They say that “There is only one step between love and hate”. Watching the recent developments around “the icon of Russian mixed martial arts,” one has the opportunity to witness the wisdom of folk saying. Only a few weeks ago Fedor Emelianenko was considered as the main contestant to mythological character Ilya Murometz for the title of being a top hero by the majority of MMA fans.
Lately, only a few public speeches made a negative hero out of him. Probably, every periodical that talks about martial arts, highlighted the holy war between M-1 Global and UFC. Journalists and fans were divided on two sides with different opinions on the subject. So what did actually happen that made even the loyal fans to look at Fedor Emelianenko from a different prospective? We will try to discover the answer, but first let’s get back to history of Fedor coming-to-be an MMA fighter and great champion.
According to Fedor, he came to mixed martial arts because of his poor living conditions. It was impossible to make a living out of amateur sport even for such a unique person as Emelianenko. He had to combine training in sambo and judo with working night shifts as a secutiry guard and then take an offer to try himself in MMA. In the beginning of the 2000s Fedor Emeliannko started making a name for him during the regional tournaments, representing RTT (Russian Top Team). The club was headquartered in Yekaterinburg but had affiliations in different cities of the country and represented Russia in “RINGS”, the fighting league that was popular in Japan in the 90’s. The team was built around old-school sambo fighters such as Nikolai Zuev, Volk Khan (Magomedkhan Gamzatkhanov), Andrei Kopylov, and Mikhail Ilyhin. The manager of the team, was Vice President of Russian Sambo Federation, Vladimir Pogodin. The RINGS tournaments became the spring-board for Fedor to start in true MMA bouts (the fact that head strikes on the ground were forbidden in RINGS was criticized by fans that preferred tougher versions of MMA) and it was the place where he won his first MMA title.
At the same time when Fedor was building his reputation in the RINGS, the organization itself was losing its position to a younger and more aggressive company, by the name of Pride FC. Russian Top Tema was loyal to the dying RINGS until the very end. Fedor’s manager deserved the credit for picking the right moment to find the opportunity for his fighter to transfer from already dead RINGS to its rival, Pride. Fedor’s debut in the growing and powerful organization was on “Pride 21”. After little over than half a year, going into his third fight in Pride, Fedor took the Champion Belt from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and became the top heavyweight fighter in MMA for many years to come.
At the end of 2003 Fedor who’s never been too verbose made a sensational statement regarding his team affiliation, his management and his transfer to the Red Devil Sports Club led by Vadim Finkelstein. By and large the transition was smooth without any undesirable noise or scandal if it hadn’t been for a few interviews where Fedor stated that his former manager Vladimir Pogodin had deceived him by creating various obstacles in his way and thus jeopardizing his career. Yet another statement was made by champ’s brand new manager Vadim Finkelstein, who openly rejoiced at signing the best in the game. So did the fans who supported every move their idol made. Reps of the Russian Top Team were the only ones to remain silent. A short comment by Vladimir Pogodin that accused Emelianenko of behaving in an unworthy manner and the ruined friendship with his former teammate Sergei Kharitonov were the only indications that the separation was far from peaceful. Eventually the name of Fedor’s first team, being a part of which he became the PRIDE FC champion, would be completely erased from his biography. Moreover, it might well be that fearing accusations of improper connections, he begins denying not just the fact of taking part in RTT training sessions, but the mere knowing his former teammates, namely Volk Han, who began experiencing clashes with law. It is in 2003 when Fedor’s new image is beginning to emerge, and all of a sudden Vadim Finkelstein and the notorious Sergei Matvienko became the people who led Emelianenko to the top of the sport. It remains a mystery why Fedor keeps away from his past and twists the facts of his fighting career out of all recognition.
Meanwhile years went by, Fedor still unquestionably remained the world’s finest MMA practitioner and reigning PRIDE FC champion and over two years under Finkelstein’s management he scored a number of big wins over the most respectable opponents. However, at the end of 2005 things changed and the fight with Zuluzinho was the first alarm. It was that fight at the Pride Shockwave 2005 tournament that probably made Fedor aware that he could make tons of money and remain #1 ranked fighter without too much sweat. Now it’s the second half of 2009 and It’s been three years since the Zulu fight. Over this time he conducted six fights, most of which defy common sense. The fights, which followed the epoch-making battle with Mirko Filipovic, can only be accounted for by pragmatic calculation and desire to avoid any risks. A middleweight, Matt Lindland, was armbarred for the fun of the Russian audience and the beating of the gargantuan Choi reminds of the freakshows well-loved in Japan. A scripted “special exhibition” bout with the 155 lbs Aoki might have had the sole purpose – to show that Fedor is still in business. The overwhelming majority of fans and specialists realized that such matches have zero credibility, but still gave Fedor benefit of the doubt considering him #1. But gaps between fights grew increasingly longer, in 2008 he fought only once and same as in 2009 so far, but still his past accomplishments, the wins over top-ranked opponents Arlovski and Sylvia, saved the day. Fedor is still #1 HW but more and more people are beginning questioning it. The fact that Fedor lost to the Bulgarian Blagoi Ivanov in the Combat Sambo world championship semi-finals, lost for the first time in nearly 8 years, lost in the sport where he was second to none, doesn’t make it any better. And now that the negotiations with the UFC have failed and Fedor signed with Strikeforce, it may well happen that Fedor will be dethroned not only at the internet forums, but in the influential MMA rankings as well.
Let’s stay away from the subject over M-1 Global and UFC, let’s better discuss Fedor’s comments regarding the negotiations that took place and the fans’ reaction to his words. Fedor admitted that he’s a co-owner of M-1 Global, he also hinted that his fans opinion is important for him but not important enough to outweigh his personal benefit. Let us not reproach him for this. However, this statement disproves the widely spread illusion that Fedor is an innocent toy in the hands of the greedy Vadim Finkelstein. There’s little doubt that Fedor benefits from all the freakshows and all the talk about fighting with the best are no more than a fairy tale for the most gullible fans. Fedor is scheduled to fight in November, and now we’re offered to enjoy another nonsensical “sparring exhibition” rubbish, this time with his light heavyweight teammate Gegard Mousasi, to mitigate the impact of Fedor being out of action for so long.
What’s next for Fedor? What’s his future as a fighter. Let’s not guess. But it’s quite obvious that he won’t be able to secure his #1 spot fighting a top 20 caliber opponent once a year. Sparring exhibition spectacles won’t help either. To be the best you need strong motivation and will that our champion probably doesn’t have anymore.
Translation by Greyscale and Kao.
