Chael Sonnen explains why Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest MMA fighter to have never won a UFC belt

Chael Sonnen [left], Fedor Emelianenko [right]

Chael Sonnen has pointed out a few reasons why he thinks Fedor Emelianenko is the best fighter to have never held a UFC title.

Fedor Emelianenko has never fought under the UFC banner. However, he has won an array of titles in different organizations such as Pride and Strikeforce. He is widely regarded as one of the best for beating renowned fighters from all over the world, including Brazil's Antonio Nogueira and Belarus' Andrei Arlovski.

At one point, a heavyweight MMA showdown between Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar almost happened. However, 'The Last Emperor' never made it to the UFC and how he would've fared in the promotion is still debatable. Nevertheless, Chael Sonnen opines that Emelianenko is still the greatest fighter to have never won a UFC title.

According to 'The Bad Guy', Emelianenko and former UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy topped the said category. However, it was the Russian MMA legend who deserved the title because of the number of world champions he beat.

In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Sonnen explained:

“I have two interpretations of that, who was within the UFC that never won a championship, I could insert a name of Tim Kennedy. Who was within MMA that never got to the UFC to win and claim his belt would be Fedor Emelianenko. It would be very hard to imagine any scenario, you could argue [with] Tim [because] that’s my answer. [But it would be] very hard to ever even argue it would have been Fedor. Only because Fedor fought [Andrei] Arlovski, who was the champion and beat him. Fedor fought [Rodrigo] Nogueira, who was the champion and beat him. Fedor fought the champion in Tim Sylvia and beat him. He went through a number of champions.”

Watch Sonnen discuss the subject below:

Daniel Cormier doesn't think Fedor Emelianenko would have been exceptional in the UFC

In 2009, the UFC came close to finally signing Fedor Emelianenko. For various reasons, the deal never materialized.

Dana White: Maybe if Fedor Emelianenko would have taken UFC offer in 2009, he ‘wouldn’t still be fighting at 45 years old’ (@DamonMartin) mmafighting.com/2021/10/30/227… https://t.co/cTrQQNrtwP

Despite not making it to the UFC, 'The Last Emperor' still enjoyed a celebrated MMA career with different promotions. Emelianenko currently boasts a 40-6 pro record and is still active in Bellator and Rizin.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier thinks the best Emelianenko the world has witnessed was from 2009-2011. Even so, 'DC' is certain the Russian would not have been successful in the UFC given the stacked heavyweight division at the time.

In an episode of Debate DC in October last year, Cormier reckoned that Fedor Emelianenko would have struggled had he come to the UFC around 2009:

“We’re talking a window of 2009-11... I think he beats Brock Lesnar. But outside of that, I don’t think Fedor competes very well in the UFC. I think that, honestly, Fedor not going to the UFC allowed for the intrigue to stay, but the reality of the situation is he would not have done well against those guys like JDS [Junior dos Santos], he wasn’t beating Cain Velasquez, he would have struggled with guys like Cheick Kongo. He was not beating those guys that were at the top of the UFC at that time."

'DC' doubled down on his take and suggested that the great Russian would have been an "average" fighter in the UFC:

"I’m certain of it... I know you’re gonna say, 'Well he beat this guy, he beat [Antonio] Nogueira and he beat Frank Mir.' For as great as he is, he would have been, at that time in the sport, average at best. Fedor Emelianenko in the UFC between 2009-11, average at best.”

Listen to Cormier's full analysis below: