Fedor Emelianenko: The Best Heavyweight Most Have Never Seen
Published by Dave Sholler on January 12th, 2009 in Current Events

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His resume is as dynamic as they come. With just one defeat in 30 professional fights, the former PRIDE heavyweight champion has bested a who’s who of mixed martial artists.

Mirko Cro Cop? He’s beaten the Croatian.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira? He’s defeated the Brazilian not once, but twice.

And how about Americans Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, and Kevin Randleman? Yup, he owns victories over all of them as well.

Given the amount of quality wins the Russian has earned during the course of his eight-year career, it’s a wonder why very few Americans recognize the name Fedor Emelianenko. After all, why would the man who is widely considered to be the best heavyweight in the sport go unnoticed if he ever walked through a U.S. shopping mall?

As we prepare Fedor’s appearance at Affliction’s Day of Reckoning card on Jan. 24 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA, the answer seems pretty simple. Emelianenko, a decorated Sambo submission expert, has fought most of his career in Japan. Tearing through the competition at the now defunct PRIDE organization, Emelianenko gained recognition with only the most hardcore MMA fans.

However, as the world awaits Fedor’s headliner bout against former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski at Day of Reckoning, Affliction officials are hoping to continue Emelianenko’s development within the United States. In short, they want Fedor to be a household name.

For the time being, the soft-spoken Fedor isn’t concerned with Affliction’s U.S. marketing plan. Rather, he is content with training with little fanfare at his home in the isolated town of Stary Oskol, Russia.

“My training is not simple,” Emelianenko said in rare interview distributed to media members by Affliction earlier this week. “I believe I train harder than anyone else in the world and the strength and power I obtain can only be here in Russia. I feed off my surroundings and I do not believe I would be as prepared if I trained somewhere else.”

Since he prefers to stay in Russia during training camp, the task of integrating Fedor into mainstream American has become much more challenging. After defeating Sylvia at Affliction’s first event at the Honda Center in July, there were rumors that Emelianenko (28-1, 1 NC) would be matched up with Randy Couture, who at the time was trying to void his contract with the UFC. Given Couture’s fame and the intrigue surrounding Emelianenko, many thought the proposed bout would be a pay-per-view monster in the United States. However, when Couture and the UFC made amends, the chances of the fight taking place were squashed.

Unable to fight one former UFC champion, Emelianenko has since settled for another. By agreeing to fight Arlovski on Jan. 24, Emelianenko is doing his best to prove that he is the best heavyweight in the world and willing to fight all comers. He and Affliction hope that the approach is enough to prove to American fans that his skills are worthy of their attention.

Still, while future bouts against Couture or current UFC champion Brock Lesnar may make U.S. fans salivate, Emelianenko knows he cannot overlook Arlovski. If he does, he knows his U.S. tour will come to an abrupt end. With that said, Fedor is distancing himself from rumors and focusing completely on the task at hand.

“The only 100-percent I am sure about is that I will be 100-percent ready to fight MMA against Andrei,” Emelianenko said. “And that is the only thing I care about right now.”