‘Reem: Fedor not the heavyweight GOAT
Alistair Overeem: Fedor Emelianko is not the greatest ever
Fedor Emelianenko is widely considered to be the greatest heavyweight of all time in mixed martial arts.
While no UFC heavyweight champion has ever successfully defended the belt more than twice, Fedor went 28 fights without a loss. While his competition was uneven, the wins included future interim UFC heavyweight champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira twice, past UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman twice, past UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman, past UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, and past UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. That is seven wins against past or future UFC champions.
However, Alistair Overeem is not impressed that Fedor never signed with the UFC. He explained why Fedor is not the G.O.A.T. in an interview with Luke Thomas on SiriusXM Rush.
“I don’t think Werdum deserves that title,” said Overeem, as transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMA Mania. “I just don’t think he has what it takes. And I don’t think Fedor deserves that title, either, because Fedor never signed with UFC. He kind of always took the easy route, which he is doing now.
“Don’t get me wrong, I know Fedor personally and I like him as a person — he is very humble and very nice and he had an excellent run in Rings in Japan, I fought there in ’99. He had an excellent run there and an excellent run in PRIDE. But after PRIDE, he never really tested himself.
“There was the Affliction thing, but if he really wanted to go down as the best Heavyweight ever, then he should have signed with UFC and taken the hard route. UFC is where there is the hardest division, that’s just how it is. Every fighter is hard, there is no easy fights, no easy opponents. With Fedor’s last fight, the last Fedor win, changed it to a draw, but he actually lost that fight. First round was 10-7, then a 10-9, then a 9-9 in my opinion and they could’ve easily stopped that fight. Maldonado did a great job in that fight and got robbed.
“You know, or he should’ve just quit after his success or come to UFC. But, he is not doing that. I think your last fight when you are going to finish your career is very important. If you are going to keep going, your either going to lose or not perform and give away your grand title as greatest heavyweight of all time. And I think he did have that, 10 years undefeated. But, then came the losses in Strikeforce, retirement, came out of retirement, so now I don’t think he qualifies for that title.”
Overeem fights UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 203 on Sept. 10, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. If he adds the UFC title to the Strikeforce heavyweight championship, DREAM heavyweight championship, K-1 World Grand Prix championship, and adds one more to his six wins over former UFC champions (Andrei Arlovski, Fabrício Werdum, Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, Junior dos Santos, and Vitor Belfort) then Overeem is on the short G.O.A.T. list too.