When Fedor Emelianenko went into the cage for his fight against Fabricio Werdum last June, many thought the Russian would dispatch of the unheralded Brazilian and move onto bigger and better things....
Within 2 minutes, Fedor tapped.
MMA fans were shocked. Either they sat there with despondent looks on their faces, or celebrated with jubilation that the last holdout from the old Pride days, one whom many had written off as "overrated", had finally lost to a fighter with a credible MMA pedigree.
A few weeks after the fight, at an EA sports press conference promoting the release of the game "EA MMA", a few members of the media gathered around to ask Fedor what he had learned from that loss.
His answer? "Don't hurry, take your time".
That answer seemed to parallel Fedor's response in the weeks following. He wanted a new fight extension (which he received), as well as remarking that the loss had re-ignited his "competitive fires". He had called for possible fights with Alistair Overeem and re-match with Werdum (being held in Russia), he had been seen in numerous youtube clips training, including with current Strikeforce champion "Jacare" Souza. Yet he took the 2nd half of the year off, not fighting and not showing anybody his hand.
Saturday night, the long wait is over. Fedor will face Brazilian Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix. In "not hurrying" and "taking his time" to get back, has all the skill from the once proud champion diminished? Has he simply taken too long between fights to be considered "relevant" anymore? Or better yet, was he ever "relevant" in MMA fans eyes in the first place?
I can see Fedor as a clear underdog in this tournament. He arguably would have the toughest path to a tournament victory (that being Bigfoot, the winner between Werdum and Overeem in march in a semi and the winner of the second bracket in the final). Let's not forget that he is 34 (turning 35) years old, an age where most athletes aren't on the way up or coming back, but generally on the way down, in the "twilight" of their careers.
Call it nostalgia, but I am rooting for "The Last Emperor". The way it appears, the 28 fight win streak that endeared him to so many fans caused an incredible amount of pressure every time a fight was added to it. With that loss, the pressure is off. He does not need to go in and think about how many wins he's at. He doesn't need to worry about a UFC contract should he win; nor does he need to worry about the scorn he'd get from fans that he'd beat another "tomato can".
He just needs to win.
Let's see if he does Saturday night.
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