And I'm glad I'm not the only person who sees that. Notable quote:
Since beating "Cro Cop" Fedor has beaten Hunt (primarily known for his kickboxing), a past-his-prime version of Mark Coleman, Matt Lindland (a true 185-punder who moved up two weight classes) and 400-pound Brazilian "Zuluzinho" (who looks better suited for the International Federation of Competitive Eating).
And unless M-1 Global secures the services of current free agent Josh Barnett, that streak could continue, with many of the top heavyweights under contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
That streak will likely continue, so we can go ahead and bank on that. How do we know? Look at the prospects that Fedor himself sees in 2008 (this was written just prior to his fight with Hong Man Choi):
Now that this NYE event is taking place I get more and more questions about future opponents. My management told me that Semmy Schilt announced in a Dutch newspaper that he might stop with K-1 and go back to MMA and would like to fight me. We had our first bout in 2002 and in the meantime Sem is three time K-1 champion. Also people ask me if I would like to fight Randy Couture. I have a lot of respect for all fighters. If they want to fight me and the opportunity is there, it will be my honor to accept the challenge.
Fedor already defeated - soundly - Semmy Schilt and I'm beginning to view this Couture/Fedor posturing to be something akin to two kids on the school yard professing their desire to hurt one another from the comfort of their respective group of friends holding them apart. It's easy to be Billy Bad Ass at those junctures. I'll give Couture the benefit of the doubt given what a stink he's created trying to find a way into a fight with Fedor, but Fedor gets no such treatment.
As for the ranking, Fedor has long since not been #1 on my rankings. I vote for HDNet's Inside MMA television show and for at least 2 months I've been putting Fedor #2. In order to stay at the top you have to face top competition. You have to defeat those in your weightclass who are also ranked highly and you must do so on a regular basis. Right now Fedor is surfing the wave of his image that he cultivated with his tremendous run in PRIDE. But as far as I'm concerned, that image is decaying at almost the same rate as PRIDE itself. He has done virtually nothing within the specified requirements to merit a #1 ranking for quite some time. And it's about time we recognize he's made a bed that he must now lie in even if it tarnishes the image we all adored for so long.