Fedor Emelianenko

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Profile

Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (born September 28, 1976) is a Russian professional mixed martial artist and current WAMMA Heavyweight Champion.

He stands 6 ft. (183 cm) tall and fights in the heavyweight division at approximately 235 lbs..

Fedor was the long reigning, last ever PRIDE heavyweight champion and was the 2004 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix champion. He currently fights as a heavyweight for Affliction.

Fedor is the older brother of PRIDE veteran, Aleksander Emelianenko.

Rings

Fedor Emelianenko made his professional mixed martial arts debut on May 21, 2000 at a Rings event based out of Russia. He kicked off his career as he easily submitted his opponent, Martin Lazarov with a guillotine choke in 2:24 of round 1.

After a submission and knockout victory that improved his record to 3-0, Emelianenko entered the Rings: King of Kings 2000 tournament. He faced Ricardo Arona in the opening round of the 32-man tournament and after three rounds of razor-close action, Fedor was awarded the semi-controversial unanimous decision victory.

The controversy would only heighten in his next bout later that night as Fedor met Japanese favourite, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and in the first exchange of the fight, Kohsaka landed a slicing elbow - albeit an illegal one - that opened a nasty gash on Fedor's face. So bad was the cut that the fight was stopped. The controversy lay in that instead of ruling it a disqualification victory for Emelianenko or a No Contest, Kohsaka was instead awarded the bout via cut stoppage, thus eliminating Fedor and giving him his first loss.

Fedor immediately bounced back from the loss to record six consecutive victories by the end of February, 2002. Amongst those six victims were notable names, Kerry Schall, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, and Chris Haseman.

PRIDE

With his impressive run in Rings, Emelianenko was signed by the premiere Japanese organization, the PRIDE Fighting Championships in 2002. In his debut at PRIDE 21, Fedor faced 6 ft. 11 in. Semmy Schilt and controlled the bout with takedowns and top control for the full 20 minutes in a lacklustre bout.

Five months later Fedor was matched up against top tier PRIDE heavyweight, Heath Herring at PRIDE 23. This bout really brought Fedor's devastating offensive arsenal into light as he pounded on Herring viciously for the majority of the first round, with an exhausted Herring heading back to his corner where the bout stopped due the damage Fedor had caused to his face.

PRIDE Heavyweight Championship

Due to the devastating nature of his performance, Fedor was given a title shot against reigning PRIDE champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE 25 in March, 2003. In an excellent bout, Fedor unleashed some of the hardest ground and pound ever seen while Nogueira absorbed it while continously searching for a submission that Fedor constantly avoided. After 20 gruelling minutes, Fedor was unanimously announced as the new PRIDE heavyweight champion.

After a submission win in an event outside of PRIDE, Fedor returned to PRIDE at PRIDE 26 to face Japanese favorite, Kazuyuki Fujita in a non-title bout. Given no chance before the fight, Fujita turned Fedor's legs to jell-o with a wild hook a couple of minutes into the bout. Fedor recovered and turned the tables with a vicious body kick that dropped Fujita. From there Fedor grabbed Fujita's back and tapped him out with a rear naked choke.

A quick non-title bout drubbing of Gary Goodridge followed at PRIDE: Total Elimination 2003 before Fedor opted out of the PRIDE: Shockwave 2003 show in favor for another Japanese New Year's Eve event in Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003. Because of this and some injuries that kept him out of PRIDE action, an interim belt was contested for between Nogueira and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. Nogueira submitted Cro Cop after taking a battering to claim the title.

PRIDE 2004 Open Weight Grand Prix

Fully recovered from his injuries and refocused on his PRIDE career, Fedor entered the 2004 Open Weight Grand Prix. He faced former UFC heavyweight champion, Mark Coleman in the opening round at PRIDE: Total Elimination 2004. Fedor showed a new wrinkle to his game as he effortlessly scored an armbar victory from his guard in just 2:11 of round 1.

In the quarter finals at PRIDE: Critical Countdown 2004, Fedor met Coleman student, Kevin Randleman. Barely a minute in, Randleman executed a huge suplex that had all of his weight and Fedor's weight come down on the Russian's neck. Amazingly Fedor was unfazed and quickly reversed and submitted Randleman to earn a spot in the semis.

Fedor earned a spot in the final in quick order at PRIDE: Total Elimination 2004 as he submitted Japanese judoka, Naoya Ogawa with an armbar in 54 seconds.

Later that night, Fedor met the interim champion in Nogueira in a rematch for the tournament title. The first three and a half minutes looked a carbon copy of their first bout, but an accidental headbutt 3:52 in caused a huge gash over Fedor's eye that forced the stoppage of the bout and a No Contest ruling.

A little over four months later, the two faced off for the third time in a bout that would decide the tournament champion and the PRIDE Heavyweight Championship. The fight was closer than the first but ultimately ended the same way as Fedor was victorious via unanimous decision.

Final PRIDE Bouts

At PRIDE: Bushido 6, Fedor was given the chance to avenge the lone loss of his career when he faced Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. He left nothing to chance this time as he pounded Kohsaka mercilessly for ten minutes with the doctor finally stopping the bout.

Just under five months later, Fedor faced off against surging heavyweight contender, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic for the title at PRIDE: Final Conflict 2005. Cro Cop threw everything he had at Fedor but the champion fought through and started to walk Cro Cop down and take control, finally taking a unanimous decision win.

In a pointless bout on New Year's Eve, 2005, Fedor demolished Brazilian giant, Zuluzinho in 26 seconds. That win was followed by a non-title armbar submission of Mark Coleman at PRIDE 32 and in his final bout for PRIDE, Fedor submitted Mark Hunt with a kimura at PRIDE: Shockwave 2006 to mark his third succesful title defense.

Affliction

With the demise of PRIDE, Fedor's next bout came in a one-fight deal with upstart organization, BodogFight. In April, 2007, Fedor met 2000 Olympic Greco Roman Silver Medalist, Matt Lindland in the main event of the evening. Rumor has it that Randy Couture was the opponent originally sought after but after he resigned with the UFC, Lindland jumped up two weight classes to take the bout. An early takedown attempt by Lindland was reversed by Fedor - with aid of the ring ropes - and from there it was the beginning of the end with Fedor submitting the UFC veteran with an armbar at the 2:58 mark.

An extended stay with Bodog did not come about and Fedor instead went on to sign with another new promotion in M-1 Global. M-1 didn't have an event planned for the rest of 2007 and thus Fedor was loaned out to former PRIDE staff who were holding a New Year's Eve event in Japan entitled, Yarennoka! which was labelled as a farewell to PRIDE fans. In true Japanese style, Fedor faced off in a bout affectionately dubbed as a freak show against 7 ft. 2 in. Hong Man Choi. In a crazy bout, Fedor was forced to pulling Choi on top of him in order to do anything, and moved swiftly beneath the giant to tap him with an armbar 1:54 into the bout.

Shortly into 2008, M-1 Global teamed up with Affliction Entertainment as Fedor signed a three-fight deal with the clothing company. At Affliction: Banned on July 19, Fedor met former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia. In his first bout with a top ten opponent since Cro Cop in 2005, Fedor showed the world he was still the best heavyweight out there as he destroyed Sylvia on the feet and then choked him out in just 36 seconds. The win earned Fedor the recently established WAMMA heavyweight title.

In January, 2009, Fedor met another UFC heavyweight champion in Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Fedor looked a little in trouble in the opening minutes as Arlovski used his crisp stand-up and length to land stingining shots. As Arlovski got confident he became complacent and went for an ill-advised flying knee that Fedor counted with an overhand that knocked him cold.

In his last bout on his Affliction contract, Fedor will face Josh Barnett at Affliction's third event, Affliction: Trilogy in August, 2009.