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411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Should Fedor Have Signed With the UFC?

September 23, 2015 | Posted by Wyatt Beougher

411Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction MMA, and I’m your host, Wyatt Beougher! Last week, Evan Zivin and Jonathan Solomon discussed Wanderlei Silva’s ban appeal, if Tim Sylvia would still be a top twenty heavyweight, whether or not Bellator and Glory: Dynamite would feel like a PRIDE show, and more. When voting closed, Evan was able to secure just under 55% of the vote, garnering a 12-8 win (with two voters believing it to be a draw). Great effort from both guys, as always, and this week’s contest should be no different, as Alex Rella was originally slated to square off with Jon Butterfield. Unfortunately, I was unable to reach Butters (if you’re reading this, Jon, email me!), so Dino Zee was gracious enough to step in on less than twenty-four hours’ notice. He’ll be putting his undefeated streak on the line as they discuss this past weekend’s fight cards, stiffer drug test failure penalties, and Fedor’s return to the sport!

TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Alex “Little Mac” Rella
Contributor, 411 MMA Zone
1-2-0

VS

BLUE CORNER
Dino “Salad Bar” Zee
Contributor, 411 Wrestling Zone
3-0-0


1.) With a handful of exciting finishes, some fun kickboxing bouts, a big win for hometown fighter Josh Thomson, and their next light heavyweight championship matchup now set, Bellator MMA and Glory: Dynamite 1 can only be considered a success for both promotions.

Alex Rella: FACT Absolutely, I thought this was a big success for both companies. Looking at the action alone, none of the main card fights were bad and I thought most were actually pretty good. Bellator now has a true top fifteen lightweight in Josh Thomson and a borderline top five light heavyweight as their number one contender as Phil Davis had two impressive finishes. Even the main event was quick and entertaining. Bellator has set themselves up nicely going into 2016 with some exciting matchups.

The cross promotion was also great for both promotions as you have to imagine fans from both sports were exposed to the other they may not usually watch. I personally have never watched Glory before, but I’ll be tuning in next time it’s on and I’m sure others feel the same. This is a good idea if they do it once a year or so. I’m sure the ratings were great too. Say what you will about Ortiz, but he’s always a draw on TV. The ratings may not be as good as Bellator 131: Ortiz vs Bonnar or Bellator 138: Slice vs Shamrock, but I’d bet it isn’t that far behind.

Dino Zee: FACT Emphatically so, I’d say. I also was lucky enough to actually attend Dynamite (first time at a Bellator event), and I had a blast, getting to meet Royce Gracie roughly 2 minutes after walking into the SAP Arena. My personal humblebrag stories aside, the show itself was not what I was cynically expecting. For so long, Bellator always seems to have their best laid plans completely wrecked by real life. Whether it’s setting up tournaments with a clear final fight in mind only to see one of the favorites lose immediately, or something simple like setting up a fight between two guys who stand and bang, only to watch fifteen minutes of cage hugging take place, nothing can ever seem to go right for Bellator.

With that in mind, I was preparing myself for a Tito Ortiz title win, and for a tournament final of Emmanuel Newton / King Mo 3, with maybe a devastating loss for Josh Thomson thrown in there. Instead, the results I was actually hoping for took place instead. Thomson cruised, Phil Davis romped both his opponents (with a minor Bellator curse in the form of both King Mo and Linton Vassell being unable/not cleared to fight, allowing freaking Francis Carmont to go to the finals), and Liam McGeary eventually wrapped Tito up and tapped him out. Add to that the Fedor appearance and subsequent announcement, the good-but-not-great kickboxing fights, and I’d say that the night absolutely has to be considered a success. At the very least, it was probably the most fun Bellator show I’ve seen in a long time, if not ever.


2.) With both lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and Brian Foster coming off of impressive (T)KO victories at World Series of Fighting 23, and Foster calling out Gaethje after his fight, Foster makes the most sense as Gaethje’s next challenger.

Alex Rella: FACT The WSOF would be dumb not to give Brian Foster the next title shot. Foster is a UFC vet, has wins over Matt Brown and Brock Larson, and he just annihilated LaRue Burley. I would even pick him to beat Gaethje. Plus there really isn’t anyone else. It’s too soon to give Nick Newell another title shot after Gaethje beat him so decisively. Recently signed veterans Mike Ricci, Jason High, and Caros Fodor would all make for great fights with the champ, but they should have to win at least one in the WSOF before getting a title shot. Foster makes the most sense for the WSOF, if they have any intelligence.

Dino Zee: FACT Went back and forth on this one a bit due to the wording as I usually do, but at the end, I think this is a FACT. My hang up stems from WSOF announcing an upcoming tournament at 155 to determine a top contender. If they’re going through with that, does it really make sense to have Foster skip that and get a title shot off the strength of a one-win streak? Perhaps throwing Foster into the field and having him beat a few other guys to really earn the shot would be the better way to go.

However, the reason I go with “FACT” is in the thinking that WSOF can easily book Gaethje against Foster for the same night as the tournament (much like Bellator just did), and at the end of the night, the champion and the new #1 contender can face off. Since Foster did the legwork in calling out the champ, and since Gaethje sounded more than okay with taking that fight, WSOF may in fact want to strike while the iron is hot, make the title fight, and let the winner take on the winner of the tournament.


3.) Even though neither Muhamed Lawal nor Linton Vassell were able to compete in the light heavyweight tournament final, Phil Davis’ quick, impressive win over reserve bout winner Francis Carmont is enough to consider the one-night tournament a success for Bellator, and Davis getting two finishes in his first two Bellator fights and challenging champion Liam McGeary, who also won impressively against Tito Ortiz, was the best possible outcome Bellator could have hoped for when they were planning the tournament.

Alex Rella: FACT Of course they didn’t plan or hope for this, but this was by far the best possible outcome for Bellator. Davis had two awesome finishes to earn a title shot against McGeary, who pulled off a nice win over Ortiz. Say what you will about Davis, but the guy spent most of his career as a legitimate top five light heavyweight in the UFC. So either Bellator has a true top guy as their champ or their homegrown fighter beats him to even further legitimize his own career.

While Lawal vs Davis was the dream matchup everyone was hoping for when this tournament was announced, the injury does save Lawal for another day. Lawal is now on a nice four-fight winning streak and Bellator could choose to either put him in a number contender fight or give him the next title shot. The injury has actually given them another great main event possibility at a later date, which is nice considering they really don’t have anyone else in the light heavyweight division ready right now. Plus Davis knocking out Carmont is nothing to scoff at. While incredibly boring, Carmont had a lot of victories over really good fighters back in the UFC.

Dino Zee: FACT I touched on this earlier, but yes, this is all absolutely correct. Sure, a win over King Mo would have been more impressive, but we got to see a PHIL DAVIS (T)KO VICTORY!!! How often do we get that?? (Answer: not since 2009). Davis was CLEARLY head and shoulders above the rest of the field, and so only a Bellator Curse could actually derail him. That he went in there and torched a former champion (who had multiple defenses), and then got a huge stoppage in the finale can only be considered a good thing. Davis couldn’t control who his opponent was, so I’m not going to hold it against him.

Liam McGeary getting the win, however, is where this is absolutely a fact. If Tito beats McGeary, how can anyone try to take Bellator seriously as a top flight organization? And who would want to watch Tito get murdered by Davis? With McGeary playing his game and getting another impressive submission, he’s shown that a new era in Bellator is here, and whether he beats Davis or not, at least he’s shown himself to be more than a flash in the pan. This was the absolute best outcome Bellator could have hoped for.


SWITCH!

4.) With David Branch now holding both the WSOF middleweight title and light heavyweight title, World Series of Fighting may actually attempt to keep him on their roster should the UFC pursue him, in spite of what has been a relatively friendly relationship between the two promotions in the past as it pertains to fighters making the jump to UFC.

Dino Zee: FACT I hadn’t really considered this, but yeah, you’d have to assume this is a FACT, right? If Branch held only one title, I could see WSOF maybe being a bit nicer in letting him go should the UFC come calling. But with Branch holding two titles, you’d think they’d go out of their way to keep him on the roster. Branch has been a huge surprise in WSOF, and has come a long way since being known as “The guy Gerald Harris slammed into unconsciousness” five years ago. 7-0 in WSOF, including that big upset of Yushin Okami in what was clearly a “Please lay down for the UFC guy” fight, Harris has earned the right to have companies fight it out for his services.

I’m sure he’d love to return to the UFC and prove he’s among the absolute best, but at the same time, being a two-division champion at the same time, no matter where, is always a huge accomplishment, and I’m sure he’s going to try to get a least a couple defenses of each belt in before vacating and trying to move on. But yes, I 100% see WSOF trying really hard to keep him around should the UFC ring him up.

Alex Rella: FACT They absolutely have to do everything possible to keep him. The WSOF has made a lot of puzzling moves in its brief existence, but they have utilized David Branch as best as one could have ever hoped. An average fighter in the UFC, Branch has become arguably the WSOF’s best fighter. Holding two titles at once is no small feat, no matter what your competition is. Not only is he a great fighter, but this could be a huge marketing tool for them going forward. He just signed an exclusive multi-year contract extension a few months ago too. The only way he goes to the UFC is if the WSOF gives him permission to and they would be complete fools to let him do that.


5.) With the California State Athletic Commission and Nevada State Athletic Commission levelling three- and five-year suspensions at Alexander Shlemenko and Nick Diaz, respectively, it is only a matter of time before other athletic commissions follow suit and begin imposing more stringent penalties for drug test failures.

Dino Zee: FACT It looks like we’ve finally reached the age where commissions are trying to curb drug abuse by its fighters after years and years of wrist slaps and short suspensions. And if Nevada’s throwing these down, it’s probably safe to say that the other guys will follow suit, and start levying real punishments against the fighters. I just hope that, unlike with Nevada, they give punishments based on evidence, and not based on whether they like the guy or not, because then things are going to be even worse than they were before.

Alex Rella: FICTION I’m torn on this one, but I’m going with fiction. These were two weird suspensions and to be honest, the recent suspensions make zero sense. Sometimes they crush someone with a multi-year suspension and then they let people go with nothing for testing positive for cocaine. There needs to be serious reform for how these suspensions happen, what should be penalized, and a set amount for the duration of the suspension as well. Five years is ridiculous for Nick Diaz, he has a real case to sue and get the suspension reduced. I doubt these crazy suspensions will become the norm for other athletic commissions. I would imagine most stick to more standard suspensions and rarely exceed a year if anything.


6.) Fedor Emelianenko signing with an as-yet-unnamed Japanese promotion run by former PRIDE head Nobuyuki Sakakibara is not surprising considering his relationship with Sakakibara and Japanese MMA; however, with this likely being the final stop of his career and essentially every heavyweight of note fighting in the UFC, it means that questions of legitimacy will forever plague Emelianenko’s legacy.

Dino Zee: FACT I’m going FACT only because I do believe that questions of legitimacy will forever plague Fedor, regardless of what he did. Even if he went to the UFC, the first time he lost, people would start up with the “SEE?! HE ONLY FOUGHT CANS!!!” stuff. I’ll admit to not being a huge PRIDE fan back in the day, but I’m not stupid enough to pretend that Fedor only took freakshow fights. Wins over Cro Cop, Big Nog, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman (at the very least) prove that he was a damn good fighter. Some people really have ingested the Dana White Kool-Aid when it comes to him, and that’s too bad.

They also seem to forget that Fedor is a human and that, like every other human being ever, Fedor got older and his skills slipped a bit. He wasn’t going to keep his “undefeated” record forever, and I think most reasonable people saw it. But we still pretend that losses to UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum, former top contender Bigfoot Silva, and Anyweight Superstar Dan Henderson proves he was garbage. That takes a high level of fact-mangling to come to that conclusion. Sure, bring up steroids, yakuza, fixed fights… whatever you want. The fact is, Fedor was for real, and no matter what he does, there’s always going to be a group that wants to pretend that he only fought former pro wrestlers and welterweights.

Alex Rella: FICTION I’m not surprised by him signing with a Japanese company, but I disagree with the questions of legitimacy. Any educated MMA fan knows that Fedor is the greatest heavyweight of all time. I still think an argument can be made that he is the greatest fighter of all time still. So he never fought in the UFC, it’s not that big of a deal considering he’s beaten some of the best fighters of all time, including multiple former UFC champs. He’s beaten Big Nog, Arlovski, Sylvia, Coleman, Cro Cop, and more. Anyone that questions those victories is a complete moron.

There also those that think he didn’t have a legitimate career because he wasn’t tested for steroids for most of his career in Japan. They forget he fought in the US seven times in his career and never tested positive for anything. I recently heard Chael Sonnen talk about how he lost in Strikeforce because he had to get off steroids. He lost because he was getting older and was still going up against top competition.

While it would be cool to see him come to the UFC, Fedor going to Japan instead is no knock against the earlier parts of his career. He’s clearly past his prime and if he lost once at 39 years old in the UFC, people would be discrediting what he was able to accomplish when he was 29 years old. Fedor doing what he enjoys, working for a man he trusts, albeit against lesser competition, should not question the legitimacy of his legacy whatsoever. Everyone should just chill out and enjoy the last couple fights of a legend.


So who won? Was Dino able to remain unbeaten on short notice or did Alex pull off the upset (reminiscent of his performance in the first Fact or Fiction tournament that I hosted)? You’ve got until midnight eastern on Saturday to vote, so make sure you make your voice heard!


And that’s it for today, but we’ll be back next week with another contest! As always, if there’s anything you’d like to see featured in a future edition, leave your statement in the comments and I’ll add it in. Let me know what you thought in the comments or on Twitter. And please, be sure to vote!

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