Kevin Iole talks to several of the top trainers in MMA and gets some ideas:
- "In my opinion, from observing him, his weakness is his standup. He’s very, very effective in how he does it, but on a technical level, you can definitely outstrike Fedor. You have to remain calm and I see that as an area where Fedor himself is super, super strong. "But as a striker, he’s not technically correct, not the way boxers or pro kick boxers would be. He’s an extremely hard puncher, though, and he’s so explosive. Without a doubt, he’s the most explosive heavyweight out there."
Javier Mendez of the American Kickboxing Academy- Emelianenko’s biggest weakness might be something he can’t control: His size. Emelianenko is 6-feet tall and weighs around 230. Rogers is 6-foot-5 and will come in around the heavyweight division’s 265-pound limit.
Greg Nelson of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy- Rogers might be best simply rushing Emelianenko at the start of the fight.
"When you fight him, obviously, you have to take what your guy does best and in Brett’s case, that’s his standup. Brett’s a strong guy and hits extremely hard. If he catches Fedor, he could do something, but Fedor is such a good counter puncher and he throws from such weird angles you don’t normally see that it creates a lot of issues."
Duke Roufus- "The guy is a monster, from what I’ve seen, but Andrei showed you can have success against him if you’re very technical with your boxing."
Greg Jackson- "And all the pressure is on Fedor here. Brett can’t be shaken in the mental game. He shouldn’t worry about fighting the legend of Fedor but should just focus on fighting Fedor the man. Arlovski showed it can be done. Every human, including someone as great as Fedor, is beatable. Fedor’s not getting younger and the pressure on him is just building and building. At some point, he’s going to lose. Someone will do it and Brett’s got to be thinking he’s the guy because he has the power and he has the opportunity."
Mark DellaGrotte of the Sidyongtong Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts Academy
Before we all tear into these comments, bear in mind that all of these guys heaped effusive praise on Fedor and his abilities and I didn't repost all of that stuff. Also Fedor is human. The meme that is being pushed by Frank Shamrock and others that "Fedor has no weaknesses" is just bull. We've seen Fedor rocked by punches by Kazuyuki Fujita at PRIDE 26. We've seen Kevin Randleman suplex him on his head. Sure he recovered with other-worldy aplomb and quickly won both fights, but there is some reason to believe he is merely human after all.