There was a bit of controversy last weekend at the Strikeforce show. And all it entailed was the potential ending of an MMA legend’s career.
Fedor Emelianenko, who was in a dominant position in his main event bout against Dan Henderson, was dropped by an uppercut, and before a flurry from Hendo could be fully unleashed referee Herb Dean was already calling off the fight.
Immediately, many fans and media took to Twitter to exclaim it an early stoppage. I think probably those who had a chance to watch the replay realized later that Fedor was knocked out cold by the initial uppercut — it wasn’t obvious live — and then lay defenseless as Hendo landed a couple more punches before he was restrained by Dean. If anything, the stoppage was too late.
And while Fedor appeared to be defending himself as he turned around, it was actually just his arms incidentally flailing by the momentum of Dean moving in to stop Henderson.
But whether it was a fair stoppage at that moment isn’t what I wanted to focus on here. What I wanted to look at was whether the outcome was a fair representation of the fight, an in particular, Emelianenko’s skill at this point in his career, since the topic of whether he should retire was (again) brought up.
After his last loss, I wrote an analysis piece suggesting a decline in his abilities, not just due to age. Did the trend continue?
First of all, how was he faring up until the point he was dropped? According to the FightMetric stats, Fedor was 16 of 36 striking and 7 of 25 in significant strikes for 28 per cent, while Hendo was 40 of 55 and 22 of 37 in significant strikes for a much better 59 per cent. It seems pretty clear that Dangerous Dan was the more effective striker on this night.
Now Emelianenko did manage to knock Hendo down and had him on the (figurative) ropes. But not only did he make a tactical error putting himself in a position to get caught, he couldn’t capitalize on his positional advantage. The old Fedor would have finished his opponent there … or at least not gotten knocked out himself from one albeit well-placed and well-timed shot.
Fedor, forget about griping about the early stoppage. You need to seriously ask yourself if you still have what it takes, and that could mean some serious changes in the gym. (And it also appears any return would be outside of Strikeforce, as UFC president Dana White said Thursday he’s going to be cut.)
Here are some quick looks at some of the other fights from last Saturday’s event:
Miesha Tate vs. Marloes Coenen
While Tate was lacking in her standup (5 of 37 in significant strikes vs. Coenen’s 24 of 43), she truly lived up her nickname “Takedown,” going 4 of 6 on her attempts in the nearly four full rounds against the champ.
She also held off Coenen’s most dangerous part of her game, limiting the Dutchwoman to just two full submission attempts. And it was Tate’s only sub attempt that proved to be the decider as she got Coenen to tap at 3:03 of the fourth round due to an arm triangle choke from side control to strip her of the women’s 135-pound belt.
(Sadly, it may have also cost Coenen her job — she was released on Wednesday. Of course, her Golden Glory teammate Alistair Overeem was also cut while he was holding the heavyweight title, so perhaps Coenen would have been cut anyway.)
Tim Kennedy vs. Robbie Lawler
Kennedy also used his wrestling to a huge advantage over Lawler, managing five takedowns (though slightly less efficiently — it was on 16 attempts). Once on the ground he also managed to pass Lawler’s guard four times.
He also had a huge edge in striking volume (111 total attempts vs. 39). That easily earned him all three rounds on all the judges’ scorecards.
Paul Daley vs. Tyron Woodley
There was also some controversy here — well, only if you asked Daley. Woodley easily outstruck Daley in the first two rounds before Daley rebounded in the third. But it was too little, too late as Woodley won by a unanimous score of 29-28.
CLASH OF STRENGTHS IN PHILLY
As for this week, we’ve got UFC 133 in Philadelphia. In the main event, expect an interesting matchup of styles between the wrestler Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz, who is dangerous in the striking and grappling departments.
Here’s a look at their career stats:
| Fighter | Evans | Ortiz |
| Takedowns (per 15 min) | 4.62 | 2.97 |
| Takedown accuracy | 53% | 44% |
| Strikes landed (per 15 min) | 28.9 | 35.4 |
| Striking accuracy | 39% | 48% |
| Sub attempts (per 15 min) | 0 | 0.38 |
Nothing earth-shattering there, but it shows quite clearly where each fighter’s strength lies. And it also shows that one doesn’t have a particularly drastic edge in any department; that is, both fighters are still pretty well-rounded.
Also interesting to note: each sits eighth on respective UFC records lists for their careers: Rashad Evans has 44 career takedowns in the Octagon, putting him among the best, while Tito Ortiz finds himself on the top 10 list with 1,185 strikes landed.
Of course, part of that is a function of their longevity. But that and the above stats paint a pretty good picture of what to expect Saturday night.
OCHOCINCO, OH NO YOU DIDN’T
Anyone familiar with former Cincinnati Bengals flamboyant wide receiver Chad Ochocinco knows he often has crazy things to say anytime a mic is placed in front of him. And even though he said fans can expect to see a different guy now that he’s landed with the more media-muted New England Patriots — “Ochocinco 2.0” is what he tweeted — he just couldn’t resist calling out one of the biggest stars of MMA — one Georges St-Pierre — in a recent TapouT photo shoot.
Not smart, Ocho. It doesn’t take much analysis to know that if you ever got in a cage — or field, wherever — with GSP, you’d end up with your clock cleaned and butt on the ground. (Never mind New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis coming over the middle!)
You can follow me on Twitter: @James_Brydon