The choice of an emperor past his heyday
There is one thing that even a person with outstanding abilities cannot go against, and it is none other than time. In particular, in the case of physical ability, it is safe to say that there is only individual variation, but the time when it can be used to the maximum is set to some extent. If you are an athlete whose job requires you to compete at the peak, the difference is bound to be more pronounced. No matter how skilled you are and how well you take care of your body, there are definitely limits.
As mentioned in the previous part, Fyodor covered his small size with amazing physical abilities, but this fighting style was possible only when he had physical strength and speed. As I got older and my physical decline came, the pattern of breaking the opponent’s balance didn’t work well. In addition, it is analyzed that the fact that the main battlefield changed from the ring to the cage in a state where he originally did not have strengths in wrestling and clinch fighting also worked as a bad factor.
Fyodor’s choice in his later years was to maximize his blow. As the number of former wrestlers increased on the heavyweight stage, it was not easy for Fyodor to use the takedown strategy after a thunderclap clinch as before. Since he was less competitive in terms of size and wrestling, he had to try to win as close as possible.
Opponents were well aware of this. If the old Fyodor had to be wary of all grappling strikes, the old Fedor only had to be wary of striking. In the end, with the opponent seeing through the pattern, he had no choice but to sharpen his existing weapon to make it stronger.
In his heyday, Fyodor’s so-called ‘bung-bung hook’, a Russian hook-style punch attack, accounted for most of his hitting patterns. However, after his Pride days, this has changed considerably. He noticed that the opponent would lower his head when punching with fast hand speed, so he increased the weight of the uppercut and visited the Netherlands, a country with strong standing, from time to time to equip a proper kick. 바카라
This is proven by training with Dennis Lebedev, who gained world fame by sinking legendary boxer Roy Jones Jr., and trainer Ernest Hoost, a former K-1 legend. Fyodor, who was clever, was aware of his physical changes from then on, and he seems to have thought a lot about how to survive in the future.
Through various interviews, it is proven that he said, “In the future heavyweight stage, fighters who have both size and skill will prevail.” In a situation where it was difficult for his grappling to work in the heavyweight division, even the irregular blows using his physical abilities were no longer the same as before, and the struggles following it deepened. At least, a reversal of the idea that many people knew, ‘Fyodor’s main weapon is like this, and in this situation, you have to be careful with this kind of technique’, was necessary.
The troubles of the ‘Little Emperor’ past his heyday
Fyodor finally seemed to think of diversifying his batting patterns, but unfortunately his poor physical ability did not support him. In fact, in some games, he tried various punching techniques and even kicked low kicks, showing that he wanted to try a change. In a way, such an all-round strike should have been done in the prime of his career.
As he got older and his quickness decreased, he had no choice but to rely on the single-shot counter, apart from the various skills he had planted in his head, but it became an unavoidable yet dangerous choice for the small-sized Fyodor. As can be seen from beating Tim Silvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Brett Rogers, his sense of reading the flow of the game and spotting gaps was still the same, so his ability to catch counter timing was excellent.
However, due to the nature of counters that decide the game in a split second, it was such a strategy that even a slight mistake could result in a counterattack from the opponent’s counterattack. In addition, as similar patterns are repeated, the value as a ‘secret skill’ has decreased. No matter how sharp and powerful it is, a counter that is discovered by the opponent is no longer a counter.
Lee Ho-taek, former head of Max FC, the largest standing martial arts organization in Korea, said, “In his prime, Fyodor had good steps, so he held the distance with his front hand and the combination was so fast and good. “It would have been even more difficult to block because I had to keep in mind the takedown. A lot of people noticed the terrifying hand speed, but without the quick and nimble foot movement, that play would not have happened.”
In addition, “One of the moments when you realize that a fighter is getting older is when their feet slow down and their stamina is not what it used to be. Fyodor was like that. His feet are noticeably slower than he was at the peak, and the steps he constantly stepped on throughout the match disappeared due to physical problems. In a word, my feet stopped, and this was inevitably directly related to the reaction speed. As a result, it became an attack centered on the back hand counter, and there were many misses. When it comes to Fyodor, it is speed and contact ability, but it disappeared, so it was not an easy fight.” After that, he also expressed his opinion about the sluggishness.
If you look at professional baseball, etc., you can often see cases where the small and nimble top hitter ages faster than the big and powerful geopo style. Hitters who have advantages in size or power can play while maintaining some of those areas even as they age. However, it is not easy for a player who has covered other shortcomings with speed and contact ability to maintain his style. This is because when aging begins, the first things that fall off are instantaneous power and dynamic visual acuity.
Fyodor, who belonged to the smallest axis in the heavyweight division, can also be placed in the top hitter position in terms of baseball. During the Pride days, there were many big-size fighters who were at their peak and had great size and strength, but were dull and technically inferior. However, after that, even in the heavyweight division, players with good body balance and skills appeared one after another, and on the contrary, as their physical abilities declined, they naturally had to face difficulties.