Fedor Speaks Softly About What’s-his-Name (Lesnar) and What ‘Broke’ in Cro Cop

When Fedor Emelianenko speaks, people listen. And analyze. And miss the point.

Yesterday’s online analysis run rampant was over what Fedor was really saying when he sat there silently at a recent Kiev news conference, forgetting the name of the fighter he’d just been asked about. A memory lapse isn’t a big deal . . .  unless the flatline moment comes when you’re being queried about your No. 1 rival for status as the World’s Most Bad-Ass Heavyweight Fighter. The name “Brock Lesnar” doesn’t just slip your mind, does it? Was Fedor trying to say something by not saying anything? Was he being disrespectfully dismissive of the big lug with the flattop?

I don’t think so. I think forgetting Brock’s name was a byproduct of Fedor’s mastery at focusing on what’s in front of him . . .  and with Emelianenko in Strikeforce/M-1 and Lesnar in the UFC, What’s-his-Name is basically out of sight and therefore out of mind. A nonentity. That’s how I interpret it.

But dwelling on that amusing soundbite totally misses the real revelation  that came out of the news conference. It was way more fascinating to hear what Fedor had to say about Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, a once-feared fighter who took him to a hard-fought decision back in their Pride days . . . but who since coming to the UFC has been a shadow of his former self. “There is something that broke in him,” said Fedor, according the news conference translation, “and he is not the same fighter as he was before.”

On what does Fedor base this assessment? “This is evident in his style of fighting and in his look during the fight. . . . I mean, when a fighter is ready and goes to fight, then it can be seen by his look. Regardless of whether he gets hit or not, he goes forward. And regardless of whether he wins or loses, he wants to go forward. And it is clear from his burning eyes.

“But it also happens that a fighter does not want to, not even to win, but he wants to get out of here so quickly as possible, out of the ring, out of the cage, with any result of the fight.”

An interesting, well thought out perspective. And one spoken, I think, with no small measure of compassion. Watch for yourself what Fedor says about Cro Cop:

And watch Fedor’s fierce 2005 fight with the Cro Cop he remembers (in four parts):

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