Cain and Fedor

Brown Pride vs the Russian Cyborg

CONTEXT:  After last weekend's fights, it is clear that the gap between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez and everyone else in the division is sizable.  Junior, who looks like a cross between Brian Urlacher and Tarzan, does things that a 6'4, 245 pound man should not be able to, such as land a spinning head kick on a Samoan with a head made out of granite:

Ouch.

For his part, Cain took care of business in 80 seconds, in an incredibly dominant performance that has resembled every other fight of his, besides his first encounter with Mr. Dos Santos (and his win against Cup Check Kongo, in which Cain got dropped twice by the large, stiff, Frenchman).  

How to do you say KTFO in Portuguese?  

However, I write this column not to talk about the upcoming third chapter in the Cain-JDS trilogy, but rather to do something that I, until recently, considered to be sacrilege: to compare Cain with the best fighter in mma history, Fedor Emelianenko.  It dawned on me as I was watching Cain make Bigfoot Silva look like a fucking amateur, that Cain is basically Fedor 2.0.  

STRIKING: Both are short heavyweights with great handspeed, a talent for finishing people, and uncanny punching accuracy.  

The differences in striking style between the two are clear (and anyone wanting an in-depth breakdown of Fedor's striking style should read this wonderful article by Jack Slack):  Fedor was an unconventional boxer who would often stand with his hands at his stomach, relying on his head movement and ability to launch brutal, fast, left hooks and right straights.  Fedor had thunderous power in both hands, and would punch at different angles while moving his head; when he had an opponent hurt, Fedor would go into Cyborg Mode and begin an onslaught of hooks and body shots.  This aggression usually paid, off, but also cost him dearly occasionally, such as when he got dropped by Fujita, and later, when he got knocked out by Dan "Low T" Henderson after having badly hurt the latter.   

Fedor's hand speed, movement, timing, and ability to punch while going backwards meant it was never a good idea to charge at him.  

Fedor pretty much breaks Nog's face with this lead right hand.  

Looking like a Russian Anderson Silva.  

Fedor uses his right hand to move Zulu's left hand out of the way, opening up space for a crushing lead left hook.

Here against Goodridge, Fedor senses blood.  Unleash the Hooks of Doom.  Great body work too.

Fedor uses his left hand to move Nog's left hand out of the way, clearing a path for Fedor's rocket right hand.  

Fedor leads with a left hook, then starts throwing Hooks of Doom (none of which seem to miss btw) to absolutely demolish Tim Sylvia.  (Note the way that Fedor uses his initial right hook to establish a clinch with Sylvia, leading to a barrage of uppercuts).

Fedor's power and Arlovski's stupidity saved Fedor in the fight that marked the beginning of the fall of the Emperor's career.  

The closest Fedor came to defeat during his prime.

After almost getting dropped by Fujita, Fedor lands a huge body kick and a lead left hook on the chin, leading to Fujita's demise.

Watching live, this was the loudest punch I had ever heard.  As Fedor got older, slower, and lazier, he tended to load up on single shots more.  It worked against Rogers.  

By contrast, Cain is a more aggressive striker, and has a more conventional boxing style.  Cain moves behind his jab, throwing 1-2 combos (such as the one that KO'd Bigfoot), and mixing in hooks and hard kicks.  He uses his All-American wrestling chops and Lance Armstrong-esque cardio to keep his opponents off guard; his opponents are loath to punch first for fear of getting taken down, and get worn down from his constant onslaught.  Cain fears neither takedowns nor fatigue, and stalks at a breakneck pace.  At times, this aggression has cost him dearly, such as when, against Cup Check Kongo, Cain walked straight in (his head movement isn't great) and ate two big straight right hands, getting dropped after each such punch.

Poor Brock.  

Ouch.  

Old Nog makes Cain look like Mike Tyson.  

In the rematch, Cain made JDS look like a Made in Brazil punching bag.  

Vicious clinch work.  

Le knockdowns by ze Frenchman.  

Generally Cain's aggression has worked perfectly.  In the initial JDS-Cain match, Cain, allegedly hobbled with a knee injury, could not apply his intense, stalking pressure, and was forced to engage in a boxing match against JDS, where we saw the limitations of Cain's striking ability without the takedown threat. 

Big swing.  

In the rematch, a healthy Cain moved forward and absolutely crushed Dos Santos, who seemed to have no respect for Cain's punching power (a big mistake), and was solely concerned with stopping takedowns.  This strategy worked for the first minute or two of the fight, but then Junior (who was clearly not focused on Cain's hands) started catching big punches clean, and was knocked 90% unconscious in the first round.  I still to this day have no idea how he survived the full 25 minutes while fighting on no legs against one of the best fighters in mma history.  

Advantage:  It is hard to parse out Cain's striking skills from his overall game, as much of his striking success is predicated on the threat of his great takedowns and ability to transition from punching to wrestling.  Similarly Fedor possessed the ability to expertly transition from striking to takedowns, but tended to do so in a more explosive, natural movement.  Fedor's sambo background taught him to not view striking and grappling as distinct entities, but each one as a continuation of the other.  On the other hand, Cain's base in wrestling features a distinct start and stop.  Based on each man's body of work in pure striking terms (and accepting that both men had openings at times because of their takedown ability), Fedor is the clearly superior striker.  He had a better chin, better head movement, faster hands, more punching power, and moved with unparalleled agility for a heavyweight.  From outstriking Mirko CroCop and Arlovski to Tim Sylvia and Nog and Gary Goodridge, to fighting even (at worst) on the feet with Mark Hunt (who was still in his physical prime when they fought, and had defeated Mirko and Wanderlei Silva in the previous 2 years, among others, and who had a 60 pound weight advantage on Fedor),  to putting down iron head Fujita and punching Brett Rogers' head clean off, to destroying Jeff Monson with leg kicks, Fedor showed a striking game that was a cut above what Cain has shown so far.

TAKEDOWNS/GROUND & POUND/SUBMISSIONS:

Cain, being an All-American wrestler with some of the most violent, tireless, and destructive ground and pound the sport has ever seen, has a different approach to takedowns than Fedor did.  Emelianenko's sambo base features a plethora of clever judo throws and trips, while Cain's meat and potatoes is picking up and slamming his opponents, often off of double or single leg takedowns while his opponents backpedal away from his strikes.  Cain's wrestling is occasionally used in reverse, such as in his fight against Brock Lesnar, when the 'Vanilla Gorilla' took Cain down quickly, only for Velasquez to pop up with shocking speed.  

This demoralized Brock.  

Cain and Fedor have different approaches once the fight hits the ground; Cain uses his top control and cardio to smother and beat his opponents down, often looking to get into the crucifix position to basically end the fight.  There is something visceral about watching Velasquez fight; he knows what he is good at, and will not deviate from his strengths, scoring over and over until the referee mercifully steps in.  Cain's performances have an air of inevitability; it is hard to conceive of anything except a brutal first round stoppage against anyone he can take down.

"Ow, my face."  

 Cain possesses the kind of farm boy strength and drive that is reminiscent of a young Matt Hughes; Cain just will keep coming until his opponent is on the mat, attempting futilely to escape the swarm of accurate punches and elbows being launched by Velasquez.  On the ground, as on the feet, Cain's superior cardio and speed make the fight seem almost unfair; the man simply does not stop; no mercy shown, no rest needed.  Cain is a perfect storm of vicious violence, whose wrestling mastery and absolute lack of fear of submissions mean he doesn't stop punching and elbowing until the fight is over.  

Cain drags Junior to the ground like a lion dragging a gazelle.  

Showing the full repertoire.  

No let up.  

Lazy low kicks = Cain will take you down and end you.  

Cain is a finisher.  

Fedor, for all of his considerable skills and talents, is not the kind of two-way wrestler Cain is, meaning Fedor was taken down a number of times in his career.  He showed good sprawls throughout his career, but his sambo background simply did not make him as adept at stopping powerful shots as high-level wrestlers are.  Against former UFC heavyweight champions and NCAA wrestling champions Kevin Randleman and Mark Coleman, Fedor ended up on his back.  Against both men, it mattered not, as Fedor slapped on submissions in the first round, just as he did against Olympic silver medalist in judo Naoyo Ogawa, and as Fedor did against Olympic silver medalist wrestler Matt Lindland.

The beauty of watching Fedor fight was that one was never sure if his bigger advantage was on the feet or on the mat; the man was seemingly better than everyone he fought in every position.  Fedor showed an uncanny ability to turn his opponent's offense into takedowns; whether catching kicks and throwing his opponents down, or using the resulting lack of balance from a kick to gain superior position on a foe, Fedor always seemed to be a move ahead.

The biggest difference between Fedor and Cain comes in the former's ability to execute submissions from seemingly any position.  Chokes, Kimuras, and armbars, whether from on top or on the bottom, are all standard parts of Fedor's repertoire.  There is nobody in the sport's history who can match him in all three areas (submissions, takedowns, and striking).  His flexibility, explosive hips, grip strength, and precision meant that he was a threat to finish the fight in any position.

Here, Fedor, facing the best kicker in the history of the sport, is not even fazed by a Mirko head kick, and calmly ducks under Mirko's leg, uses his non-blocking arm to grab the leg, and then powerbombs CroCop into the mat.  Amazing.

It is hard to stop a takedown when it comes in the same motion as a missile-like right hand aimed at your head.  

This is one of my favorite Fedor moments.  Facing noted striker and massively strong HW Gary Goodridge,  Fedor impedes Gary's forward progress with a knee, and then, while still going backwards, uses Gary's own momentum against him to put the Canadian fighter on the mat with seeming ease.  

Perhaps with a little help from the ropes, Fedor stymies Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland's takedown attempt, and scores a judo throw of his own.   

Heath Herring here makes the mistake of being aggressive against Fedor.  Never a good idea.  Fedor had such good reflexes and so much fighting experience, that he could anticipate his opponents' moves easily.  Here, he catches Herring's kick and uses his explosive power to plant a 255 pound man on his back.  

Heath again tries to mount offense against Fedor for some absurd reason.  Clearly he didn't learn.  After eating a well-placed roundhouse kick to the liver, Fedor reacts like nothing has happened, and quickly spins Heath around and slams him like a sack of rice.  

Fedor, despite Mirko's double underhooks, still manages to get a takedown.  How?  You can't teach the kind of cleverness that Fedor displays.  Watch as Fedor manages to hook his right leg behind Mirko's left knee.  As he does this and hops on his left leg, Mirko's right hand slides down from the back of Fedor's left shoulder to his armpit, effectively allowing Fedor enough space to break Mirko's grip and grab Mirko's right knee and finish the takedown.  Work. Of. Art. 

Against multi-time K1 GP champion Semmy Schilt (6'11, 290 pounds),  Fedor does his best to avoid the Dutchman's knee, waiting until Semmy pulls back his knee to close the distance.  Fedor still eats the knee, but not with enough force to stop him.  

Here Fedor gets double underhooks against Schilt, and despite appearing headed for danger, Fedor manages  at the last second to flip the giant onto his back and complete the takedown.  A testament to Fedor's explosive hips.  

Fedor here repels his opponent's advances first by taking his advancing foe off balance with a low kick, and then driving through his opponent, eventually planting him firmly on his back with a scintillating slam.

Fedor so easily throws a much larger man to the ground.  Here Fedor used his opponent's momentum against him, waited until he was slightly off balance, then slid his right foot behind his opponent's left foot and threw him down.  Brilliant stuff.  

Fedor here is able to isolate the arm and get the Kimura. Notice how Fedor's body weight is high on his opponent's head and neck.   

Fedor had such fast armbars.  Coleman had no chance.  

Fedor found himself getting slammed on his head by Kevin Randleman, perhaps the most explosive wrestler in mma history.  Not to fear though, as soon as Fedor landed, he had already started working his way on top of Randleman.  

Once Fedor got on top of Randleman, he was once again able to put his body weight over the head and chest of his opponent, and complete the Kimura.  

Fedor is the reason that Nogueira no longer has a chin.  Minotauro suffered an absolute massacre at Fedor's hands.  I have never seen anyone generate so much force from the guard.  Remember folks, this was in Pride, with no elbows and no cage, so it was infinitely more dangerous for someone to stay in his opponent's guard.  

At the time of their first fight, Nog was considered the best fighter on Earth.  Fedor demolished him, and did so by playing Nog's game, namely staying in the guard, letting Minotauro think he could sub him, and then unleashing BOMBS.  

 CONCLUSION:  When comparing the two men, we must remember that they fought under different rules.  The cage makes it easier for people on top to inflict damage because they can stack their opponents' heads against the cage.  Further, Pride had no elbows on the ground, which made wrestlers on top more prone to being caught in submissions from the guard (because they had to actually extend their arms to punch, whereas in the UFC now there is no such need), and made hurting an opponent while on top in the guard more difficult.  The added benefits of the ring for wrestlers were the smaller area, the ability to corner fighters, and the ability to knee and kick to the head on the ground.

I think if they were to fight under Pride rules, Fedor would win rather dominantly.  Cain would be in the unusual position of fighting someone with more speed than he possesses, and with more punching power as well.  Fedor is also a more seasoned striker.  Cain would advance and try to pressure Fedor, but would find himself walking into punches.  Fedor would feint and change angles on Cain, and we would see his lazer-like right hand come flying in on Velasquez.  Given how shaky Cain looked against a guy in Kongo with a hard straight right and nothing else, and the vulnerability he showed against a guy in J2S who has 1 punch power, I believe Fedor would prove to be too much for Cain.   There is a very real possibility we would see Cain on his back while hurt, a position we have never seen him in before (besides the knockdown against JDS).

In the UFC, I think Cain's odds of beating Fedor go up.  With the huge space of the cage to prevent from getting trapped in a corner while in a striking exchange, Cain would be able to control the distance more efficiently.  If Cain and Fedor clinched, Cain would have a good shot at securing the takedown.  On the ground, given Cain's vicious elbows and the difficulty in securing an armbar from the bottom in such an environment, Cain would do some damage.  However, at the end of the day, I don't think he would win.  Fedor had such sudden and explosive strength from all angles, and would be able to take Cain down, a position the wrestler would find most uncomfortable.

Cain's biggest advantages against everyone else in the HW division these days are his cardio and speed.  How would Fedor react to being stalked by someone who could take him down and land shots on the feet?  Kevin Randleman was the closest thing to that Fedor ever faced (but a much faster, much stronger, worse cardio, less technical striking, and less successful version of Cain--namely because of his lack of submission defense), and Fedor submitted him in 90 seconds.  Randleman found himself on top of Fedor twice in that span, and despite his NCAA championship pedigree, he could not control Fedor on the ground.  I have no reason to think Cain could, nor do I have any reason to think Cain could close the distance on Fedor as quickly as Randleman was able to.