It is easy to understand the rationale for putting Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson together on a year-end fight card in Japan. Prior to establishing their fame stateside, the two were concurrent stars in the PRIDE promotion. Although they competed in different weight classes, Emelianenko was the stoic Russian fighting machine, seemingly incapable of losing, while Jackson was the charismatic, hard-swinging American intent on entertaining an appreciative crowd. But that was over a decade ago, and time is unkind to most fighters. The MMA legend’s time paradox is this: it leads to increased fame while sapping key physical gifts.
Fedor vs. Rampage showed that some fantasy matchups are better left unfulfilled
