“I still believe Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest heavyweight of all time,” Daniel Cormier gives a clarification of his comments on Fedor Emelianenko

“I still believe Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest heavyweight of all time,” Daniel Cormier gives a clarification of his comments on Fedor Emelianenko

Daniel Cormier and Fedor Emelianenko

The Russian Heavyweight fighter, Fedor Emelianenko made his walk inside the Octagon last week at Bellator 269 and secured a spectacular KO win against Timothy Johnson in the very first round of the fight.

Before his fight, talking about Emelianenko, the former two-division UFC champion, Daniel Cormier ruffled some feathers of his fans. Cormier suggested that back in 2009 when Fedor Emelianenko was about to get signed with UFC, he would not have fared all that well.

But some of the fans didn’t take this comment in a fair spirit and for giving clarification of his reference, in his latest Youtube video, Daniel Cormier says, “Guys, let’s just put this out there. I absolutely love Fedor, Let’s not make it anything that it isn’t. Earlier in the week, I had this conversation on my show Debate DC.”

FS Video
YouTube video

“We had a conversation about whether or not Fedor could rule the UFC in the way that he did in Pride and all of the other organizations that he fought in prior. I said no, but I was very specific in the timeframe.”

Cormier added, “I didn’t say that 2005, 2004, 2004, 2006 Fedor couldn’t – 2007, 2008. I didn’t say that. I said in a window of 2009 to 2012, I didn’t think that he would be as good as he had shown to be prior.”

“I don’t understand how this ruffled so many people’s feathers. Because it was proven, in that timeframe, that he wasn’t as effective. It’s that simple. I love Fedor. I watch today if he fights, and I root for him every single time. the guy is a wonder of the world. He’s a guy that doesn’t come around very often.” {H/T MMA Fighting}

“We can’t devalue Fedor Emelianenko because of what we saw before,” Daniel Cormier boasts his claims for Fedor being the Heavyweight GOAT

Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Emelianenko

The Russian Heavyweight fighter, Fedor Emelianenko ended up on being a three-fight losing streak after he passed on the opportunity to sign with UFC and that is one of the reasons people got confused with Daniel Cormier said. But he added him losing any fight doesn’t take anything away from him and his accomplishments in the Heavyweight division of MMA are unmatched.

Daniel Cormier continued, “With all that being said, I still believe Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest heavyweight of all time, I love Stipe. Stipe is the best UFC heavyweight of all time, but the wins Fedor had in Pride, over the likes of Nogueira and all those guys, Arlovski, hats off to you, bud. I don’t mind that. I like Fedor.”

“The fact that he’s still fighting at 45 and knocking dudes out like he did Tim Johnson, hats off to the GOAT. I have no issues with the man. I’m talking about a specific window in which I don’t believe that he would be as effective as he was in the years earlier….” {H/T MMA Fighting}

Also Read: “I don’t think Fedor competes very well in the UFC,” Daniel Cormier critical of Emelianenko’s hypothetical performance in the UFC of 2009-11.