he might look down and out of the fight only to surprise us with a submission or a big turnaround for the win. It might not look pretty or be that flash knockout(considering he only has 2KOs altogether) but he is effective.
I’d give the nod to Antonio Nogueira…I just wish others would see that as well. These fighters are much closer in comparison than I thought
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Brohamm
Welcome to the community…thanks for joining…but yea…i agree…it’s arguable…lol.
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Welcome Brohamm! Good subject, Kelvin. These were two of the best heavyweights that this young sport has yet seen. Youth is being served now in the heavyweight division but It’s kind of cool seeing them competing still at a very high level.
Yea
It’s amazing that these two guys have been THIS good for this long…
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