Fedor says he'll fight on, not retire

[Captain America]

I'm not opposed to the idea of Fedor fighting more, he just needs to avoid 285lb monsters with black belts in BJJ.

Fedor's lost a step, but I don't think he's washed up, his terminal lack of a gameplan killed him vs Werdum. He should've avoided his guard like the black plague! If he fights smart, I think he could beat Werdum handily in the rematch. Fedor has the better striking, Werdum had the better matt grappling (ADCC champ), Fedor's clinch game is phenomenal, and Werdum's takedowns aren't the best, but Fedor doesn't have the best takedown defense either. This fight comes down to Fedor's ability to: a) get the quick KO, or b) stick to a gameplan, but he hasn't done that since (or before) the 3rd Nog fight.

Fedor vs Overeem is so fucking intriguing to me! Alistair has better striking on paper (K-1 GP champ), but Fedor has the more proven hands in MMA. Overeem won ADCC European trials and half his wins are by submission, Fedor's won numerous gold medals in combat Sambo and half his wins are by submission. Overeem's 35lbs heavier, but he doesn't have as good a top game Big Foot or the guard of Werdum. This fight comes down to two things: 1. Is Alistair as good as he looks? Thus far he's been a phenomenal can-crusher at HW, his only big win is Rogers (and Kharitonov years back, but it was kind of flukey, and Sergei murder-raped him in the rematch). 2. Does he still have the chin, heart and cardio he had at 205? His chin seems great, it held up in K-1. But he's yet to be in a war at HW, we haven't seen his heart or cardio put to the test in years. Fedor will make it an ugly dog fight, will Overeem crumble like he used to?

I'd also like see Fedor vs Barnett before he retires (I still have the Affliction: Trilogy poster on my wall), this fight could be epic! Fedor has a clear striking advantage, Barnett has a size and strength advantage, grappling is close, but I'd give Josh an edge due to his size. Josh also has a pretty clear wrestling advantage, he could theoretically stall this fight to a UD, but Barnett's too active (in regards to pasings and sub attempts) for Fedor to not sweep him or escape eventually (plus, Josh is bigger, but not big enough to really just smother him). I think this fight invariably hits the ground, then it's a toss up! If Fedor stays on top, it's his fight to lose. If Barnett stays on top, it's his fight to lose.

Three more, then retirement, I hope.

[therealremi]

On one hand, last week Fedor looked bored/demotivated/depressed even before the fight. He lost his Tyson effect too. Plus the fact that he never seemed to love fighting like most guys - he said he never dreams about fights nor likes to watch them.
On the other hand: he still has fans, people would watch him. And come on, would we be discussing whether any other fighter should quit after only two defeats?
So it boils down to whether Fedor is motivated. If he finds the motivation from the best years of his career then I believe he could again dominate seriously big guys. But how could he do it? Religion doesn't seem to help him.

[Kev]

I'm not opposed to the idea of Fedor fighting more, he just needs to avoid 285lb monsters with black belts in BJJ.

Fedor's lost a step, but I don't think he's washed up, his terminal lack of a gameplan killed him vs Werdum. He should've avoided his guard like the black plague! If he fights smart, I think he could beat Werdum handily in the rematch. Fedor has the better striking, Werdum had the better matt grappling (ADCC champ), Fedor's clinch game is phenomenal, and Werdum's takedowns aren't the best, but Fedor doesn't have the best takedown defense either. This fight comes down to Fedor's ability to: a) get the quick KO, or b) stick to a gameplan, but he hasn't done that since (or before) the 3rd Nog fight.

Fedor vs Overeem is so fucking intriguing to me! Alistair has better striking on paper (K-1 GP champ), but Fedor has the more proven hands in MMA. Overeem won ADCC European trials and half his wins are by submission, Fedor's won numerous gold medals in combat Sambo and half his wins are by submission. Overeem's 35lbs heavier, but he doesn't have as good a top game Big Foot or the guard of Werdum. This fight comes down to two things: 1. Is Alistair as good as he looks? Thus far he's been a phenomenal can-crusher at HW, his only big win is Rogers (and Kharitonov years back, but it was kind of flukey, and Sergei murder-raped him in the rematch). 2. Does he still have the chin, heart and cardio he had at 205? His chin seems great, it held up in K-1. But he's yet to be in a war at HW, we haven't seen his heart or cardio put to the test in years. Fedor will make it an ugly dog fight, will Overeem crumble like he used to?

I'd also like see Fedor vs Barnett before he retires (I still have the Affliction: Trilogy poster on my wall), this fight could be epic! Fedor has a clear striking advantage, Barnett has a size and strength advantage, grappling is close, but I'd give Josh an edge due to his size. Josh also has a pretty clear wrestling advantage, he could theoretically stall this fight to a UD, but Barnett's too active (in regards to pasings and sub attempts) for Fedor to not sweep him or escape eventually (plus, Josh is bigger, but not big enough to really just smother him). I think this fight invariably hits the ground, then it's a toss up! If Fedor stays on top, it's his fight to lose. If Barnett stays on top, it's his fight to lose.

Three more, then retirement, I hope.

This is horrible though. Fedor has long enjoyed the reputation as the greatest fighter in the world, he was like the Ray Robinson or Ali of MMA. Now you're saying he needs to handpick his opposition, and you'd be ok with that?

No boxer arguing for greatness could possibly get away with that. The Fedor myth has been smashed imo. Maybe he is past his best, maybe he was never as good as people thought, perhaps a combination of both, but rightly or wrongly this is the man who was regarded as the greatest heavyweight of all time, and now people are suggesting he move down to light heavy, or making excuses that some guys are just too big for him.

I don't see Silva as a big a threat as Brock Lesnar and Cain Valasquez completely dominated him.

The Strikeforce tournament is entertaining, and they have some good fighters, but this result just highlights that the real top heavies are in the UFC imo, Valasquez, Dos Santos, Lesnar, Carwin et al is where the action is now.

Fedor's time has come to an end.