Greatest P4P: ROUND 1

"Real Fedor" vs "Real Anderson"

ROUND ONE: ABSOLUTE
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Suppose the "real Fedor Emelianenko" and the "real Anderson Silva" fought in an MMA match, who would win? Well, how can we fairly speculate in the first place? By comparison.

Please refer to the following table for the basic statistics of each fighter.

The biggest difference we can see between Fedor and Anderson--based on the above information--is their weight, with the latter giving up 50 lbs to the former. (Silva is walking around at 205 lbs these days but he hasn't really proven anything yet in the UFC's light heavyweight division so let's stick to 185 for the meantime.) And in spite of what your jiu-jitsu friends tell you, size matters. That's why Royce Gracie was badly beaten by Matt Hughes a few years back. Yes he'd been older. But the real point is, Matt had been stronger. Without the "surprise factor" of BJJ submissions (as there had been in the early UFCs), Royce had to contend with proper defense. And a lot of power to back it up.

If you're still finding "size matters" hard to accept imagine what would happen if fighters of equal skill, but not of equal strength fought. The fact of the matter is, size and strength play into many aspects of a fight simply because it is a physical person-against-person direct contact sport. The person who can control the other with less effort has a natural advantage.

But you ask, "light fighters are quicker." True. They're more agile. They move faster. They're quicker on their feet. That's good for them because at long range, strength is more or less cancelled--the other fighter can't grab onto you! So the lighter fighter can just go for the knock out, right?

Not really. Although slower on their feet, bigger, heavier fighters can also hit quite fast. The only difference is that they also hit quite harder. That's why boxers don't have open-weight matches.

Again, size matters.

Nonetheless, this is Fedor vs Anderson. Not some heavyweight vs some middleweight. That said, let me break it down properly.

The Real Match-up

STAND-UP
Striking is Anderson Silva's forte and it looks like a good strategy for him against Fedor because he's long, has fast strikes, and has more agility. The only problem is that Fedor has shown that he in fact excels against strikers (Cro Cop and K-1 champions). More than that, I think we can agree that he is no slouch--he has a very aggressive, explosive style to his game and his hand-speed is one of his best points. True, Anderson may be quicker on his feet, but when it comes to striking efficacy they're not that far apart. In fact, I may even give this to Fedor if only because he'll take harder hits, and likewise hit harder.

(Oh yeah, don't tell me Anderson's going to kick Fedor into oblivion. Fedor has a habit of catching kicks so he can take his opponent down.)

THE CLINCH

Well, The Spider has one hell of a clinch. He lands his knees in convincing fashion. On the other hand, Fedor has never really been properly stuck in the clinch. Fighters have gone zero distance with him but only with the intention of taking him down.

Although Anderson is deadly here, it is only because his opponents are of the same weight. They're easier to control. Trying to tie-up with a natural heavyweight who's stronger and heavier is another matter. Never mind doing that to Fedor. Still, those knees are scary. I have all the respect for them.


GROUND
If there is one phase of the game which may ironically prove to Anderson's advantage--it would be the ground game. If Anderson Silva has vastly superior skills in this aspect then he may possibly nullify Fedor's strength and size. Specifically, this means submission techniques and proficiency.

But that is a huge ass IF. Like BJJ, Sambo is at least partially about submissions and both fighters, incidentally, are top level BJJ/Sambo practitioners. Furthermore, Fedor has great reversals at the bottom and has a sick armbar that comes from out of nowhere. Oh and lest we forget, once on the top, Fedor ground-and-pounds like an angry bear. Honestly.

Verdict: I would have to say that in a real MMA fight, based on the above, I would be putting my money on Fedor. The only real chance I see for Anderson is if he's smarter with his strikes and combinations, landing some quick blows, mixing things up with surprise knees and backfists, etc. or if he turns out to be a vastly superior submissions artist, after all. Otherwise--if Anderson Silva cannot inflict substantial damage with his strikes or if he can't control his opponent on the ground--I think it's going to be a ground-and-pound victory for Fedor.

Round 1 goes to Fedor.

But of course, that's in a real fight, where Fedor has 20-50 lbs more muscle power. But that's not what pound-for-pound means. The term "pound-for-pound best fighter" implies the competitors naturally being on the same weight-class. If so, then would the same conclusions hold?

A deeper look into each fighter's unique style and technique: NEXT PAGE>>>