I thought the magic might come back. That voodoo that Fedor Emelianenko possessed throughout his career which allowed him to escape from various perils unscathed. When Kazuyuki Fujita whacked him into a hula hoop routine, Fedor found a way to compose himself before crushing Fujita's windpipe. When Kevin Randleman drove him into the mat with a suplex more often seen in early-'90s All-Japan Pro Wrestling matches, Fedor landed with the grace of a feather before twisting Randleman's arm off. When a super-sized Mark Hunt threatened with an Americana and flirted with the mount, Fedor seemed to will himself into turning the tables.
And for a moment tonight, I thought we would see that magic again. Fedor carried Silva's mounted 285 pounds for most of the round before the Brazilian tried to choke Fedor with his own arm. His escape seemed miraculous. His last-second footlock felt like foreshadowing for the third round.
The magic had run out, though. It was obvious once the camera found Fedor in his corner in between rounds. His right eye had already swollen shut. Someone covered the eye with an ice bag -- maybe in attempt to disguise the injury from the referee and ringside judge, but the motions to end the bout had already begun.
His post-fight interview had the tone of a eulogy. Looking like a man who had just emerged from the wrong end of a street mugging, Fedor spoke of retirement with the same class, humbleness, and dignity that he displayed in his 36-fight career.
I hope this is goodbye. I wouldn't want to remember him any other way.
The breakdown:
- I've read some things on Twitter to the effect of "If Fedor just did some basics, he could have escaped Silva's mount." Yeah, good luck with that. It's extremely difficult to shake off a guy who knows what he's doing in mount and outweighs you by 50 pounds. Silva impressed me with his ability to not only maintain control when Fedor turned over, but flatten Emelianenko out each time.
- While a side of me wants to see how that third round plays out, it's hard for me to envision a scenario that doesn't involve Silva taking Fedor down again. Without sight in his right eye, Fedor has no ability to judge distance.
- Remember when Strikeforce swindled Fedor away in the summer of 2009? How would you feel if someone told you that Fedor would fight (regardless of results) Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, and Antonio Silva in lieu of Alistair Overeem? Strikeforce made the mistake of trying to build to a PPV fight with Alistair Overeem instead of giving fans that fight right away. It's the same reason the UFC can't afford to let Anderson Silva fight Yushin Okami between now and the looming GSP superfight.
- I think it's appropriate to quote Fedor's trainer, Vladimir Voronov, following the January 2009 fight with Andrei Arlovski:
"He's obviously got unbelievable potential, but he had some distractions getting ready for this fight," Voronov said through an interpreter. "The movie. The commercials. If Fedor wants to keep winning, and winning well, he needs to train professionally. Right now he won with his old tricks.
"The fact that Fedor won, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy about. But he won this fight because of the training before this fight. The experience he had before this fight. The trainers did everything we could to get him ready. But for title fights, we can't train the way we trained for this one." - I enjoyed watching Antonio Silva react to the news that he had won the fight. The man seems to be lovable in the same vein as Andre the Giant.
- It seems crazy to consider Andrei Arlovski's career prospects at 32 years of age, but he has some serious decisions to make. Does he want to keep fighting? If so, is he willing to fight against less compelling fighters in the middle of the division?
- It will be fun to hear Sergei Kharitonov's name butchered through the next round of the tournament.
- A couple of refereeing notes: Dan Miragliotta separated Silva and Fedor out of a clinch too quickly for my taste in the early goings of round one. Yves Lavigne picked an awful time to halt a bout to replace a mouthpiece during the Griggs-Villante fight.
- This card had a boxing feel to it with huge draws at the top and absolute rubbish below it.
- If your fight ends via neck crank, it shouldn't have been on the featured card.
- Jonathan Snowden nicknamed Chad Griggs the "Mutton Chop Zombie."
- That "Pride-style" introduction fell flat. No energy. No atmosphere. An inappropriate music selection. Oh, and varsity jackets? Are they all getting letters for participating in the tournament?