This Day in MMA - The Tap Heard Round the World

One year ago today - June 26, 2010 - Strikeforce (co-branded with M-1 Global) held their Fedor vs. Werdum fight card in San Jose.  The main event featured "The Last Emperor", Fedor Emelianenko, vs. Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Fabricio Werdum.

There have been in the history of MMA several iconic moments, snapshots of time captured in the memory of fans, that have marked defining moments in the evolution of the sport, critical matchups, or jaw-dropping moves.  Among this filmstrip of frozen images, few if any have served as dramatically to announce to fans that the world had changed, as occurred at this event when the great Fedor tapped out.

Fedor Emelianenko, as I've argued in my Heroes of PRIDE piece, was the quintessence of "the PRIDE generation", which was a phenomenon, an emotion and an experience as much as a group of actual men who fought inside a ring - who began his campaign in the PRIDE Fighting Championships at PRIDE 21 in June 2002 essentially undefeated, having lost only once via controversial cut stoppage in a fight that under normal circumstances should have been ruled a no contest.  Emelianenko or "Fedor" as he's simply known to fans, proceeded to amass a 14-0 record in PRIDE with 1 NC.

Following the Zuffa purchase of PRIDE, the UFC tried unsuccessfully to contract for Emelianenko's services in an exclusive contract to fight within the UFC. Instead Fedor faced longtime ranked middleweight Matt Lindland under the Bodog Fight organization, defeating him inside 3 minutes.  A return to Japan for a traditional New Year's Eve fight card followed for Fedor, where he faced the giant 7'2" K-1 fighter Hong Man Choi, submitting him in minutes in a wild rollercoaster of a fight.

Fedor fought and defeated two former UFC heavyweight champions, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, at the two events held by the ill-fated Affliction organization, defeating both men in less than four minutes combined.

After Affliction MMA folded and closed up shop, and following more unsuccessful efforts on the part of UFC management to sign Fedor, Emelianenko signed with the Strikeforce organization.

Fedor's first fight in Strikeforce was versus Brett "the Grim Rogers", who was riding high off of his own first-round KO victory of Andrei Arlovski.  Rogers gave a credible performance, catching Fedor on the feet and issuing some dangerous ground and pound before falling victim to a monster overhand right that hit him like a baseball bat.  Rogers was bailed out of the ensuing ground and pound by referee Big John McCarthy within seconds.

This then set up Emelianenko's next event, where his opponent was BJJ ace Fabricio Werdum.  Werdum is a highly accomplished grappler with multiple world championships at the very highest levels including multiple ADCC titles.  The date was set for June 26, 2010.  The winner of this fight was expected to be a favorite to challenge Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce world heavyweight title.

The fight began as had several of Fedor's recent bouts.  Following a leg kick by Werdum, Fedor hit Werdum with a lightning-quick left hook with several more strikes in rapid succession.  "And he drops him!" yelled out announcer Gus Johnson.  But Werdum's fall to his butt was equal parts effects from the striking and an attempt to bait Fedor into his world-class guard.  Emelianenko, perhaps over-estimating the damage to Werdum, perhaps over-confident about going to the ground with him (this is a man who hung out in the guard long stretches of the first fight with world-class grappler Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, avoiding multiple submission attempts with aplomb), Fedor did follow Werdum to the ground attempting to finish his man.

We pick up the commentary (with gif by Chris Nelson) from Brian Hemminger's excellent BE Fanpost (and from whose article the title of my piece was NOT deliberately taken!):

What happens next is incredibly important and I can't believe people are not noticing it.  Fedor has solid sub defense, when Werdum initially goes for the armbar, he spins out of it, shrugging it off easily and goes back to work with his punches.  In his excitement (37 seconds into the fight) Fedor spins to his right trying to avoid Werdum's extremely active sub attempts and as Werdum does a forward roll into guard, Fedor gets pressed against the cage, stopping his momentum and giving Werdum the moment he needed to throw his left leg around Fedor's head.  Werdum crosses his feet going for a brief armbar but then locks in the triangle.  From that point on, it was only a matter of time until Fedor tapped or went unconscious.

Fedor was in fact forced to tap to the combination triangle/armbar at 1:09 into round one, a cataclysmic event that in the hearts of many fans finally drove home that the "PRIDE generation" had ended and a new era in MMA had begun. All this came to pass with a simple gesture from Fedor Emelianenko - the tap heard round the world, one year ago today.