Overview: Fedor Emelianenko's career

Red Devil Fighting Team
The team was founded in 1996. Till this very day it’s still the only Russian pro-team in the world of MMA. It has its own training base where team members can train and prepare for the mixfight tournaments.
Today it consists of more then 40 professional athletes in different cities and regions of Russia. Moreover, European department was opened in 2004. Several European top-level fighters have signed contracts with Red Devil FT – Europe.
Red Devil FT members have taken part in every prestigious mma-event in every part of the globe.
However, the major significant success was reached when Red Devil management signed the best mma fighter of the world – Fedor Emelianenko.
Today Red Devil FT is one of the best teams sharing Olympus of the leadership in the mma-world with such famous teams as Brazilian Top Team, American Top Team, Gracie Barra Team (Brazil), Golden Glory (the Netherlands).

Biography
Fedor was born in September of 1976 in Rubezhnoe, Lugansk, part of the Lugansk Oblast region, presently a part of Ukraine ( part of the Soviet Union at the time ). His mother, a teacher, and his father, a gas-electric welder, decided to move towards Stary Oskol, Russia with their four children in 1978.
He has two younger brothers and an older sister, one of his brothers, Aleksander Emelianenko, is a professional mixed martial artist. Even though the youngest brother of the three Ivan is currently in training, he doesn't train at the level at which his brothers do.
Fedor finished the high school in 1991, three years later he graduated with honor from a professional trade school. In the years from 1995 - 97, he served in the Russian Army as a military firefighter.
In 1999 he married, and his first daughter Masha was born the same year. Fedor broke up with his wife and started a new family, and in December 29th, of 2007, his second daughter Vasilia was born.
In his spare time, he likes to read, listen to music and draw.

How it all began
Fedor's interest for fighting started with Sambo and Judo, he initially trained under Vasiliy Ivanovich Gavrilov, later he meet his current coach, Vladimir Mihailovich Voronov, who remembers that physically Fedor was relatively weak and didn't had a innate grappling talent, but his biggest strengths were his perseverance and his strong will.
In Fedor's official biography is erroneously stated that he had trained Sambo during the years spent in army. He had specified in his 2005 Amsterdam interview that this is incorrect, as he was limited to running and strength training he would put together. He officially received the certification of a "Master of Sports" in Sambo and Judo in 1997, and became a member of the Russian national team, where he earned a bronze medal in the 1998 Russian Judo Championship.
He began his mixed martial arts career as a member of the Russian Top Team, trained together with the first generation of Russian RINGS competitors, such as Volk Han and Andrey Kopylov. After winning the PRIDE Heavyweight title, a rift grew between Fedor and the manager of the Russian Top Team, Vladimir Evgenevich Pogodin. According to Fedor, Pogodin, who held the position of the vice-president in the World Sambo Federation, attempted to control his career through threats and abuse of his position to deny the "Master of Sport" titles to Fedor and his brother Aleksander, in addition to financial disputes between Pogodin and Emelianenko, with Fedor alleging Pogodin deceived him.
After Fedor’s fight with Gary Goodridge, the Emelianenko brothers left the Russian Top Team and started training with the St. Petersburg based Red Devil Sports Club managed by Vadim Finkelstein. Fedor is also a member of the VOS gym in the Netherlands, where he trains with Yogan Vos and Lucien Carbin.
In 2000 Fedor started studying effective striking under his coach Alexander Vasilievich Michkov, he already competed in combat sambo and mixed martial arts at the age of 25, because of "lack of money ". He extensively used weight train, but in 1999 he almost completely substituted his weight exercises with sport-specific training in grappling, boxing and kickboxing. His daily strength training consists of pull-ups, push-ups on parallel bars, and crunches. Fedor also runs every day a combined distance of 12 - 15 kilometers ( 7.5 - 9.3 miles ).
Fedor's team consists of grappling coach Voronov, boxing coach Michkov, Muay Thai coach Ruslan Nagnibeda, doctor, masseur and psychologist Oleg Neustroev, his training partner Roman Zentsov, and until June of 2006, his brother Aleksander.
Fedor’s perfect MMA record suffered the only loss in controversial fashion by the hand of Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, at the Rings - King of Kings 2000 event in December, 22, of 2000, via a doctor stoppage due to a cut only 17 seconds into the fight.
Footages show 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.
Since the fight was in a tournament format, a winner and loser was required as draws or no contests couldn't be awarded. Since Fedor 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, of 2005, defeating Kohsaka by technical knockout when the ring doctor stopped the fight after the first round.
After winning the RINGS King of Kings 2002 tournament, Fedor debuted at PRIDE 21 in June, 23, of 2002 against the 6 feet 11 inch, 256lbs Dutch fighter Semmy Schilt, whom he defeated by unanimous decision. His next opponent was Heath Herring, in a contest to establish the number one contender to dispute the Heavyweight title held by Brazil’s Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Fedor, considered as an underdog at the time, defeated Herring by doctor stoppage after the first round, this victory over a perennial contender brought him into the title picture.
The next step for him was the fight with the heavily favored Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the PRIDE Heavyweight championship title at PRIDE 25 in March, 16, of 2003. The judges rendered a unanimous decision and Fedor became the second and the last PRIDE Heavyweight champion.
His first match, three months later, was against the former IWGP World Heavyweight champion, amateur and professional wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita. A heavy favorited Fedor who was expected to make quick work of Fujita, got caught with a wild right hook that stunned him. He has claimed that this was the only time he has ever been knocked down. After working his way to a clinch, Fedor knocked Fujita down and went on to submit him at 4:17 in the first round via a rear naked choke.
As next came a one-sided bout against underdog Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003. Fedor took down Goodridge after peppering him with standing combinations, then finished him with ground-and-pound in round one by referee stoppage after delivering several of unanswered punches and kicks to the head.
His next fight against New Japan pro wrestler Yuji Nagata at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 ended the same way. He 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.
Four months later at PRIDE Total Elimination 2004, he faced the PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix winner and former UFC Heavyweight champion Mark Coleman for the first time in the ring and submitted him via armbar at 2:11 of the first round to advance in the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix. Fedor has indicated his respect for Coleman, who popularized the ground-and-pound technique that has become his trademark.
A notable match with Coleman’s protege 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, quickly worked into a clinch, and then delivered a memorable suplex, slamming Emelianenko to the canvas headfirst. Fedor recovered immediately and forced Randleman to tap due to a Kimura armlock at 1:33 in the first round
On August, 15th, of 2004 Fedor faced the six-time All-Japan Judo Champion Naoya Ogawa in the semifinals of the 2004 Grand Prix. After submitting Ogawa with an armbar, he advanced to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who 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 Fedor's inability to defend his championship in a timely manner. In this rematch with Nogueira, the fight was stopped due to a cut to Emelianenko's head from an accidental headbutt he has delivered to Nogueira. A third meeting was thus scheduled for Shockwave 2004, which Fedor won. He overpowered the Brazilian on the feet in the first round, beating him to the punch for the first nine minutes of the first round. Nogueira faced great difficulty in attempting to put his opponent on his back, save for the final 30 seconds of the first round. During the second and third rounds, Fedor's takedown defense and counter-punching earned him a unanimous decision victory to retain the Heavyweight championship.
In 2005, he started to especially improve his kicking-technique as he trained Muay Thai with the K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost in the Netherlands, and added Ruslan Nagnibeda, "Seikindo" league 78 kg title holder from 1998 to 2002 ( 33-3-1 ) and a former Tula State University Muay Thai instructor, to his team.
In other notable bouts, he won a unanimous decision over former K-1 star Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, a bout he calls his toughest to date. The fight had been delayed previously due to Fedor's hand injuries and Filipovic's loss to Kevin Randleman derailing their expected meeting in the 2004 Grand Prix. Fedor managed to outscore Filipovic in stand-up fighting, landing many hard body shots, and controlled the bout on the ground. He has later stated that his hand injury took away his grip strength and so prevented him from trying submissions.
Although originally endangered due to Emelianenko's recurring hand injury, a plate inserted in his hand green-lighted a rematch with American Mark Coleman in PRIDE's American debut show. In a fight where Coleman was unable to mount any significant offense, Emelianenko defeated Coleman with an armbar at 1:15 in the second round.
Fedor's most recent title defense was against 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix champion Mark Hunt at Shockwave 2006. Sporting a broken toe during the contest, he nevertheless secured an armbar in the second minute of the first round, but Hunt was able to escape and counter by stepping over him, ending in side control. At five minutes into the first round, Hunt made two attempts at an Americana on Fedor's left arm but failed to complete them. Fedor submitted Hunt via a Kimura armlock at 8:16 of the first round.
With a special clause in his PRIDE contract that allowed him to fight under the banner of any mixed martial arts organization as long as the event was held on Russian soil, Fedor accepted a match in BodogFight against Matt Lindland. The fight was held on April, 14, of 2007 at the "Clash of the Nations" event in St. Petersburg, Russia. Lindland moved up two weight classes ( from Middleweight to Heavyweight ) for the match and came in weighing 218 lb to Emelianenko's 225 lb.
Early in the fight, Lindland opened a cut above Fedor's left eye and clinched with him, pushing him into the corner and working for a takedown. At this point, the referee warned him against grabbing the ropes and Emelianenko corrected himself. After reversing Lindland's takedown and landing in his half guard, the fight remained on the ground where Fedor won by submission via armbar at 2:58 of the first round.
Since the purchase of PRIDE by the majority owners of the UFC ( Zuffa ) and the expiration of Fedor's contract with PRIDE, there has been 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. In a June 2007 interview with the Baltimore Sun, Chuck Liddell suggested that Emelianenko was on his way to the UFC. Dana White expressed interest in signing Emelianenko, but later accused his management team to be the primary barrier left to the inking of a contract, whereas Finklestein has cited difficult negotiations with the opposite party as the reason. However, these negotiations broke down, as Fedor committed to a non-exclusive, two-year and six-fight deal with M-1 Global in October 2007.
In November of 2007, Fedor competed once again in the World Combat Sambo Championships, which brought together 780 representatives from 45 countries. When his opponent didn't show up at the quarterfinals, he received a free ticket to the semifinals, where he submitted a Bulgarian fighter with a choke in 40 seconds. The other finalist declined to compete, defaulting victory to Fedor.
Monte Cox, the president and CEO of M-1 Global, confirmed Emelianenko would face South Korean kickboxer Hong-Man Choi in a New Year's Eve event, M-1 Yarennoka! in Tokio, which was organized by the former PRIDE FC staff with support from M-1 Global, FEG, and DEEP. He defeated Choi in the opening round by submission via an armbar.


Mixed Martial Arts record
As of January 2008, Fedor has compiled an amateur record of seven wins with no losses, and a professional record of 28 wins, one loss, and one no contest. Six wins are by knockout and fifteen by submission.


Honorary titles and apellations
PRIDE Heavyweight Champion
PRIDE Grand Prix Heavyweight Champion 2004
RINGS Heavyweight Champion
4-time World Combat Sambo Champion
Wrestling Observer Newsletter 2005 Shootfighter of the Year

Written by Blitz