Fedor Emelianenko told MMA reporters after his recent loss to Dan Henderson that it would be God’s will whether he fought again or not. Well God must have a sense of humor because he will fight again and the list of potential opponents borders between ridiculous to pathetic.
I am a big Fedor Emelianenko fan going back to the Rings days. That said, if M1 Globa’s mission is to turn to completely obliterate what little respect Fedor has left in the world of MMA, well they certainly have the plan in motion to do it. Just days after Strikeforce said they would no longer book Fedor, M1 announced that they will book Fedor’s next fight and if you thought Brett Rogers was a set up for Fedor when he entered Strikeforce, well then you haven’t seen anything yet.
Fedor’s management company M1 Global is hard at work finding an opponent for the Last Emperor. M1 president Vadim Finkelstein recently spoke to a Russian website and discussed a number of potential opponents for Fedor. To say the list of Fedor’s potential opponents is unimpressive would probably be the MMA understatement of the year.
Topping the list is Kevin Randleman. Yes that Kevin Randleman. The same Kevin Randleman that Fedor demolished back in 2004 in Pride. The same Kevin Randleman that has lost eight of his last ten fights. Yes, M1 will spare no expense in testing their golden boy in his upcoming fight. Unlike Dan Henderson, Randleman is 40 and looks every bit of it in competition. Oh God, you are quite the funny spirit aren’t you?
Travis Wiuff is another potential opponent for Fedor. Who? Yeah that is what I thought as well. I did a little research on Wiuff and the 33 year old fighter has a record of 63-14. Wiuff is what you would call a journeyman fighter or what those in the world of MMA call a Bobby Lashley opponent. Quite honestly Wiuff is probably the toughest opponent on the short list, but the appeal of this fight would be the same as watching a Fedor sambo match.
Mike Whitehead completes the short list of Fedor’s future opponents. Whitehead was at one time on a 13 fight winning streak, but that ended three years ago. Whitehead has gone a respectable 4-2 in his last fights. He has fought quite a few name fighters, yet has come out on the short end of the stick in most cases. He has power but he hardly has the knockout power to give Fedor a run for the money if they stood for a couple of rounds.
I don’t have a problem with a fighter looking to rebound with an easier opponent but this is ridiculous. For a management company that boasts about how great their fighter is, they are doing him no favors with this embarrassing list of opponents. Kimbo Slice took tougher fights!
I love Fedor, I really do but it is time to stop giving him a free pass here. For the last few years all we have heard about are the dumb Russians mismanaging Fedor. Fedor’s defenders continually tell us that the only reason Fedor isn’t fighting in the UFC or tougher competition is because of M1. Well hey, at some point Fedor has to be a man and be accountable of his actions, managed or not.
Fedor still has time to cling on to that legacy and walk away from this charade. Unfortunately the second he steps through the ropes to fight one of these tomato cans, his legacy will be tarnished beyond repair forever.
