4 reasons why you need to watch Fedor vs Sonnen

#3 It’s an interesting fight from a stylistic point of view

During his prime years in PRIDE and then Affliction, Fedor Emelianenko fought an absolute who’s who of MMA Heavyweights – from top-rated PRIDE stars like Mirko Cro Cop and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to former UFC champions like Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.

Surprisingly enough though, one style of fighter was largely absent from Fedor’s record – a truly great amateur wrestler. Now, the Russian did face off with both Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman in PRIDE – both absolutely outstanding wrestlers – but outside of them, the only other top wrestler he faced was the far smaller Matt Lindland.

That means that Sonnen – a relentless takedown machine with tremendous top control and ground-and-pound – represents a tough stylistic match for ‘The Last Emperor’. Sure, Fedor beat both Coleman and Randleman, but both men gave him tough fights – Randleman in particular – and neither was as far developed in the other areas of MMA as Sonnen is.

To counter this, of course, Sonnen has always been susceptible to submissions throughout his career – and Fedor has 15 tapout wins on his resume, a number of which came while the Russian was on his back.

What does this mean? Well, even if Fedor and Sonnen weren’t such big names, it’d be a highly intriguing fight anyway purely from a stylistic point of view. Can Fedor handle Sonnen’s takedowns and his wild pace? And can Sonnen avoid Fedor’s submission game?

They’re both valid questions and the only way to find out the answer is to watch the fight.