411 Fighter Profile: Fedor Emelianenko

Posted by Dustin James on 07.08.2008

He is widely considered the best heavyweight in MMA, as well as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game. But why does his name alone bring up controversy amongst MMA purists? How can a guy who is 27-1 not be considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? 411's Dustin James fills you in on the amazing and controversial career thus far of Fedor Emelianenko. Also inside, a video of every Fedor fight for your clicking pleasure.......

Fedor Emelianenko

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Nickname: "The Last Emperor"
Record: 27-1-0 (1 no contest)
Weight: 233
Height: 6'0
Hometown: Rubizhne, Luhansk
Ranking #1 Heavyweight Fighter in the World
Association: Red Devil Sport Club
Organizations: Affliction
Accomplishments: PRIDE World Championship, PRIDE Grand Prix Tournament, RINGS King of Kings Tournament, RINGS World Class Tournament, plus plenty of Judo and Sambo championships.

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Introduction

His name is Fedor Emelianenko. The name alone can cause a heated discussion amongst MMA purists. Is Fedor the pound-for-pound best fighter in MMA? His record does not lie. 27 wins, 1 loss. The 1 loss coming at the hands of Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and the fight was called due to a cut on Fedor. That means that Fedor has never been finished in his MMA career. He has fought some of the best fighters in MMA too! Do the names Ricardo Arona, Renato Sobral, Heath Herring, current UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Coleman, Mirko Cro Cop, and Matt Lindland ring a bell? If so, Fedor has defeated them all.

The big knock on Fedor is the lack of competition he has faced in recent years. Since PRIDE closed it's doors at the beginning of 2007, Fedor has only fought twice. He defeated middleweight Matt Lindland, and defeated the 7'0 Hong Man Choi, who is new to the MMA game. Not exactly the greatest set of "heavyweight fighters" out there. This has caused Fedor's pound-for-pound ranking to slip in the last few months. Fighters like Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, and GSP are tearing up their division and making people forget all about Fedor. However, on July 19th Fedor will be facing what will be his toughest challenge in the heavyweight division since 2006. He faces former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia on the upcoming Affliction promotion's debut PPV. How Fedor does in this fight is a big testament to the current heavyweight division in MMA. Can Fedor make easy work of Sylvia? If so, you can bet that MMA fanatics will clamor for that possible Randy Couture/Fedor Emelianenko dream fight even more. If Sylvia can somehow get past Fedor.....it will cause a tidal wave in the heavyweight division. That's how important July 19th is too Fedor Emelianenko..........

Early Life

Fedor's interest in fighting began with Judo and Sambo. In 1997 Fedor received the "Master of Sports" certification in Judo and Sambo and thus joined the Russian National Team. After earning a bronze medal in the Russian Judo Championship in 1998, Emelianenko started fighting in combat Sambo as well as MMA because he was broke. Fedor first competed for the RINGS promotion where he won his first 3 professional fights before losing to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka via a controversial cut. The cut came 17 seconds into the fight, and replays showed that Kohsaka missed a thrown punch at Fedor and hit Fedor in the head with his elbow, causing the cut. Elbow strikes were illegal under RINGS rules.

However Fedor didn't let this stop his momentum. He went on to earn 6 straight wins in RINGS before making his debut for the PRIDE promotion in Japan. Fedor won his first 2 PRIDE fights over Semmy Schilt and Heath Herring. He then signed on to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the PRIDE heavyweight championship. At PRIDE 25, Fedor defeated Big Nog via unanimous decision to become the 2nd ever PRIDE heavyweight champion. From here, it was all Fedor, all the time. Emelianenko went on to defend his title against Kazuyuki Fujita, & Gary Goodridge.

In 2004, Fedor entered the PRIDE 2004 heavyweight grand prix tournament. In the first round he defeated Mark Coleman via armbar. Two months later he defeated Kevin Randleman in the 2nd round with a kimura. Then in the semi-finals he defeated Naoya Ogawa with an armbar. From there he was scheduled to face Big Nog in the finals of the 2004 grand prix. Not only was this fight the finals of the heavyweight grand prix, but PRIDE had awarded Big Nog an interim heavyweight title due to Fedor's inability to defend the championship on a regular basis....meaning this fight was a title unification bout as well. However, the fight was ruled a "no contest" due to a cut that was opened on Fedor's head from an illegal head butt by Big Nog.

A third fight between the two was then scheduled for PRIDE's 2004 New Year's Eve show which Fedor won via unanimous decision. After defeating Big Nog for the second time, Fedor went on to defeat Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (his only pro loss), Mirko Cro Cop (Fedor says Cro Cop was his toughest opponent to date), Mark Coleman, and Mark Hunt. In 2007, while PRIDE's future was in the air, Fedor competed for the BodogFight promotion where he fought top ranked middleweight Matt Lindland. Emelianenko won the fight with an armbar in the first round. After the sell of PRIDE to Zuffa, Fedor's future was in the air. Would Fedor join the ranks of the UFC? Would he stay in Russia and compete in Sambo tournaments? Since then Fedor has announced that he will fight for the upcoming Affliction promotion. Not only that, but he will face fellow top 10 heavyweight and former UFC champion Tim Sylvia. Will Fedor ever fight for the UFC? Will the Fedor/Randy Couture dream fight ever happen? Can Tim Sylvia defeat Fedor? So many questions..........

MMA Career

Win, Levon Lagvilava, Submission (choke), Round 1, 7:24
RINGS: Russia vs. Georgia - Tula, Russia - August 16, 2000



Win, Hiroya Takada, KO (punches), Round 1, 0:12
RINGS: Battle Genesis - Tokyo, Japan - September 5, 2000



Win, Ricardo Arona, Decision (unanimous)
RINGS: King of Kings 2000 - Osaka, Japan - December 22, 2000



Loss, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, TKO (cut), Round 1, 0:17
RINGS: King of Kings 2000 - Osaka, Japan - December 22, 2000



Win, Mihail Apostolov, Submission (rear naked choke), Round 1, 1:03
RINGS: Russia vs. Bulgaria - Ekaterinburg, Russia - April 16, 2001



Win, Kerry Schall, Submission (armbar), Round 1, 1:47
RINGS: World Title Series 1 - Tokyo, Japan - April 20, 2001



Win, Renato Sobral, Decision (unanimous)
RINGS: 10th Anniversary - Tokyo, Japan - August 11, 2001



Win, Ryushi Yanagisawa, Decision (unanimous)
RINGS: World Title Series 4 - Tokyo, Japan - October 20, 2001



Win, Lee Hasdell, Submission (guillotine choke), Round 1, 4:10
RINGS: World Title Series 5 - Kanagawa, Japan - December 21, 2001



Win, Chris Haseman, TKO (lost points), Round 1, 2:50
RINGS: World Title Series Grand Final - Kanagawa, Japan - February 15, 2002



Win, Semy Schilt, Decision (unanimous)
PRIDE 21: Demolition - Saitama, Japan - June 23, 2002



Win, Heath Herring, TKO (cut), Round 1, 10:00
PRIDE 23: Championship Chaos 2 - Tokyo, Japan - November 24, 2002



Win, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Decision (unanimous)
PRIDE 25: Body Blow - Tokyo, Japan - March 16, 2003



Win, Egidijus Valavicius, Submission (kimura), Round 2, 1:13
RINGS Lithuania: Bushido Rings 7 - Vilnius, Lithuania - April 5, 2003



Win, Kazuyuki Fujita, Submission (choke), Round 1, 4:17
PRIDE 26: Bad To The Bone - Tokyo, Japan - June 8, 2003



Win, Gary Goodridge, TKO (strikes), Round 1, 1:09
PRIDE: Total Elimination 2003 - Saitama, Japan - August 10, 2003



Win, Yuji Nagata, TKO (punches), Round 1, 1:02
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003: Inoki Festival - Kobe, Japan - December 31, 2003



Win, Mark Coleman, Submission (armbar), Round 1, 2:11
PRIDE: Total Elimination 2004 - Saitama, Japan - April 25, 2004



Win, Kevin Randleman, Submission (kimura), Round 1, 1:33
PRIDE: Critical Countdown 2004 - Saitama, Japan - June 20, 2004



Win, Naoya Ogawa, Submission (armbar), Round 1, 0:54
PRIDE: Final Conflict 2004 - Saitama, Japan - August 15, 2004



No Contest, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, No Contest (accidental cut), Round 1, 3:52
PRIDE: Final Conflict 2004 - Saitama, Japan - August 15, 2004



Win, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Decision (unanimous)
PRIDE: Shockwave 2004 - Saitama, Japan - December 31, 2004



Win, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, TKO (doctor stoppage), Round 1, 10:00
PRIDE: Bushido 6 - Tokyo, Japan - April 3, 2005



Win, Mirko Cro Cop, Decision (unanimous)
PRIDE: Final Conflict 2005 - Saitama, Japan - August 28, 2005



Win, Wagner da Conceicao Martins, Submission (punches), Round 1, 0:26
PRIDE: Shockwave 2005 - Saitama, Japan - December 31, 2005



Win, Mark Coleman, Submission (armbar), Round 2, 1:15
PRIDE 32: Real Deal - Las Vegas, Nevada - October 21, 2006



Win, Mark Hunt, Submission (kimura), Round 1, 8:16
PRIDE: Shockwave 2006 - Saitama, Japan - December 31, 2006



Win, Matt Lindland, Submission (armbar), Round 1, 2:58
BodogFight: Clash of the Nations - St. Petersburg, Russia - April 14, 2007



Win, Hong Man Choi, Submission (armbar), Round 1, 1:54
Yarennoka! New Year's Eve 2007 - Saitama, Japan - December 31, 2007

The Future

July 19th. That's what the future holds for Fedor Emelianenko. For the first time in years Fedor will get to show the world that he is the #1 heavyweight fighter in MMA, as well as the top pound for pound fighter in the game. Can he do it? And if so, what's next for Fedor? A possible fight with Josh Barnett? The much talked about dream fight with Randy Couture? Perhaps Fedor will finally sign with the UFC and show the world that he can be the top heavyweight fighter in the sport's top promotion. Either way, the next few weeks will be HUGE in the career of Fedor Emelianenko.......

*Big thanks to Sherdog and Wikipedia for providing information!