Are there any LHW or HW's you think could give Fedor a good fight and possibly beat him? Couture, Rampage, Brock (his size and strength), Mir (maybe?), Arlovski (I still think if he stuck to his game plan he could possibly win). Any other LHW or HW out there?
I strongly feel Anderson Silva could beat him. Give Silva six or eight months to get up to 220 or so and he would kick Fedor's ass. Silva's TD defense kind of sucks but Fedor wouldn't be able to catch him in an arm lock or twist, Silva's a BJJ black belt and he's good off his back. He could pick Fedor apart standing. I also think Machida could run and gun and paint Fedor with jabs and leg kicks, but I don't know how he would do if Fedor got him down. I don't think there is a heavyweight out there currently that could beat Fedor.
6 guys I think who could give Fedor a good match: 1. First and foremost Brock, Brock is 275-280 pounds, which is 45-50 pounds on Fedor. The guy hits harder than AA from what we've seen, he has more reach than Fedor and if he doesn't like the fight standing he has excellent wrestling skills. Fedor has not fought a guy like Lesnar, the most comparable was a 39 year old (or 42 the 2nd time) Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, or Matt Lindland, who are considerably smaller than Lesnar, have worse standup skills, and Coleman has worse cardio. 2. Overeem the guy looks a lot bigger and more powerful as a HW, I think he would win the match standing, and if Fedor fought AA the same way he did against Overeem I think Overeem would take it. However I think Fedor if he was smart would try to use his judo throws to get Overeem to the ground. It would be interesting though. 3. Carwin, the guy is a big HW, 265 pounds, he is a big wrestler with KO power. Mark Hunt stood with Fedor for a long time, well I think Carwin packs more power and if he isn't comfortable can take the fight to the ground. 4. Rashad Evans, he throws those overhand rights and lefts just like Fedor, he is a better wrestler, but Fedor has judo throws and has shown better submissions skills. I think it could be interesting. 5. Anderson Silva, I think if Anderson were given time to add on muscle as speeds said, he is very quick and even on his back he is dangerous. I think if Fedor wasn't careful trying to throw those overhand rights and lefts like Leben did, he could be in trouble. However if Fedor got him on the ground he could wear Anderson out. A lot of people would like to see this matchup. Edit: 6. Barnett, he is well rounded, not the biggest or strongest, he isn't the quickest, however is he a relatively big guy still at 250, he has submission skills, wrestling skills, and half decent striking. I think he would prefer to take the fight to the ground against Fedor early. However the question would be who would get top position?
Nice post, Dennis. A big question mark is whether Brock or Shane Carwin can avoid Fedor's hip movement from guard. Fedor can grab an armbar in the blink of an eye. Rashad would be an interesting matchup. Rashad has never attempted a submission and he hasn't fought a good submission fighter. We also haven't seen much of his clinch game, and Tito was able to take him down. In time I think Rashad can be good enough but right now I'm not sure.
It definitely is a risk, Brock has been training sub defense, which especially makes sense coming up against Mir. I think he would have an easier time defending arm bars just out of sheer strength. Looking at Rampage, or other examples of guys who just either the opponent can't extend the arm, or the other guy just pulls his arm out. Same with Carwin. However doesn't mean it can't happen. Especially if get take enough punishment, for example I'm guessing it's not easy to get Matt Hughes in an armbar, however GSP wore him out and got one one him. (after Hughes offered to teach him armbar defense lol) Yea, that is true that we haven't seen Rashad fight against a top submission guy. I'm sure he trains submission defense, and I'm sure he gets well trained from the Greg Jackson camp. Tito's main game though is wrestling, just like Rashads, so getting taken down by Tito happens. and I believe Rashad did takedown Tito as well didn't he? or at least was about until Tito blatantly grabbed the fence.
I wasn't sure so I just rewatched the fight. Rashad actually landed in a guillotine choke as a result of Tito holding the fence; I'd forgotten. That would've been a mess for the UFC to sort out had Rashad been choked out. He was saved by the bell, as it were. In trying to escape the hold Rashad actually flipped over so that Tito was on top with the choke in, which made things considerably worse. I'm sure Yoda has taught him how to escape the right way since, but it wasn't his best moment. Rashad took Tito down with ten seconds left in the fight. Before that he had been repeatedly stuffed, save for the fence grab. Tito had Rashad down a few times, three or four.
I still stand by my thoughts of Carwin being the #3 threat for Fedor due to his sheer power, and wrestling ability. Not to mention he ate some good shots from Gonzaga.
