Loss or not, Fedor Emelianenko is still the greatest of all time

The headlines wrote themselves following Fedor Emelianenko’s loss to Fabricio Werdum at Saturday’s Strikeforce event. Some variation on the Last Emperor being dethroned, his reign ending. Melodramatic stuff, to say the least.

Now, two days later the dust has settled a bit and the shock of seeing the greatest fighter in MMA history beaten so easily has dissipated. Fedor suffered the first true loss in his legendary 10-year, 35-fight career.

Yes, Fedor made a mistake, got overly anxious to finish the fight, got complacent, left his head and arm exposed and the submission was sunk in. Was it a fluke? Definitely not. Werdum is the best jiu-jitsu fighter in the heavyweight division – any heavyweight division – and he locked in a triangle choke/armbar combination that forced the Russian to tap out just 69 seconds into the opening round. That after eating a few of Emelianenko’s vaunted lefts that landed him on his back and a few short hammerfists as he cinched the hold tighter and tighter (for the record, Fedor says he tapped to the choke, not the armbar).

So let’s not take anything away from Werdum. He pulled off the biggest upset in MMA history and established himself as a top-3 heavyweight (“Showdown” Joe Ferraro makes a gutsy call to place Werdum at number one, at least until Saturday’s UFC 116 donnybrook between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, and it’s hard to argue with his logic – you become the best by beating the best).

To even hint that Werdum got lucky would be a gross injustice and would in no way be reflective of the facts. So would using this fight as evidence that Fedor is over-rated. Again, it would reduce the tremendous accomplishment of Fabricio Werdum and it would rewrite the facts of Fedor’s unassailable accomplishments.

Those who fall into the “Fedor is over-rated” camp are the ones who point to his bouts with Sam’s Club slugger Brett Rogers and sideshow spectacle Hong Man-Choi and the fact that he didn’t sign with the UFC (and their subsequent contention that he is ducking Brock Lesnar) as proof. Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind. Like an ostrich they stick their heads in the sand and refuse to see the truth that’s staring them in the face. Granted, it’s especially easy to say a great fighter is over-rated after a loss, particularly one that came so quickly, so simply, so quietly.

But 32 wins in 10 years against the likes of in-their-prime fighters like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice), Mark Coleman (twice), Kevin Randleman and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic says a lot, no matter how many Tim Sylvias or Andrei Arlovskis you throw into the mix. His reputation as the greatest heavyweight ever remains intact. He could lose every fight for the rest of his career and still be the greatest. Remember, Hank Aaron batted just .243 over his last three seasons and hit just 42 homeruns and it didn’t hurt his reputation any. Or consider Muhammad Ali’s late-career slide.

As for the man himself, Fedor is probably the least surprised by the loss – that’s how he appeared in post-fight interviews, anyway – and that’s really no surprise. He’s always said that he’s just a man, no matter how the media and fans built him up and portrayed him as some sort of invincible dreadnaught, Fedor the Destroyer.

The thing is, over-rated or not, Fedor had to lose eventually. His greatest skill has always been to find ways to win in impossible situations, which is why no one really expected him to tap when Werdum wrapped his legs around him. It was inconceivable that Fedor wouldn’t hammerfist-and-Houdini his way free. Except the odds were against him – tempt fate one too many times and it’ll bite you in the ass. So he had to lose at some point. If not against Rogers then against Werdum, if not Werdum then Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem, if not Overeem then whoever he faced next. It was inevitable. Fedor knew that. We should have, as well.