After a 27-bout win streak that was only briefly interrupted by a No-Contest-decision the seemingly invincible and #1-ranked heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko, was defeated by two-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum in one minute flat in the main event of the Strikeforce/M-1 Global mixed martial arts fight card at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. on June 26.
Contrary to popular belief Werdum did have one ace in the game with his extraordinary Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills and the ability to react to Emelianenko's mistake in a split second.
Emelianenko clearly went into this bout extremely comfortable and overconfident based on his huge success momentum dating all the way back to Dec. 2000 when he suffered his first and only loss (prior to last night!). Evidently he had forgotten that the possibility of losing still existed. Even for him. Resting on the laurels of past accomplishments resulted in an obvious absence of awareness and lack of guard by Emelianenko.
When Emalienko landed a well-aimed punch that knocked Werdum to the ground, he immediately lunged after him to finish him with a vicious dose of ground and pound. Only he ended up in Werdum's full guard which should have set off all alarm bells in Emalienenko's head immediately since Werdum is two-time BJJ World Champion.
By the time Emelianenko realized his mistake Werdum had already locked him in an air-tight triangle choke. To make matters worse for the Russian MMA superstar Werdum was also working an arm bar. It was only a matter of seconds before Emelianenko turned purple and his arm was bent out of its natural shape. As a result he had no other choice but to tap at 1:09 in round one, handing Werdum the biggest upset of his MMA career and a possible title shot at current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem.
"A man who does not fall does not stand up," Emelianenko said in his post-fight interview via his Russian translator. This Russian proverb might be the equivalent of Henry Ford's quote: "Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again."
Click here to see the complete Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum fight results and fight photos.
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Comments
Wow, reading this article you can really see the bias in it. The writer writes as though he is in Fedor's mind instead of just stating facts of the fight, which is what an informative article should strive for.
Hats off to Fabricio for the Great victory. He did what no other heavyweight, including Antonio Noguera (widely considered the greatest submission heavyweight ever) could do. He caught Fedor during his lunge. To call it a rookie mistake on Fedor's behalf no only insults Fedor, but diminishes Werdum's acccomplishment.
yeah for sure, he doesnt go in cocky he goes in calm and lets destiny happen. He never gets confident, plus the best make mistakes, and we will most deffinately see a better and stronger Fedor.
Thanks for your comments, Jake and Mike. This is an analysis, not a recap. Therefore, I am offering more than mere facts. Basically, this is my analysis of the fight as I saw it. And yes, I agree that Fedor will come back stronger. However, I never insulted anyone in this article. Fedor did make a mistake when he lunged into Werdum's guard. That's what cost him the win. I also did acknowledge Werdum's talent and great response to Fedor's mistake. A great fighter instinctively reacts to any situation. And that's exactly what Werdum did. I honestly don't see how that takes away from his accomplishment of defeating the #1-ranked fighter in the world.
I would agree you, MikePanther, if it was a fight recap. I take this article as the writer's own analysis of the fight which is, in my opinion, certainly not meant to be seen as the absolute truth.
I'm a fan of Fedor. The way the best heavyweight MMA fighter of all time, Judo black belt and Sambo champion got caught last night surprised me and somewhat disappointed me. Rookie mistake? I guess no. Overconfidence? Not really matching with the guy's mindset I think. Pressure? Who knows? The whole MMA world was looking at him last night, especially with the implication of the result in a titleshot, and even in Pride FC and Affliction it's never been that level so...
Nevertheless I agree with that point:"Hats off to Fabricio for the Great victory." He's indeed done what all the other ones failed at.
What I saw was Fedor's failure to realize that He did not connect with that over-hand right! The way I saw it even in slow-mo was Fabricio Werdum took advantage of that mistake on Fedor's part, and just went down like many BJJ practioners are wont to do; go down and see if your opponent follows you down into the guard and Fabricio was ready and waiting as he immediately thru up his long legs and put Fedor Emelianenko into an "almost secure" Triangle choke! Instead of getting up and standing to throw punches Fedor tried valiantly to throw some downward strikes, this I and my very rabid MMA fan "Wife" felt our hearts sink as Fabricio Werdum really secured not only the "Triangle Choke but also an Armbar!" It was in my opinion upon rewind on our DVR and subsequently slow-motion replay. Not a rookie mistake, just a desire on Fedor's part to pound his way out. This could have happened to any well rounded MMA fighter and has in the past and will as long as there are MMA fighters.
DocNSys
Let that be a lesson to fedor. Never go into the guard of a bjj master. Especially in the 1st round when u didn't even break a sweat yet. How many times have you seen anderson silva (who is a black belt in bjj under the noguera brothers) knock someone down and refuse to ground and pound? Instead back off and encourage his apponent to stand up. Many times. Smart man! Some people criticize him, but I say. If you want him on the ground, then you get him on the ground! Via take down. If you can't do it, then that's your fault! I'm sure if fedor has half a brain in his head, he will be a little more cautious with bjj world champions. I'm almost positive he would've knocked werdum out if he would've just took a page out of anderson silva's book and stepped back and allowed werdum to stand back up.
Hi,
My name is Oleg. I am a big Fedor's fan for a long time. All the comments for this article are very interesting. I agree that Fedor made a big mistake but as he was saying himself, someone was supposed to find a key to him. I agree that after this fight he will become a better fighter. Fedor needs to pay more atterntion to Brazilian JiuJitsu, it is obvious.
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