10 MMA Fights That Changed The Business
9. Strikeforce June 26, 2010: Werdum def. Fedor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4MkUXrIhdQFedor Emelianenko, for those that dont know, was a Pride fighter who just happened to be the most bad ass heavyweight to grace a ring or cage. Fedor was all the Chuck Norris jokes, before the Chuck Norris jokes ever existed. He was such an imposing figure in MMA that the character of Koba in the movie Warrior was entirely based off of him. The legend of Fedor stretched as far as the eye could see, which produced contract negotiation issues with the UFC.
Dana White was locked in on signing Fedor following Zuffas purchase of Pride in early 2007. The immediate plan was to promote a fight pitting Fedor against UFC Legend Randy Couture. However, Fedors management team wasnt easy to strike a deal with. Negotiations fell apart and Fedor signed with upstart M-1 Global, allowing him to also take fights for Affliction. The Last Emperor took advantage of his time there, securing two first round knockout victories over former UFC Heavyweight Champions Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. Fedors stock continued to rise.
In 2009, Affliction closed its doors and Dana White was once again in negotiations to bring Fedor into the UFC. With Brock Lesnars stock skyrocketing as the UFC Heavyweight Champion and Fedors legacy untarnished, it was the perfect time for Fedor to hit the UFC and wouldve made for one of the biggest fights in UFC history. Instead, Fedors management opted to keep the cat and mouse game rolling, declining Whites proposal and signing with Strikeforce.
His second Strikeforce fight was against the accomplished Fabricio Werdum in June of 2010. The crowd was electric as Fedor was introduced as really needing no introduction to MMA fans across the globeunbeaten in the last ten yearswidely recognized as the greatest MMA fighter on the planet. 69 seconds later, Fedor tapped out to a triangle choke/armbar submission by Werdum. The winning streak was snapped, the hype was silenced, and the UFC put their wallet back in their pocket.