“Big” John McCarthy took to his Weighing In podcast to defend Fedor Emelianenko from Daniel Cormier’s recent comments.
Daniel Cormier whipped MMA social media into a frenzy when he claimed that Emelianenko would have been “average at best” in the UFC. This isn’t a new conversation; it’s been a hot topic of debate since the sambo expert was competing in PRIDE throughout the 2000s.
McCarthy, who has been around the sport since its inception in America, disagreed with Cormier’s analysis in his most recent podcast.
“Look, DC is making a huge mistake saying Fedor would have been average. People said that DC was going to be average too, he wasn’t average and Fedor wouldn’t have been average. He was right when he said Fedor would have come in and he would have wrecked Brock Lesnar. He would have wrecked him. Wouldn’t even have been close.”
Better Than Average Against UFC Champions
The GOAT debate is as old as sport, but few fighters ignite the conversation like Emelianeko. The Russian heavyweight went undefeated for a decade, but many of his wins were against bottom-tier athletes. And while it’s fair to point out he fought the likes of Zuluzhino and Yuji Nagata, “The Last Emperor” also dispatched a prime Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, and multiple former UFC Champions, a fact McCarthy pointed out.
“Out of 10 fights against UFC champions, heavyweight champions, he was 8-1-1. Yeah, that’s a guy who’s gonna do average [in the UFC]. Stop. You’re just sounding like you’re being a homer for the UFC when there’s no reason for it. You got to give due where due is deserved… He’s fought twice as much as you, dude, and take a look at his record… That will never be average.”
Daniel Cormier, 42, surely had an impressive career of his own that he called an end to last year after being unable to reclaim his heavyweight gold from Stipe Miocic. Emelianenko, on the other hand, has fought way past what many felt was his prime years. After a series of crushing losses, fans and pundits began calling for his retirement.
Yet, Emelianenko persevered and is currently on a two-fight streak following crushing knockouts of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and more recently, Timothy Johnson at Bellator 269.
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