I laughed so hard I spilled my tea!

 

He's sloppy but he's got that rare fighters' instinct that overcome all but the most technical striking - that and he mixes his striking and grappling SO WELL (from the Sambo background I suppose) that there just isn't anyone at that high level of not just boxing and wrestling, but the TRANSITION between those at the heavyweight level.

We've already seen the formula you need to beat Fedor in Andre Arlovski's skillset. But he made one openning and Fedor capitalized. Because that's what makes Fedor, along with Mousasi, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva truly GREAT: they capitalize on every small mistake their opponent makes. Only the great fighters in history (Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard in boxing for example) can do this. You're born with it.


Maybe Cain Velasquez, he's the only heavyweight I see right now that has the skillset along with the chin (for when he makes a mistake) to solidly beat Fedor.

 

By the way, have you guys noticed that every single fighter that seemed to be doing well against Fedor but then stops attacking and gets smashed (Crocop, now Rogers) says the same thing: "I shouldn't have been so hesitant. I should have let it go more...."

Darn right - it's because Fedor is so good at exploiting every small mistake his opponents make. Because his opponents get punished for every mistake they didn't even know they had, they start to get hesitant, and Fedor wins.


They say fighting is 90 percent mental, and Fedor (whether his opponents acknowledge it or not - they always like to deny it) ALWAYS has the mental advantage