Fedor Emelianenko is the best heavyweight in MMA. We can all agree on that. I think Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is No. 2, and I think Nogueira is going to beat Frank Mir next month, then beat Brock Lesnar next year, to secure his position as the second-best heavyweight.
But what if Lesnar beats Nogueira? The guys at CagePotato.com debate whether that would move Lesnar to No. 1, and they both agree that no, Fedor is No. 1 until he's beaten.
I basically agree with that. If Fedor beats Andrei Arlovski in January, his record will be 29-1. Lesnar doesn't move ahead of Fedor by beating Nogueira to improve to 4-1.
However, just to play Lesnar's advocate: Fedor has beaten Nogueira twice, both times by one-sided unanimous decisions, but at least Nogueira went the distance with Fedor. If Lesnar beats Nogueira by knockout or TKO, would that be enough to move Lesnar ahead of Fedor? (If Lesnar submits Nogueira ... yeah, I don't think we need to bother with that hypothetical.)
I think that if Fedor keeps winning, he is the No. 1 heavyweight no matter what Lesnar does. But I know Dana White would love to see Lesnar knock Nogueira out. That's his best chance for making a coherent argument that Lesnar is the best.
If Brock Lesnar KOs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Is He Better Than Fedor Emelianenko? originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:42:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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