Fedor risking real damage to his legacy by allowing his handlers to muck up his Strikeforce deal?

More and more I am growing frustrated with Fedor's handlers. I have always been a staunch Fedor supporter, through thick and thin. I defended his record when the best recent fight he had was over a top five MW, and I defend it now after three brutal and convincing top ten HW victories.

His record suffers from a bit of bad luck. The Fedor curse if you will. Some act as if Fedor and his handlers secretly knew that AA and Tim were not really top ten fighters and would lose by bad KO in their next fights, and he also predicted Brock Lesnar, Cain Valesquez and Frank Mir would emerge as contenders in the UFC simultaniously(with still one or two real recent top tens win a piece) in everyone's eyes.

I don't buy into any of that. Fedor has been fighting the best fighters in the world, as far as he could have known. But if he and his management screw up potential fights with Overeem* and Werdum to squeeze more money out of Strikeforce, this will only damage his legacy and validate, to some, all the criticisms White and Fedor detractors have been voicing.

I am very frustrated with the current situation, where ample top ten caliber opponents appearently exist for Fedor, but he may end up fighting none of them, opting to chase Barnett off into Japan. Barnett was the fight fans were screaming for for several years, but it has all but lost any appeal with Barnett's positive tests and subsequent inactivity. No one wants to see that fight.

Fedor could trash both Overeem and Werdum by the end of the summer and be in a UFC title fight by Christmas is he so chooses, or he could retire after five straight top ten caliber wins and walk into the sunset, but instead he'd rather cherry pick his opponents to maximize M-1's cut and extort as much money as possible from Strikeforce.

I hope he fights someone good, somewhere soon, or his legacy will be scared by this.

*we'll see anyway.

Fickle opinions aside, a majority of experts or people who follow MMA for a living still feel Barnett, talent-wise, is a relevant heavyweight fighter. His inability to compete from his own stupidity keeps pushing him down the ranks though and from a fight availability standpoint for Fedor right now, as in everyone currently in SF, Barnett is not a significant drop off, it is just not as intriguing or popular as it once was.

I think the enormity of the present Fedor legacy is the biggest threat to its future. His kind of success grows expectation and resentment exponentially. It is similar in most sports. The team or individual with the most sustained success is the most loathed and targeted as a result of it. There are a lot of people lined up against Fedor longing for that 'I told you so' moment. At the end of the day I can only reflect on what I have seen been done and not speculate on what was not, regardless of what I want.

That was the post of the month right there.
Refreshing the debate is good for discussion.

If Fedor doesn't go to the UFC(or a couple of the big names come to SF) there will be a tarnish on his long term legacy. No one can take away what he has done, but the new crop of super heavies, and elite wrestlers in the division are ringing in a new era, and unless he gets out there and proves it, I think some will question how he would fare.

I don't see the SF contract stuff being a big deal at this point, because many view it as a way for fedor to get into the UFC and thus see it as a positive.

captain organic wrote:

If Fedor doesn't go to the UFC(or a couple of the big names come to SF) there will be a tarnish on his long term legacy. No one can take away what he has done, but the new crop of super heavies, and elite wrestlers in the division are ringing in a new era, and unless he gets out there and proves it, I think some will question how he would fare.

I don't see the SF contract stuff being a big deal at this point, because many view it as a way for fedor to get into the UFC and thus see it as a positive.

+1

Just seems like a lot of people are starting to believe the significance of what someone does is not measured by what they actually do, but what they wanted to be which wasn't. To me that is a weak basis to evaluate someone by. Maybe when things are all said and done people could say, 'Fedor didn't do enough in his career to be considered a true great, unlike this guy ________ who did _______', and at least be able to back up a claim with actual actions and not what if evidence.

I love how i got negged for putting +1 and giving someone a good vote. So agreeing with someone for saying SOME will tarnish his legacy if he does not fight in the UFC is wrong. I would not tarnish him BUT it is OBVIOUS that others will so captains points are relevant.

By the way someone really don't like me I went from like 3 rep to a neg 1 lol.

muayjitsu wrote:

By the way someone really don't like me I went from like 3 rep to a neg 1 lol.

fixed.

muayjitsu wrote:

I love how i got negged for putting +1 and giving someone a good vote. So agreeing with someone for saying SOME will tarnish his legacy if he does not fight in the UFC is wrong. I would not tarnish him BUT it is OBVIOUS that others will so captains points are relevant.

someone just abused your last few posts.

I know i'm all bruised up. The only gripe I will ever have about Fedor is he has seemed to slow down his activity lately. I blame Barnett for some of this.

I don't really see why people think this means Fedor could go to the UFC. It's clear M-1 still want co-promotion. If this thing with Strikeforce that nobody really knows anything about shows anything, that it's even more unlikely that the UFC would be able to deal with them if a organization open to co-promotion is struggling...but nobody knows anything about it. It's just new rumour after new rumour.

I disagree on his legacy. Fedor will always go down as an all time great and that's all that matters. HW would have to do a whole lot to take away what he did over a career, even when he does lose. Nobody is even close in that division right now anyway. There will always be a debate on best fighter ever because of different weight classes but best HW of all time is secure for a long time.

Gave ya a bone Muay. I agree with people and that shoulld count. I won't post on a thread if what I will say is said most of the time.