Alright, let me start off by saying that Fedor is the baddest mother to ever play the game. The guy has it all.
HOWEVER...
Randy is not only always in peak condition, he is one of, if not THE, best wrestler in the game.
I HONESTLY believer that Randy could beat Fedor. Is he BETTER than Fedor? Not per se, but I think he has the tools to beat him. I don't see a striker beating Fedor. The man is just too good to keep it standing, and he beat down CC no problem, who is quite likely the best striker around. He also beat Hunt without ever even really bothering to strike with him. Randy, I would imagine, has the tools to survive against Fedor standing, although I don't believe to beat him. He hits extremely hard, but hasn't really shown true one hit KO power (a la Chuck) in my opinion. However, Fedor HAS been in bad positions plenty of times on the ground (which he obviously got himself out of and usually won quickly thereafter).
That being said, Randy probably has the best ground game in the UFC HW division as far as pure and simple effectiveness goes. He gets people down, he keeps them down, and he inflicts damage. Plus he has a simple yet very effective submission game to boot.
But what really gives it to Randy in my opinion are, yet again, the elbows that Pride fighters never had to deal with before. Fedor shows damage and cuts far too easily. If Randy could sit in guard or half guard, he could Lay n' Pray his way through the early rounds with elbows, and work for a victory against a softened Fedor in the later rounds. If he played it safe and didn't try anything too aggressive too early, I see Randy with a relatively easy decision or TKO victory by doctor's stoppage.
And don't think I'm just high on Couture right now....I have always felt he was one of the best fighters, especially in the UFC, and have picked him for every fight since his first fight with Belfort, even the two he lost to Liddel and the win over Sylvia.
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