Immediately after his loss to Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, Fedor Emelianenko made the comment that he was considering retirement. As expected, the MMA world went nuts. The biggest websites covering MMA blew up with posts and comments. Heck! Even I, after going through 3 boxes of Kleenex, wrote an article about the possibilities of a "Fedor-less" MMA world. A couple of days later, even hours later, we all took a deep breath when we heard Fedor would not only stick around, but he'd be fighting a Sambo tournament at the end of the month.

With all the controversy following his Silva fight and possible retirement, some 'unbelievers' (as I call them) seized the opportunity to spout their opinions about Fedor's washed-up, over-hyped career. Well, it's my turn to spout. I swear, if I was on an elevator with Fedor, I'd give him the same 5 reasons to keep on fighting I'm about to give you. Who am I kidding... I'd probably be too busy sobbing and letting out screams you'd only hear on the front row of a Justin Bieber concert.

#5 - The Pressure is Off

Carrying the titles of "Most Dangerous Man in the World" and "Pound for Pound Best Fighter in the World" can get a little heavy on your shoulders. Now I'm not saying he held those titles outright - there would be too many hate comments to bear. I am saying, however, he was in the running for those titles along side other greats like George St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. Even after his loss to Werdum, he wasn't really 'outmatched' as much as he was 'outsmarted' - a characteristic shared with both GSP & Silva. So it was hard to take him off that list for getting caught in a triangle.

Silva, however, beat the crap out of Fedor. And yes, being a Fedor fan myself, I have to admit that… (where are those dang Kleenex boxes). Silva sat on him for close to 4 minutes and had him flopping and flailing for an escape, all while performing some serious facial restructuring on Fedor. And with every punch, at least in the eyes of the majority, Fedor lost a point on the "P4P" & "Most Dangerous" Rankings. Now brace yourselves Internet Land… in my opinion, it's one of the best things that could happen for Emelianenko. That's right, I said it. Because while he's nursing that orbital bone back to good health, the world will move on to UFC 127, Anderson Silva vs. GSP, and other 'more relevant' topics. The blogs and comments will fall away and find something else to feature. All the while (my hope is at least) somewhere in Russia, Fedor will be carrying logs, running through snow, and pulling dog sleds in preparation for a world class comeback. Or am I thinking of Rocky IV? Either way, it's a great transition to my next point.

#4 - Everyone Loves a Comeback

C'mon. You and I both know you felt a warm sensation in your heart when Rocky took 'ol Tommy 'Machine' Gunn to the streets and showed him a thing or two about fighting. Or back in the real world, when Vitor Belfort came back after his long hiatus to knock out a few Affliction opponents and put a whoopin' on Rich Franklin. Outside the MMA world, comebacks have written many screenplays and have been the plot of many a movie (you should watch 'Chariots of Fire'). Remember a little known guy named Lance Armstrong? Or George Foreman? Or the Red Sox finally beating the Yankees?

You could probably come up with some great ones right off the top of your head. How great would it be to put Fedor on that list. Who knows… gets a 'replacement' buy back into the heavyweight tourney grand prix, finally getting the Overeem vs. Fedor superfight - wins with a 2nd round knockout, moves on to dethrone the UFC heavyweight champion in a "one-time" Strikeforce vs. UFC card… too much? Can't a girl dream?

#3 - Dana White

Seriously. The guy is a great business man. But he's not the most classy guy in the world. Not to mention his general willingness to take his most vicious jabs at the weakest moments of a fighter's / corporation's career. I'm sure you've seen some of his "Tweets" following Fedor's recent loss. If not, here's a quick refresher course:

"the internet has fabricated this whole fedor thing and scared the living [expletive] out of the media and the net geeks r bummin now

"wtf has he done for the sport!? Ur [expletive] nuts, - responding to a tweet about what Fedor has done for the sport of MMA."

"I honestly believe he has been done for a while but he would have at least gone out fighting the best"

Now I understand why Dana's got his undies in a bunch. He worked for 2 years to get a Fedor-headlined UFC event. But seriously - he's changed his tune on Fedor in between promotions enough times. It would be the ultimate 'crow-eating' display of the century for Emelianenko to get back to his winning ways, and give White another reminder that he'll always be "the one that got away".

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For the top two reasons, continue reading this article at it's original post on BJJ in MMA.

Think it's time for Fedor to hang it up? If not, who is his next opponent? Let us know your inner most thoughts in the comments...