He did indeed spread himself out; Arda was Melkor's "ring" as much as the one ring was Sauron's.

That said, even at his weakest, it took all the forces of Valinor, plus the men and remaining elves of Middle Earth to finally defeat and banish him. He's by far the most powerful of the Valar (and probably the Ainur).

Even if diminished, Fingolfin standing his ground against him for as long as he did and permanently crippling him was still a pretty big deal.

(You also have elves standing their ground in single combat against balrogs, and even defeating them; some elves were pretty damn powerful.)