Former PRIDE and current WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko (31-1) will be out of action for up to six weeks as a result of hand surgery that was required to repair a dislocated thumb suffered in his Nov. 7 fight against Brett Rogers, according to Sherdog.com.

“The Last Emperor” headlined the Strikeforce/CBS prime time debut “Fedor vs. Rogers” last Saturday night from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Emelianenko defeated “The Grim” via second round technical knockout, but not before sustaining his share of punishment from the Chicago native.

According to the report, the procedure required the Russian fighter to have pins inserted into his hand to correct the dislocation but no bone or ligament damage was revealed during the surgery.

Emelianenko had surgery on his hand once before, following his  laugher over Wagner “Zuluzinho” da Conceicao Martins at PRIDE: “Shockwave 2005″ to correct a chronic ailment that had plagued him since 2003.

Despite earlier reports (and pictures of a busted up face), Emelianenko’s nose was not broken during the Rogers fight and he’s expected to resume limited training upon his return to Russia later this month.

Fedor is also expected to compete under the Strikeforce banner for a second time in early 2010.

For “Fedor vs. Rogers” coverage click here.

UFC President Dana White thinks Fedor Emelianenko is a fraud. A flabby relic from the mismanaged days of PRIDE that now hides behind the iron curtain, emerging only to fight hand-picked opponents that pose no threat to a self-proclaimed legacy.

In fact, White is so sure that the Russian heavyweight is at the bottom of the divisional rankings that he was willing to write him a blank check after Affliction MMA imploded under the weight of its own spending.

That makes sense.

Imagine how quickly the men in white coats would come to collect you if you walked onto the lot of an auto auction and told the yard barker: “I’ve got a check for five million dollars, please give me the biggest piece of shit on the lot.”

Ever since the fall of PRIDE, there have been a lot of hard feelings between the UFC and Emelianenko’s camp and I suspect a great deal of that has been “The Last Emperor’s,” ability to escape the Zuffa monopoly.

Men with White’s power and ultimately White’s greed are used to getting what they want. What do men in power want? Everything. Yet “those crazy Russians” have balked at every attempt the UFC has made to secure the WAMMA champion as their own.

And why wouldn’t they, especially when M-1 can have a monopoly of their own? As long as Emelianenko keeps winning, Vadim and the Finkelchtein Express can continue cashing in at the expense of other promotions who need an established headliner.

In the world of playground politics we call that “Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers.”

While M-1 and UFC continue to argue over who the bigger A-hole is, fans of mixed martial arts are left with one of the most heated debates in the history of this young sport.

Is the man known as “Fedor” the greatest mixed martial artist of all time?

That, like the asinine “pound-for-pound” ranking system, is impossible to prove with any sort of irrefutable evidence.

I’ve been following Emelianenko since his win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at “PRIDE: Shockwave 2004.” I expected him to lose that fight against “Big Nog,” because at the time I didn’t think anyone could overcome “Minotauro’s” incomparable balance of boxing and jiu-jitsu.

And therein lies the problem with trying to qualify the greatness of a fighter such as Emelianenko. Many pundits believe, as Dana White does, that current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar would smash the M-1 star with relative ease.

It’s certainly within the realm of possibility.

No fighter is invincible. Anderson Silva has put together a string of victories that on paper look like the work of fiction, going 11-0 since that same event in 2004 and stopping ten of those fights by (T)KO or submission.

Yet during the span of his career, “The Spider” was also submitted twice, by fighters that would never be mistaken for title contenders.

Another one of today’s top stars, Georges St. Pierre, has completely re-written the playbook on wrestling defense inside the Octagon. “Rush” seems to grow more dominant with each contest and could be one or two fights away from cleaning out the UFC 170-pound division.

But there was a time when St. Pierre was submitted by Matt Hughes and knocked out by Matt Serra just a few years later. Was the Canadian the far-and-away better fighter than “The Terror” at UFC 69? Of course, but this is what makes mixed martial arts so great.

A lot of people laud the sport for its unpredictability, but I disagree. Because of the nature of combat sports, I believe it is the margin for error — not random chance — that causes so many jaw-dropping upsets.

Randy Couture dodged an oncoming lunchbox in the second round of his fight against Brock Lesnar back at UFC 91 in November of 2008. Unfortunately the tail end of that punch clipped him on the fade-away and crumpled the elder statesman, forcing his heavyweight belt into the arms of the former WWE headliner.

Was it a bookie-busting upset? No, but it was a perfect example of how one small error can end a fight, especially in the new-look heavyweight division, where most of the upcoming fighters can bench-press a Volkswagen.

If I was asked to pick the best fighter currently competing at this present time, it would probably be Anderson Silva, for his amazing run over the past four years and the level of competition he’s faced.

Sure, he had that stinker against Thales Leites at UFC 97, but it’s difficult to fight someone who spends more time on their back than “The Huntington Beach Bad Girl.”

Now if I had to pick the best fighter of all time, my first pick has to be Fedor Emelianenko. Again, I won’t dispute that a fighter exists in the UFC that may have the tools to beat him, but I cannot ignore the body of work this fighter has compiled over the past nine years.

To go 31-1, including 27 straight, is an astounding achievement in the world of professional fighting. Is his record populated with the occasional can or overgrown freak show? Sure, but show me an elite fighter that hasn’t fought a pretender at some point in his career.

Matt Hughes, widely considered one of the most dominant welterweights of all time, crushed so many cans in his career they’ve named a wing after him at the office building of the Environmental Protection Agency.

You can’t excuse Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva for losing to lesser competition while simultaneously condemning Fedor Emelianenko for beating it.

After stopping Brett Rogers on November 7 under the Strikeforce banner, Emelianenko received heavy criticism for his performance during the fight — just as he did when he knocked out former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: “Day of Reckoning.”

He could be the only fighter in history to be so widely panned for a winning performance. When Travis Lutter had Anderson Silva mounted at UFC 67 and began raining down punches, “Spider’s” eventual escape and submission win were heralded as an “amazing comeback.”

Yet when Fedor escaped the mount and ground-and-pound of Brett Rogers last Saturday night, he was “exposed.”

No concessions for “The Grim” outweighing him by fifty pounds, no free pass because it was his first fight inside a cage, just a lot of finger pointing.

Great achievement is the bearer of great expectation, I suppose.

Conversely, the loyal fans of Fedor can sometimes be just as irrational. I try to remain realistic with my belief that a fighter exists who can eventually end his impressive winning streak.

The position Brock Lesnar had against Frank Mir to end their fight at UFC 100 looked about as inescapable as any position I’ve seen. Lesnar has a very good chance of beating Emelianenko — but I don’t think he’s half the fighter that Fedor is.

How does that work?

Lesnar has five professional fights. One of them is to a Korean crab cake named Min Soo Kim, who’s continued to dazzle audiences with his impressive 3-6 record.

Another two have been against the hot-and-cold Frank Mir. One of those ended in a loss. In Lesnar’s defense, he did rebound with a victory over the barely-heavyweight Randy Couture, who cashes his UFC check on the same day of the month that he cashes his social security check.

Lesnar is big, powerful and talented. But in the world of MMA, he’s proven very little. How will he respond when he’s rocked by an A-level striker? Can he escape the submission attempts of a jiu-jitsu black belt?

The one chance he had to prove that he could was at UFC 81, and he failed.

I’ve seen Fedor get rocked and I’ve seen Fedor in submission trouble. I’ve also seen him cough up a round on separate occasions. Yet no matter how precarious the situation, Fedor always finds a way to come back and win.

I can’t say that he would beat any other heavyweight out there because I don’t know that for sure. What I do know is that since getting sliced open by Tsuyoshi Kosaka at Rings: “King of Kings” way back in 2000, Emelianenko has put together one of the greatest runs through any division in all of mixed martial arts.

Some performances were astonishing, some were barely enough to get by. In both instances, he found a way to win. That to me is what the legacy of Fedor Emelianenko is all about: A fighter at the top of his game who continues to win in a sport that allows only the tiniest margin for error.

There will always be individual greatness in the sport of mixed martial arts. It’s just unfortunate that sometimes it requires you to look past your promotional allegiance to see it.

Props: LA Times

Quoteworthy:

“CBS would be out of their mind to put that rinky-dink [Strikeforce] . . . on the air again … and without that backing, [promoters] won’t have the money to pay [Emelianenko]. The guy just got his face smashed in by Brett Rogers. Do you know what Brock or [UFC heavyweights] Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do to Brett Rogers? It’s time to bring [Fedor] in, to see Brock Lesnar smash his head.”

UFC President Dana White has some unkind words for the CBS broadcast of “Saturday Night Fights.” The event featured a main event of Brett Rogers taking on Fedor Emelianenko and while “The Grim” was hanging tough, ultimately fell to an overhand right from the “Last Emperor.” White was not impressed with either fighter, claiming Zuffa champ Brock Lesnar would “smash” the Russian — and also suggesting fellow heavyweights Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do likewise against Brett Rogers. Anyone want to take a guess at the outcome of Strikeforce putting their top three heavyweights against the three best 265-pounders the UFC has to offer?

“It’s my turn now. I have a lot of respect for Fedor. He is the best in the world. I already fought (Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion) Alistair Overeem in Japan. It’s my turn to fight Fedor. I believe in my techniques and if it goes to the ground, I believe in my jiu-jitsu.”

–Strikeforce heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum, who has a 2006 submission win over current Strikeforce division champion Alistair Overeem, believes his Nov. 7 win over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva earned him the right to face Fedor Emelianenko in his next bout. “Vai Cavalo,” like many MMA fans and pundits, aren’t convinced that “Demolition Man” is returning to the United States anytime soon to defend his belt and that the show must go on. But is facing “The Last Emperor,” who notched his 27th straight win by stopping Brett Rogers on CBS, biting off more than he can chew?

Check out Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Jake Shields eying each other up after the jump. For the complete photo gallery of the Strikeforce: “Fedor vs. Rogers” pre-fight press conference head over to CombatLifestyle.com.

***Bonus Pic! Even “The Grim” stands in awe of Marloes Coenen!