Is Fedor truly retired?

Only 35 yrs old, tons of fights sure, but didn't take a ton of punishment.

For a second I was thinking he prob has a run in him. Love of the challenge, the sport, money is always enticing. Won a few to regain his footing. Prob will get an itch at some point. Certainly has something left in the tank.

On the other hand.

Never in great shape, and looking maybe beyond his years in the last bunch of fights he could go beyond repair fairly quickly. And I look at the last 3 opponents, and it does look like a wrap up. Get the winning streak back to end it, perhaps finish a contract.

How well do u think a Fedor vs Hendo rematch would do? Fedor's long awaited UFC debut? Would UFC open the bank still?

Fedor would still rape a good portion of the top 10 HWs on the UFC roster. I think Fedor vs Barnett would be a match to make right now. They could put Josh vs Fedor on the same card as Jacare vs Rockhold 2. Give the winner the Roy-Carwin winner. It will never happen but still sounds fun.

The motivation and desire doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Ali wrote:

The motivation and desire doesn't seem to be there anymore.

I disagree.

OU wrote:

Ali wrote:

The motivation and desire doesn't seem to be there anymore.

I disagree.

I agree more with Ali on this. At least right now, I think it's obvious the desire is not there. But will that change? Sitting around for a year, does that want for a challenge begin to grow again?

Seems a little hard to believe that a guy who has been fighting pretty much his whole life(what year is he said to have begun training?) will be able to just walk away at a fairly young age. Still with something left in the tank. But then again he did look an old 34-35, and talked retirment numerous times toward the end. And I doubt he feels the need to prove anything. His long success might actually make it easier to walk away. At least from fights at the hwy championship level. But a smaller guy like Hendo? Is the loss a motivation for Fedor? Very little precedence there.

Likewise the $$$$ Fedor has made fighting, at times, far inferior opponents, makes it hard for the UFC to make it interesting.

He looked as good as you could expect vs Rizzo. Even in the fights he lost he didn't do too bad. He had Hendo hurt bad seconds before getting caught and he won round 1 vs Bigfoot. I still think he could win a rematch with any of them. Hendo, Bigfoot or Werdum.

Not everyone wants to put their family second forever. He's rich, the GOAT and has his health, so saying his motivation and desire are now focused elsewhere is not inaccurate, but to suggest he doesn't have the drive or will of a a world class competitor would be wrong.

I disagree about Fedor not having taken a ton of punishment. That man was in some wars back in the day. Everything from being randelplexed to TK rocking him hard to Rogers smashing his nose. He wasn't always in the kind of slugfests we think of when we think of guys with mileage like Liddell, but to say he hasn't taken alot of punishment is inaccurate.

He has definitely seen punishment, but considering the number of fights and who against, I think he has avoided taking a significant amount of damage in his career compared to how others have or might of fared.