His last four opponents have been Matt Lindland, Hong Man Choi, Tim Sylvia and Andre Arlovski.
While a highly regarded fighter, Lindland is a middleweight and suffered a considerable size disadvantage against Emelinanko. Victories over Choi and Sylvia had not done much to validate his lofty status. Arlovski was a consensus top-10 heavyweight who seemingly had the tools to dethrone him: One can only guess whether Arlovski could have picked Emelinanko apart had he not suffered a mental lapse in the fight.
The relative inactivity and the less-than-stellar quality of opponents he has faced in the past two years are legitimate grounds for doubting the effusive praise he receives.
The task involves two complicated factors. His reputation is largely founded on his undefeated run in Pride that cemented him as the undisputed heavyweight and pound-for-pound king. On the other hand, the scant number of bouts he has had against less-than-stellar opposition since the demise of Pride gives rise to questions about his current rank in MMA.
The only way to come anywhere close to settling the debate is to see him fight a legitimate, top-ranked opponent — be it Lesnar or otherwise.
In Strikeforce, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, and Brett Rogers pose decent challenge to him but victories over them likely will not make a convincing case of his reputed number-one status.
Perhaps he is still the formidable heavyweight king of the world, as his fans claim. However, until he fights the best opponents the heavyweight division offers, no one will know for sure.
