Fedor vs Rogers Is Not a Bulls*t Fight
by JoelMan on Sep 25, 2009 4:47 AM EDT
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The Fedor vs Rogers fight is stil way off , in November , but I've already stumbled upon a few comments that upset me, saying this fight is bullshit and a joke . The upsetting thing about it was that the comments came from seemingly knowledgable mma fans.
Last I checked (in Sherdog) , Rogers was ranked 7th in the world . The consensus ranking has him at number 9 (funnily enough , Arlovski is 8th !) . He is a 6"5 , 265 lbs with freak freach (84 inches) , 10-0 with all his fights ending by KO , almost all in the first round . He actually has only one 'great' win , against Arlovski - in 22 seconds (and he made that look way easier than Fedor).
The thing that baffles me is that Shane Carwin and Rogers have almost identical records - with about 9-10 KO wins over lesser competition and one 'huge' win . Only that Shane really looked vulnerable against Gonzaga , his defense didn't work and he was repeatedly battered on the face before being taken down. Yes - he was tough and he landed a huge bomb that ended the fight - but my point is that NO ONE is calling the Lesnar-Carwin fight a joke or a farce, while Shane hasn't been looking more impressive than Rogers.
I think this is partly due to Dana White's anti-Fedor campaign , which yielded some results , and also partly due to fan resentment over Fedor going to StrikeForce and not to the UFC.
Also - Fedor completely destroying Sylvia and the unfortunate subsequent Mercer fight led people to believe Fedor is only fighting cans , while in reality Tim was top 5 day of his Fedor fight . Andrei was ranked 2nd I believe . And now Rogers is ranked 7th. He is no number two , I admit (I definitely feel Lesnar is rightly at number 2) , but calling this fight bullshit ? One dude actually hinted that if Fedor beat Schilt then he'll have no problems with Rogers . Really?? No disrespect to Schilt but the guy had a much more successful kickboxing career , in mma he lost to people like Funaki and Gilbert Yvel. He is so tall and lean that taking him down was easy for most mma fighters.
Rogers is built nothing like Schilt - he's much shorter and saying he's bulky is understatement of the year - the guy is huge. He has fast hands , huge reach , great KO power and he's coming to fight . If Fedor does end up embarrassing him that's more due to Fedor being that good than Rogers being that bad . If Rogers can keep it standing for a while Fedor can be in quite a pickle - I don't know about Rogers' chin but it's ought to be better than Arlovski's.
Is Fedor the favorite here ? Sure is , he's the number 1 heavyweight in the world for a reason . But that doesn't make Rogers a can. Actually , I think the Rogers fight is the most interesting fight that StrikeForce can give Fedor (well , maybe Overeem too) and personally I'm hyped . If marketed correctly this bout has huge potential (that's a big "if" I've heard).
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not to nitpick, but it’s not “BloodyElbow” who ranked him in the top 10.. It’s the Consensus who did that..
Richard and Nate just compile the rankings of the MMA community.
On a side note
are you Weo x3? Because I remember Weoweoweo’s screen name was exactly that- new account or something?
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Sep 25, 2009 5:26 AM EDT up reply actions
I agree 100%.
This is a very compelling matchup IMO. The parallel you drew between Rogers and Carwin is very apt- in fact, i’d say that Rogers should be ranked higher than Carwin. Arlovski was still considered top 5 (due to his good first 3 minutes against Fedor) when ‘The Grim’ blitzed him, and if I remember correctly, Gonzaga was only borderline top 10 when Carwin beat him. Where Brett absolutely dominated Andrei, Carwin was rocked and getting beat up when he landed the hail mary right hand.
But yeah, stylistically the matchup is interesting as well. Rogers has displayed stout takedown defense, hits like a fucking truck, and performed very well under the pressure of a prominently featured bout. I expect Fedor to win, and would be shocked if Rogers pulled off the upset, but I do think that Rogers is a relatively live underdog.
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
I also agree
Contrary to what MMA fans think about Fedor signing with Strikeforce instead of the UFC, I don’t believe that Fedor’s fights will be irrelevant as long as he is fighting Rogers, Werdum, or Overeem. Also, I really do believe that Fedor fighting in Strikeforce is good because he will get acclimated with a cage instead of a ring. Of course, I would have liked to see Fedor vs Lesnar, but I will settle for the three fighters that Strikeforce has to offer for now.
Yes this fight is a joke. Assuming no injuries Fedor is going to make short work of Rogers. Rogers earned a fight with the best fighter on the planet but landing a flyer on a already partially broken Andrei Arlovski. Although you need power to knock out someone in 22 seconds, it doesn’t take much other skill. Arlovski got caught flat footed and retreated backwards which is a big no-no and got dropped. Other than that win, his wins are a whose whose of the regional circuit. There is a reason this is his first Strikeforce fight, and it is because Fedor should make quick and impressive work of Rogers. I see a takedown straight to mount and an armbar submission in his future.
by Nick Travaglini on Sep 25, 2009 5:49 AM EDT reply actions
The fight is fine.
People are discrediting Rogers because the fight isn’t in the UFC, and it hurts people inside.
We saw how many people were saying things like, “haha I hope Fedor loses!” simply because he didn’t sign with the UFC, and if Rogers should win you’ll be seeing the same people talking about how he proved that Fedor is just an overrated can…. They hate anything that’s not UFC.
"Why am I here? Why does my mind have wings? Why do blue midgets hit me with fish?!" - The Tick
by mythbuster on Sep 25, 2009 11:30 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
According to his twitter page
he should have no problem.
training is going great. i feel like i could fight 3 fedors
about 22 hours ago from web
by MMAInFeRioRiTy on Sep 25, 2009 11:39 AM EDT reply actions
ba-DOW
"The wise have something to say, the foolish have to say something."
by PistonHyundai on Sep 25, 2009 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Good points, but here's why no one is calling Lesnar v Carwin a joke:
The gap in skill is unarguably much narrower than the one between Emelianenko and Rogers.
"The wise have something to say, the foolish have to say something."
I have to disagree...
This just screams of the way Fedor fans hype every fight to the extreme. It feels like they won’t it both ways: Fedor to be the unquestioned greatest but then want to hype every opponent as the biggest threat. I guess by spreading the hype they feel when Fedor wins it justify’s their fanaticism. How many times have you heard in the last few years about how great and how big of a threat fighters like MW Matt Linland, HMC, Mark Hunt, and Tim Sylvia were?
The OP seems to fail to grasp that rankings mean absolutely nothing. They are simply one person’s opinion who may or may not have a criteria they follow. I can go say Mike Swick is the #2 WW in the world. Does that make it true? Rankings are as much based on hype as they are on skill. For example, Mark Hunt cracked the top 10 on most ranking sites following a loss and with a record of 5-2 because the hype of him fighting Fedor catapulted him there. It is the reason 1 win pushes a ton of fighters into the rankings. Kevin Randleman jumped into the top 10 on some sites following his KO victory over Cro Cop despite the fact he was on 2 fight losing streak.
So the fact that Bret Rogers is ranked is worthless. Arguing that Tim Sylvia was a top 5 HW at the time Fedor faced doesn’t strengthing the arguement that Rogers is legitimate. It weakens it. The fact that Tim Sylvia was 1-2 in his last 3 fights in the UFC and his lone victory over an undersized fighter coming off a year long layoff and Tim couldn’t finish him only shows how flawed rankings are.
Bret Rogers/Fedor is a joke. Rogers has heavy hands but has not been tested. There are questions surrounding nearly every part of his game. The flaws in his game are obvious to any one who has watched him. Yet suddenly matching him with Fedor erases those questions for the Fedor fanatics because they need their new biggest threat ever.
This reason people don’t have a problem with Carwin/Lesnar has nothing to do with Carwin. It has to do with Lesnar. He is still relatively new to the sport and doesn’t have much experience, he seems like a 1-trick pony, and in general people aren’t 100% sold on him.
The sentiment about this fight has nothing to do with what Dana White says. It is inspite of what Dana says I have no doubt Fedor is the best HW in the world. But that doesn’t suddenly mean Rogers is a legitimate threat. He has a punchers chance and nothing more. To hype it otherwise is nothing but spin.
by rtwil on Sep 25, 2009 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 5 recs
What flaws in Rogers game are you referring to ? Be more specific (I’m not kidding , I’m interested) , and what fight exactly so I could watch.
i’m really looking forward to this fight. nobody thought rogers would do well against arlovski either, and look what happened. granted, rogers’ ground game is unknown, but there’s one thing i’m sure of – brett rogers is a tough guy. i lived in chicago for a few years and there was one area where everyone knew NOT to go, cabrini green. google it. this is where brett rogers grew up. just knowing that, i’ll never count him out.
The only thing I have against the “no ground game” argument is the same reason people talk about it – it hasn’t been tested. Is that Brett’s fault? I don’t think he’s drilling on Takedown’s and takedown defense for two hours a day, but I bet it’s part of his workouts. Am I rooting for the guy? Sure, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s the best bet to knock Fedor off. Yet at the same time, I’m not going to dismiss his chances because noone has been able to take him down to exploit whatever weaknesses he may have.
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