#8
Fedor Emelianenko
“The Last Emperor”
Record: 31-3-1
Age: 34
Height: 6 ft 0 in
Weight: 230 lb
Fighting out of: Stary Oskol, Belgorod, Russia
Style: Sambo, Judo, Boxing
Emelianenko made his MMA debut for the Japanese RINGS organization. RINGS had a different set of rules that did not allow head strikes on the ground (which later on would be recognized as one of Emelianenko's biggest strengths).
Here Emelianenko suffered his first loss in the sport, a very controversial one that came at the hands of Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at the King of Kings 2000 Block B event on December 22, 2000, via doctor stoppage due to a cut 17 seconds into the fight.[28] Footage shows that the cut was caused by a missed looping punch where Kohsaka's elbow struck Emelianenko's head. Elbow strikes were illegal under RINGS rules unless the striker was wearing elbow pads, which Kohsaka was not. Emelianenko says that this elbow reopened a cut sustained in his previous fight against Ricardo Arona.[29] Since the fight was in a tournament format, a winner and loser were required as draws or no-contests could not be awarded. Since Emelianenko could not advance due to his injury, Kohsaka moved on (the match would have been a no contest or disqualification victory for Emelianenko otherwise). Many MMA fans disregard that loss due to its illegal nature, and considered Emelianenko to be technically undefeated in MMA until he lost to Fabricio Werdum. The tournament was eventually won by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who would later be Emelianenko's fiercest rival in MMA. Emelianenko would later avenge the first loss of his career when he rematched Kohsaka at Pride Bushido 6.
After defeating veteran Renato Sobral in an elimination bout, Emelianenko went on fight for the World Heavyweight Class Championship against Bobby Hoffman the same night. However, Hoffman refused to fight Emelianenko, claiming he sustained a injury to his shoulder during his previous match, and forfeited the final. A win was awarded to Emelianenko by default, and he was given the RINGS Heavyweight Class Championship.[30][31]
On February 15, 2002, Emelianenko defeated Chris Haseman and won the RINGS Absolute Class Tournament, the last tournament ever held by RINGS.
Entering the Pride Fighting Championships on the heels of winning the RINGS King of Kings 2002 tournament, Emelianenko debuted at Pride 21 on June 23, 2002 against the 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), 256 lb (116 kg) Dutch fighter Semmy Schilt, whom he defeated by unanimous decision. His next opponent was heavyweight Heath Herring, in a contest to establish the number-one contender for the heavyweight title.[32] Emelianenko, considered an underdog at the time, dominated Herring with ground and pound, winning by doctor stoppage after the first round. This victory against a perennial contender brought him into title contention.[33]
Emelianenko was then signed to fight heavily favored Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira for Pride's Heavyweight Championship title at Pride 25 on March 16, 2003. Nogueira was coming off wins against Mark Coleman, Heath Herring and a shocking comeback victory against Bob Sapp, as well as his victory in the RINGS 2000 King of Kings Tournament, in which Emelianenko had also participated. Nogueira was considered by many fans to be virtually unbeatable, due to his endurance and submission skills.[23] Emelianenko rocked him early with punches, and Nogueira pulled guard. Emelianenko then survived Nogueira's guard, considered the most dangerous in MMA, and easily defended all of Nogueira's submission attempts, dominating him for 20 minutes with a brutal ground and pound. The judges rendered a unanimous decision, and Emelianenko became the second Pride Heavyweight Champion, a title he would never lose.[34]
Three months later Emelianenko embarked on his title reign. His first match was against the former IWGP Heavyweight champion, amateur and professional wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita. A heavy favorite, Emelianenko was expected to make quick work of Fujita, but was caught by a right hook that stunned him. Badly hurt, he worked his way to a clinch, but was taken down. With Fujita unable to amount a significant offense Emelianenko was able to recover. Emelianenko worked his way up and knocked Fujita down with body kick and a punching combo. He then submitted Fujita at 4:17 in the first round with a rear naked choke.[3][35] Emelianenko reminisced about it in February 2009, "Fujita is the only one who ever hit me right, and he hit hard!".[36]
Next came a one-sided bout against heavy underdog Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge at Total Elimination 2003.[37] Emelianenko took down Goodridge after wobbling him with standing combinations, then finished him with a ground and pound technique in the first round by referee stoppage after delivering unanswered punches and kicks to the head. Emelianenko broke his hand in this fight, resulting in surgery.[34] He has since reinjured this hand, leading to the postponement of several bouts.[38]
His next fight against New Japan professional wrestler Yuji Nagata at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 ended the same way, with Emelianenko first knocking Nagata to the ground twice with punches. Emelianenko fought at this event as opposed to Shockwave 2003 on the same day due to being offered a higher fight purse because of the great deal of competition between the Japanese television networks screening these events and K-1 Premium Dynamite!! on the same night. That move upset the managers of PRIDE, who set up an interim title match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Crocop Filipović, which ended with Nogueira pulling yet another comeback victory, scoring a second round armbar.[39]
Four months later, he returned to PRIDE, at Total Elimination 2004, where he met Pride 2000 Grand Prix winner and former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman for the first time in the ring. After getting taken down, he pulled guard and submitted Coleman with an armbar at 2:11 of the first round to advance in the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix. That fight showed more of Emelianenko's versatility, as he not only had a good top game with his trademark ground and pound, but also a dangerous bottom game from his guard, being able to submit legitimate opponents from his back.
A notable match with Coleman's protégé Kevin "The Monster" Randleman followed just two months later at the tournament's second round. Randleman, a two-time Division I NCAA Wrestling Champion for Ohio State University and a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, was coming off an upset win over Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, which he ended by knockout. Randleman quickly scored a takedown. As Emelianenko gave his back, Randleman delivered a German suplex, slamming him to the canvas headfirst, a move that would become one of the most replayed highlights in PRIDE's and MMA's history for years to come.[40] Emelianenko, seemingly unfazed, rolled over Randleman a few seconds later, getting top position and forcing him to submit with a kimura armlock 1:33 into the first round.[41]
On August 15, 2004, Emelianenko faced six-time All-Japan Judo Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist Naoya Ogawa in the semifinals of the 2004 Grand Prix. After making quick work of Ogawa, winning by armbar, he advanced to face Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira for the second time in his career. Nogueira had won a decision against Emelianenko's former teammate Sergei Kharitonov earlier that night. This match was not only to decide the winner of the 2004 Grand Prix, but to unify the heavyweight championship as Nogueira was awarded the interim title due to Emelianenko's inability to defend his championship in a timely manner in the previous year.[42] The rematch with Nogueira was very competitive, but the fight was stopped prematurely due to a cut to Emelianenko's head from an accidental clash of heads while on the ground.[43] A third meeting was thus scheduled for Shockwave 2004, which Emelianenko won. On the line was PRIDE's Heavyweight Championship, and PRIDE's 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix title, as the final match of the tournament earlier that year was declared a no contest due to an accidental headbutt.[23] Emelianenko this time chose not to engage Nogueira on the ground, in spite of having dominated him on the ground in their first match. He overpowered the Brazilian on the feet in the first round, beating him to the punch for the first nine minutes.[43] Nogueira faced great difficulty, getting dropped with punches and tossed to the mat multiple times by Judo throws. He was not able to implement his game plan of putting Emelianenko on his back, save for the final 30 seconds of the first round. He was also not able to pull guard for any considerable amount of time.[44] During the second and third rounds, Emelianenko's takedown defense and counter-punching earned him a unanimous decision victory to retain the heavyweight championship.[43]
The following year, Emelianenko signed to fight PRIDE's top heavyweight contender, and former K-1 star Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović. This was a highly anticipated match. After Mirko had made a successful switch from K-1 to MMA, he quickly rose in the rankings with victories over Igor Vovchachyn, Kazuyuki Fujita, and a KO win over Emelianenko's younger brother, Aleksander Emelianenko. He then made a public challenge to Emelianenko and the bout was supposed to take place in late 2003. After a contract dispute, Emelianenko temporarily left PRIDE to fight for Inoki's Boom Ba Ye promotion, on New Year's eve 2003. This prompted PRIDE to set up an Interim Heavyweight Title Match between Crocop and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. After completely dominating the first round, Crocop was caught in an armbar early in the second round, thus making Nogueira the Interim champion, and number-one challenger for Emelianenko's belt. Mirko got further de-railed from title contention, when in the first round of PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix 2004, he was upset by Kevin Randleman, getting knocked out early by ground strikes following a vicious left hook.
Later that year, Mirko began his recovery by defeating Ron Waterman, winning his rematch with Kevin Randleman by submission, and scoring a dominant TKO victory over Mark Coleman in the first round. Those wins put Mirko Filipović again in the spot of number-one heavyweight contender, following Fedor's successful title defense against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on PRIDE's New Year's Eve show in 2004.
The match between Emelianenko and Mirko Filipović finally took place at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005.[45][46] In the first round, Emelianenko was stunned and had his nose broken by two stiff jabs from Filipović. He also got hit by body kicks that discolored his midsection. Emelianenko was then able to get the fight to the ground and land several body shots, which took a lot of gas out of Filipović. As the fight progressed, Emelianenko became more and more dominant, winning most of the stand up exchanges and scoring several takedowns. After 20 minutes, Emelianenko was awarded a unanimous decision victory.[47][48][49]
After the purchase of Pride Fighting Championships by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III and the expiration of Emelianenko's contract with Pride, there was speculation about the possibility of him fighting in the UFC, especially since a public falling out between Bodog's Calvin Ayre and Emelianenko's manager, Vadim Finkelstein.[58] In a June 2007 interview with the Baltimore Sun, Chuck Liddell suggested that Emelianenko was on his way to the UFC.[59] Dana White has also expressed interest in signing Emelianenko, but considers his management team to be the primary barrier left to the signing of a contract,[60] whereas Finkelstein has cited difficult negotiations as the reason.[61] A main point of contention between the two is Finkelstein's request for the UFC to work with his Russian M-1 promotion, extending contractual offers to other members of the Red Devil Sport Club, and permitting Emelianenko to compete in combat sambo tournaments.[58] At UFC 76 however, UFC president Dana White stated that he expected Emelianenko to sign with the UFC in late 2007 or early 2008, after Emelianenko was to compete in a Sambo competition that White would not allow him to participate in if he were under a UFC contract. He also revealed his intent to set up a unification bout with UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture as his first UFC fight.[62] Nevertheless, these negotiations broke down,[63] as Emelianenko committed to a non-exclusive, two-year and six-fight deal with M-1 Global in October 2007.[64]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_Emelianenko
