You honestly believe that Lesnar, with his all-of-four-wins is gonna beat Fedor? How and with what…his one dimensional game? Stoker has proven himself mentally challenged–and a Zuffa-Zombie, so he gets a pass. But the rest of you? All I can say is, I hope you snap out of it by the time Dana starts handing out the spiked cool-aid.

Just prior to that article, there were a couple others on B/R that spoke of the Brock-Fedor debate. I can't believe how crazy!! LOL people get over this non-existent rivalry.

For fun, I threw my hat into the fiery pit to see what sort of response I could get and to basically let everyone know (comment section) that it's okay to like both men for different reasons. calling Brock “the best of all time” is absurd (and I don't think I did
but I still think that Brock is a beast of a man who could beat Fedor today.

My only point about Brock was that he'll never get respect unless he fights and beats Fedor – but even then, there are so many people who will be just as satisfied hating the big man until the day that he dies (hopefully of old age and not in an Octagon

Just setting up some debate on an issue that I could care less about, because I am personally trying to understand it better

Hope that helps to add perspective.

Thanks again

lesnar came into the ufc with a name. that, combined with his immense natural talent, skyrocketed him into contention much faster than a 'normal' prospect working through the ranks. in addition, look at the saturation of talent in the sport (and particularly the hw division) now compared to 1999/2000-era russian mma.

i think fedor would lose to lesnar. i also think your method of attempting to illustrate this notion was very poor.

Thanks for the comment, at least you have the class and respect to disagree with me in a sincere and rationale manner. I knew I was gonna be in for a long day when the first comment stated that I am a “douchebag” for writing this article. LOL (uhhh…that’s MR. Douchebag to you…punk!!)

I think that compared to a lot of debates that I have read on this issue, this one is pretty tame. What it fails to do I suppose, is give exaggerated credit to Fedor and his “God-like” accomplishments (the biggest problem with Fedor and why the arguments are created so strongly against him has nothing to do with Fedor the man, but his many extremely irrational and biased followers). It wasn’t as much to tear Fedor down as to just say that Lesnar deserves more credit than he gets.

When I first started writing this article, it didn’t even include Brock Lesnar LOL. I started off discussing Bobby Lashley, who clearly is padding his record in my opinion and after watching a few videos of him and reading a few articles, I became so annoyed at the fact that he’s trying to do what I perceive, which is emulating the “myth factor” that Fedor has created.

Fedor may not have calculated that strategy for himself, but it’s a model that others could follow if they were so inclined to try – thus my suggestion for Lesnar to fight more cans (not saying Fedor did, but obviously implied it for the readers to reach their own conclusions) because the only reason that I can tell that fight fans make a case against Lesnar is because of his limited record. If he had 20 fights under his belt, he’d be the same fighter, just with a bigger record and maybe, just maybe, people would respect him more or take him more seriously. It’s a guess…

I know the arguments on Fedor’s behalf. I know the arguments against him. Some fans hate Brock Lesnar. Others love him (rarely is there an in-between).

Me…I like them both (is that allowed? LOL). I just haven’t bought into everyone else’s hype and instead I choose to make my own opinions.

I won't discount Lesnar as a fighter because of his flawed personality, WWE background or his ties to the UFC/Dana White.

I also won't place Fedor up high on the pedestal simply because people feel the “NEED” to believe in something beyond what he is, which is a man (not a GOD).

My quotes on his media and social perceptions were mostly taken from Wiki. and I did that just to encompass the general way in which he is perceived.

Fedor might admit that he never beat Bobby Hoffman (why would he?…he didn’t!) but the argument by his worshippers is always that he went undefeated minus some lame excuse on why the cut stoppage didn’t count. If the stoppage doesn’t count, than why should the win? I’m just saying that this article was as much social commentary as anything.

I’m sick of the arguments and frankly, I could care less who the best ever is. I personally don’t think that it’s either of these guys and whoever I do think it is (Harold Howard? LOL) is just my subjective opinion, but guess what Joe? I am entitled to it…as a writer and as a fan, and I am no more right or wrong than anyone else.

People telling me I’m wrong just makes their arguments sound desperate and motivated by a personal need to believe in something greater than their own dull and boring lives.

I’m big on never believing everything that I hear – especially if it comes out of the government or media (radio, internet, books, magazines, etc). I use my sixth sense (my Judge Judy sense) to tell me if something makes sense or not. I question sources. I challenge opinions. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not likely true.

Dana White says that Fedor wanted this and Fedor wanted that…meanwhile, Fedor and his management team say similar things…here’s the deal – we’ll never know the truth and it doesn’t matter anyway.

An article such as this creates debate and discussion. In turn, maybe I throw a challenge out there, like “Fedor is afraid to fight Lesnar” or something because of some deep psychological need to be remembered as the best (and I don’t care how humble Fedor is (or you think he is), he is a professional athlete. A performer. An entertainer. A businessman. Preserving his legacy at this stage in his career may be a new priority for him. From a business standpoint, I don’t honestly see why it wouldn’t be. Fedor is his own “brand” and he has worked his entire life to create it.

Anyway, maybe someone reads this and says, “damn, the perception is that Fedor is afraid – he better prove he’s not.” Voila!! We get the fight we want.

Okay, okay, crazy I know, but what can I say Joe, I have a vivid imagination

I don’t sell my ideas as the truth, I sell them as “my” opinions and speculation, and hopefully, people find them thought provoking because they encourage healthy and intelligent debate, such as the one that we are having right now.

I mean no offence to you or to anyone in the Fedor-Nation by saying that I think that Brock could beat Fedor in a fight – but I do think that, and I can’t change my perception because it’s not popular opinion.

I won’t.

Hope you understand.

Cheers
James

I'm going to respectfully disagree with a number of your opinions based on your own idea that 9/10ths of reality is perception. I'll state for the record that I'm a Fedor fan but more for the kind of person he is outside the ring than in (although I do enjoy his fights).

The one common element I consistently find in Bleacherreport stories and the replies they generate is that people like to use their perception of what a fighter thinks as reality; 9/10ths of the crap discussed is based on this. To give you a few examples from your own article (not trying to pick on you in particular, just trying to show my point): Early in your article you mention “Several mixed-martial arts publications and websites currently rank Fedor as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and many analysts, as well as former and current fighters, consider Fedor to be the greatest mixed-martial artist of all time…” Here is a perception that Fedor himself has disagreed with… he has said in the past that he is not the greatest because he hasn't fought everyone, yet we continue to include him in the debate of who the greatest is. Do you honestly think Fedor thinks he beat Bobby Hoffman? I'd say no, yet we use it as a point in arguing his record.

Your next point about Fedor do nothing to secure his legacy by fighting Tim Sylvia is again based on the perception that Fedor is trying to secure a legacy to begin with. While I'm sure there are fighters out there whose ultimate goal is to “secure thei legacy”, I think there are a good number of fighters who don't give this as much thought as we do. Your organization setting up th fight and giving you a paycheck is a more likely reason for taking a fight, and not just in Fedor's case, yet we perceive it differently so we have ammo for our arguemnt that a fighter is trying to pad his record to secure his legacy.

I may be wrong but Fedor seems like a person who enjoys fighting and the different challenges it brings. He defends MMA as not being violent and seems to view it as a tough sport that should be played with the rules of sportsmanship that other sports live by. This leads me to seriously doubt the general perception that he worries about how much he has to lose by Lesnar beating him. We can debate all day on the reason the fight is not happening but in the end it's all speculation and we'd probably never touch on the actual reasons which could be as simple as Fedor thinks Dana's a prick and won't lift a finger to help his cause …could be something different but that's my perception on the matter, and arguing the idea like it's fact is a waste of eveyones time.

Moving on to Lesnar, I think it's overly evident that he could care less what most people think and this isn't an act. Securing his legacy may be important to him or challenging himself physically may be his driving force, but he would undoubtly drop out of the UFC as quick as he came, without ever facing Fedor, if it was in his best interest and I don't think he'd worry too much about his legacy. Again, my own perception on him, but right or wrong it's not evidence to be used in a pissing match of who's the best of the best.

Where we do agree is that in the end, I hope too that people will remember them for their actual accomplishments and not what we perceive they did or didn't accomplish. As I mentioned at the beginining, I don't mean to be picking on your article in particular, it's people using perception as fact and trying make a point based on it.

Joe

I won't discount Lesnar as a fighter because of his flawed personality, WWE background or his ties to the UFC/Dana White.

I also won't place Fedor up high on the pedestal simply because people feel the “NEED” to believe in something beyond what he is, which is a man (not a GOD).

Only one way to settle the debate I guess and it's not by Fedor trying to negotiate light years beyond his worth.

Other than that, it's great to hear from you my friend, and I hope all is well

Cheers

Your Step Three is comical–in terms of: can Brock Lesnar ever develop enough purity of intent to suddenly become a class act? Of course not. Lesnar is very unlikely to succeed with Steps One or Two either. Brock possesses about as much humility and integrity as does his boss, Dana White. In a nutshell, being big, displaying loud and obnoxious behavior, and being a one dimensional fighter who defeated a retired 18-10 light heavyweight and a washed up Heath herring, and split with a decent but so-so Frank Mir, might con the UFC-is-great-everything-else-sucks zombies, but hardcore MMA followers who know the game won't fall for Dana's UFC kiddie brain-washing routine.

However, I will say that Lesnar is a perfect fit for the UFC, whereas Fedor is the perfect fit for MMA.

I love that you can disagree with what I have said and not seemingly hate my guts for it LOL

Thanks

Believe it or not, I DO like Fedor. I also like Brock. It’s as though fans aren’t allowed to like both for different reasons sometimes.

I think Fedor is a better champion (Stoker didn’t like that). I think Brock would beat Fedor in a fight (many others didn’t like that either).

Personally, I don’t get too much into the whole, “who fought who and when” debate. I find irrelevant.

When I first started to write this article, it wasn’t even about Brock LOL I got about halfway through and changed it up.

Initially, it was about Bobby Lashley. If ever there was a guy padding his record, it’s him. I started to then wonder if maybe we wasn’t just trying to emulate Fedor – as far as how he “perceived” him. Then I started to think about the debate between Fedor and Brock and wondered if maybe some of the same things were applicable as well.

The strongest argument against Lesnar that I usually hear is his inexperience. I just think that he is too dominant to disregard as “never would he beat Fedor.”

I’m not saying he would, although I “think” he would – but to say “NEVER” is just crazy

Cheers buddy and thanks for the private message – you’re right, too much going on over there, I’m probably going to just ignore most of it LOL

Cheers
J

I get the impression you dont like Fedor. I understand that. Many people dont. I will also readily admit I am a PRIDE fanboy. But when i read some of the things you wrote in this article, i felt like you were going from only opinion.

No fighter can claim to have an unpadded record. Anyone with a career over 20 fights will have many so called “cans”. What i felt you didnt take in to account was the timing of these fights.

Respond if you wish. havent had a god debate in quite some time.

Cheers, and another fine article. I just dont agree with you