via upload.wikimedia.org

Yes, yet another fanpost about Fedor.  Please bear with me. There has been a lot of talk lately about Fedor's legacy, and what it means.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet.  This is my take on Fedor's legacy and whether it will even last:

History is written by the victors.  re: UFC.

This is Fedor's big problem.  As of right now, most of the MMA dialogue is being written by Zuffa.  If you're on bad terms with the UFC, your legacy is erased.  At least that's what seems to be going on to past UFC castouts.  Hardcores and sites like Bloody Elbow will always remember guys like Fedor, but most casual fans probably won't.  So when you have a guy like Fedor who actually chose not to fight in the UFC, it should not come as a surprise when most new fans don't know or care about Fedor and what he has accomplished.  Guys like Jonathan Snowden can write as many MMA history books as they want.  As great as they are, in the end, in this day and age of the internet and new media, when you see so many news outlets already "co-opted" by Zuffa, I don't have much hope for someone like Fedor to retain his legacy.  Once Fedor finally retires, in a year or two, you won't hear anyone but hardcores talking about Fedor.  At least not like how they talk about Royce Gracie.

Is Fedor the greatest of all time?  Is he even the greatest heavyweight to ever live?  Not if the UFC has its way.  If the UFC becomes the be-all, end-all of MMA like they are planning to, expect to see plenty of other fighters erased from the mainstream historical record.  So much of this is not actually about what Fedor accomplished, but what the perception of him is.  And the one thing the UFC does well, is control perception.