Issue 156
July 2017
Throughout the years, most of the MMA world has lavished praise upon Fedor. Forget being just the best heavyweight; at his peak, few denied he was the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. And he’s the idol of so many of the men who make up MMA’s hall-of-fame conversations…
Yuji Shimada
“He’s a complete fighter. His deflection is different. Like an animal. Unbelievable”
Mike Tyson
“Fedor Emelianenko is my favorite of all time. He was always the smallest guy, but he always came out victorious. I’ve never seen an athlete like him”
José Aldo
“The number one for me is Fedor Emelianenko. I’m a big fan of his. The guy is so amazing”
Babalu Sobral
“Look, I’ve fought many people from around the world, so I’ve seen many strong fighters. But like him? Never”
Dan Henderson
“Fedor is definitely one of the toughest and most iconic fighters of all time. It was an honor to fight him. I am a huge fan of his still to this day”
Josh Barnett
“He’s explosive, he’s dynamic. He’s a smart fighter who thinks as he fights. He changes his game plan according to how the fight’s going. The biggest thing that he keeps in mind, is that he keeps the fight under his rhythm. Even though he is a bit wild at times, he’s always able to recover and scramble out of things”
Georges St-Pierre
“One of my idols. The baddest man that ever lived”
Renzo Gracie
“He comes back like he has rocket fuel in his lungs. The Kevin Randleman fight was an unbelievable show of coming back from the dead and pulling out a victory”
Kevin Randleman
“The best fighter ever to climb in any arena is Fedor Emelianenko. He is the best fighter that I have ever seen, fought, trained with, everything. He’s in his own league, and you can’t compare him to anybody”
Cain Velasquez
“I think he’s an awesome fighter. I think he’s the best”
Pat Miletich
“I think Fedor is every bit as good as everyone thinks he is. I think he’s incredible, a ridiculously good fighter. His key is that he fights with absolutely no fear. He just goes out and gets after it”
Don Frye
“Fedor is a machine – and one of the toughest people walking the planet”
Tito Ortiz
“Fedor’s record speaks for itself”
John McCarthy
“He is absolutely in the same category as Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and John
Elway”
BJ Penn
“He’s the best. he’s my favorite”
Jon Jones
“Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest fighter of all time”
Fabricio Werdum
“He is a legend. People forget because he lost two or three times, but he won for 10 years”
Frank Trigg
“Fedor Emelianenko is the most incredible heavyweight fighter you’ll ever see. He can out-strike most guys that are out there. He’s going to be able to out-submit most guys that are out there. His ringmanship is way above anyone else’s”
Bas Rutten
“I’ve never seen anybody like him. I’m just blown away. Fedor is a person who doesn’t care about anything else. He just fights”
Shane Carwin
“I have nothing but respect for Fedor. We all lose, that is the one thing you can be sure of in MMA. But he is still a GOAT”
Rampage Jackson
“Fedor is cool as hell. I really like this guy”
Junior dos Santos
“Fedor is the greatest, no doubt. For me, in a matter of admiration, he is the greatest of all time. He is a heavyweight who beat everybody. He certainly was the baddest man on the planet”
Minotauro Nogueira
“He’s the fastest I’ve ever seen. Much faster than Mirko. And he’s got a great reaction. Technically he may not have such a big advantage, but physically he is the fastest heavy guy in MMA history. He tries a punch, misses it, then immediately shoots again. Cro Cop, for example, didn’t even see them coming. He must practice that a lot, because it’s not easy to improvise that kind of thing”
Jake Shields
“I watched him live and it was amazing, a truly awesome experience. You could really see just how great he was when you saw him in person”
Brandon Vera
“Fedor is just too dominant, too good at punching people in the face. The way he punches people, man, he’s trying to kill people, with both hands. He’s in a whole different class all by himself”
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