Well, I don't care how big Choi is. The things which bothers me is that Fedor is losing his rating. It won't be long before he loses his #1 fighter in the world. Fedor's fan support has plunged down as well. Most of MMA sites are calling this upcoming event with Choi as a "FREAK SHOW"
Fedor needs to fight well known fighters, so called top 10. Sorry, but Choi is not it... Plus, Fedor is risking very high... What if Choi KO's Fedor? Fucking nightmare, but what if?
Whenever somebody says #1 fighter in the world I always wonder where this is coming from. There are no official rankings I am aware of, there is no established rankings procedure, and there are no benefits for occupying a certain position in the rankings (like being drafted 1st vs being drafted 10th in NFL or NBA). Until there are restrictions on the ability of fighters to fight each other, it is almost impossible to come up with rankings that would be fair to and liked by everybody (think BCS ranking in college football). So, nobody really knows what this #1 fighter means, and it should not have much weight. I mean the president of the biggest MMA organization in the world, Dana White, went from calling Fyodor one of the best fighters, to calling him a farce who is not even in top 10 in the course of a couple of days. That shows you that rankings don't mean much, and are, in big part, a matter of public perception.
Fyodor vs Choi would definitely fall under the "freak show" category. Is it that bad, though? Remember Sapp vs Nogueira, or Fyodor vs Schilt? These were competitive matches, and either of those is not less of a "freak show" than Fyodor vs Choi would be. The popularity of Kimbo Slice, and the hype surrounding Brock Lesnar all come for the same source that makes people watch matches like Fyodor vs Choi.
About Fyodor fighting top 10 fighters. First, Fyodor has 6 fights on his contract with M-1 Global. Clearly, there are less than 6 top 10 fighters outside of the UFC right now. MAYBE Fyodor will be able to fight Couture, MAYBE M-1 will be able to reach an agreement with K-1 and get a fight with Kharitonov(although he is not considered top 10 right now), and MAYBE M-1 would be able to sign Arlovskiy. Barnett is the most deserving and available top 10 candidate for Fyodor, but he is the only one. I think Fyodor will fight solid guys in the M-1 Global events, but not all of them are going to be top 10, and that's fine by me (as long as some of them are).
As far as fans go, Fyodor's fans will remain Fyodor's fans, no matter what. He has done more than enough to deserve that already. People who are the fans of the #1 fighter can stay or move on, I, personally don't care. You know those are not the fans who are getting dropped on their heads in the ring... Every single fight can end with a career-ending injury. I am happy for Fyodor that he found an opportunity to sign for good money with the organization he feels comfortable in. He owes to his family, to his coaches; he owes very little, if anything, to his fans.
Fyodor is unbeaten 4 times PRIDE HW champion. Any fight for him now is high risk-low reward, as far as his reputation goes. From that perspective, fight against Choi would very bad for him. But, if anything, shouldn't it elicit respect that he takes this fight nonetheless, to say good bye to Japanese fans (and to earn some money, of course)? It sounds like this fight is in addition to his contractual obligations with M-1 Global...