COMMENTARY - Fedor May Resurface July 19th

Rumors abound once again of yet another possibility to see Fedor Emelianenko fight, this time possibly on July 19th under the Affliction banner. However, upcoming Fedor fights have somewhat become like Elvis sightings. The Fedor rumor mill is churning out more gossip than even Joan Rivers could handle.

Fedor Emelianenko, "the badest man on the planet", "the number one heavyweight in the world", "pound for pound the best there is"... All this and more has been said to describe the gifted Russian fighter.

Fedor was born in 1976 in Rubizhne, Luhansk, presently part of modern day Ukraine. His family moved to Stary Oskol, Russia two years later. His mother is a teacher and his father was a steel worker. Fedor grew up with an older sister and two younger brothers, one of which being fellow MMA fighter Aleksander Emelianenko.

After finishing high school in 1991, he moved on to a professional trade school in which he graduated with honors in 1994. During the years from 1995 thru 1997, Fedor would serve in the Russian Army as a military firefighter.

Fedor's interest in martial arts began early, learning Sambo and Judo. Surprisingly, his trainer, Vladimir Mihailovich Voronov recalls that the 10 year old Fedor was relatively weak physically and did not have an innate grappling talent; instead, his biggest strength was his perseverance and strong will. In 1997 he received the official certification of a "Master of Sports" in Sambo and Judo and became part of the Russian national team.

After earning a bronze medal in the Russian Judo Championships in 1998, he started honing his standup game under coach Alexander Vasilievich Michkov. At the age of 25, Fedor began entering combat sambo and mixed martial arts events in order to earn money. Fedor began his mixed martial arts career as a member of Russian Top Team. However, according to Fedor, a rift developed between himself and Russian Top Team Manager Vladimir Evgenevich Pogodin. Soon after, Fedor and his brother Aleksander left and joined the St. Petersburg based Red Devil Sport Club and have remained there under the management of Vadim Finklestein ever since.

Fedor would spend 2000 thru 2006 fighting mixed martial arts for two organizations; RINGS and Pride FC. He would suffer only one loss, and that loss being highly controversial. During the December 22nd, 2000 RINGS King of Kings 2000 Block B event, Japanese fighter Tsuyoshi Kohsaka cut Fedor. Footage shows that the cut was caused by a missed looping punch where Kohsaka's elbow struck Emelianenko's head. Elbow strikes are illegal under RINGS rules unless the striker is wearing elbow pads, which Kohsaka wasn't. Emelianenko says that this elbow reopened a cut sustained in his previous fight against Ricardo Arona. Since the fight was in a tournament format, a winner and loser was 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). In spite of a hand injury, he avenged the loss at the Pride Bushido 6 event on April 3rd, 2005, defeating Kohsaka by technical knockout when the ring doctor stopped the fight after the first round.

Fedor would go on to enter the Pride organization on June 23rd, 2002, at Pride 21. He would battle the dangerous K-1 fighter, Semmy Schilt and win a unanimous decision. Fedor seemed unstoppable, like a machine he entered the arena emotionless, but when the bell sounded he fought with the voracity of a caged animal. The likes of Ricardo Arona, Renato Sobral, Heath Herring, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice), Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman (twice), Kevin Randleman, Mirko CroCop, Mark Hunt, Matt Lindland, and most recently Hong Man Choi, have all received losses at the hands of Fedor.

Since the day the doors closed on the Pride Fighting Championships, Fedor has been the most sought after fighter in all MMA. The UFC wanted him, talks of a Randy Couture vs. Fedor bout were everywhere you looked, sadly for MMA fans that deal couldn't get done. Fedor wound up signing with M-1 Global and Monte Cox. Suddenly thereafter we started hearing talks of a different nature...

Fedor Emelianenko, "he's overrated", "what has he done lately", "he's only fought twice in 2007." After reading the "whose-who" of Fedor's victims in the ring, I find it almost laughable that the word "overrated" could ever be applied to the man.

In his home country of Mother Russia, Fedor is an absolute icon. From an award given to Fedor by the Governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko for his contribution of the development of Russian Sambo, to his meeting with the Russian President himself, Fedor is deeply loved at home. In November of 2007 Fedor was decorated with an Order of Peter the Great of the 1st degree. In order to give this award to Fedor, representatives of the National State Decorations Committee traveled to Prague, where Fedor Emelianenko just won the World Championship in Combat Sambo for the fourth time. The Order of Peter the Great of the first degree was awarded to Fedor for his achievements and contributions to the development of Russian sports.

Fedor recently parted ways with the M-1 Global organization and has told MMA sources that he will fight former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia on July 19th. Initial details place the fight to be the main event in a card based out of Dallas, Texas as part of Mark Cuban's HDNet Fights promotion in an event to be copromoted with Affliction.

It's certainly not the "Emelianenko vs. Couture" battle that MMA fans desire, but it'll certainly be nice to see Fedor back in action doing what he does best. Lets just hope Elvis doesn't show up...