Let's get this party started.
What Fedor Emelianenko (30-1) brings to the table: It's hard to summarize what Emelianenko brings as there's so much to say. To start, he's one of the physically strongest heavyweights in the world today, despite not being all that big. From a skills perspective, he's got excellent takedowns, takedown defense, and ground control skills, and is one of the best Sambo practitioners in the world. Beyond that, Fedor hits like a truck- that overhand right of his is a sledgehammer- and has better technical striking skills than most give him credit for. Along with this, he's very tough inside on his feet (see his Cro Cop and Sylvia fights for confirmation).
Fedor has also demonstrated excellent toughness and cardio throughout his career, and now has well above average submission skills. That said, his trainer, Vladimir Voronov, spoke of some possible training issues leading up to his last fight against Arlovski to MMAWeekly.com after his most recent victory.
“If he wants to keep winning, he can’t be spending too much time on these commercials and these movies,” Voronov said. “Afterwards, after the win. For a fighter, the most important thing is work, work, work. Fedor wants to keep winning, and keep winning well. He needs to train professionally.”
Food for thought.
What Brett Rogers (10-0) brings to the table: Rogers is confident. He's very, very big (he cuts weight to get to the 265 pound heavyweight maximum) and hits like a truck. He's also quite athletic, and displayed better than average technical striking against Ron Humphrey on April 11, 2009. Why do we bring that fight up? Simply put, because that was his most competitive fight, as Rogers has basically run through people by way of first round stoppage in every other encounter.
Which leaves questions.
Though he professes that he has ground skills, we really haven't seen them. Further, we don't know how he might react if a fight gets tough and goes beyond round two- Rogers just hasn't been there.
But what we do know is that Fedor's upcoming adversary looks to knock people out early, and that game plan has worked quite well for him throughout his MMA career.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers Prediction: Brett Rogers has a chance in this one. I repeat, Brett Rogers has a chance in this one. His size may very well give Emelianenko fits, and his striking skills and power are nothing to be scoffed at (ask Andrei Arlovski). That said, there are too many questions surrounding his ground skills and ability to work into the late rounds. In the end, expect Rogers to connect with a couple of powerful punches early on that leave Emelianenko fans nervous. But his experience should help him to get through the turmoil, and if he does, guess is that he'll be able to exert his will and get the fight to the ground, something that he may find difficult to do early on. Fedor on top on the ground is simply something that Rogers does not want to experience.
Rogers will prove tough, but...
Fedor Emelianenko wins by way of third round TKO.
