Rob
09-06-2007, 01:18 PM
The rumour that's been going around for the past few weeks, and especially in the past few days, is that the UFC has almost finalised a deal to bring Fedor Emelianenko to the UFC. It is currently rumoured that he will be signing a four-fight deal, with each fight paying him $2 million.
For anyone not familiar with Fedor [pronounced like Theodore, except with an F], he is the #1 Heavyweight MMA fighter in the world, and here is a brief list of his numerous accomplishments.
He has an "official" record of 27-1-0 with 1 No Contest, though it should be noted that his only credited "loss" was not actually a loss at all. He was cut by an illegal blow in a fight against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in a fight in the now-defunct RINGS organisation in late 2002. The event was a tournament format, so there could be no Draws or No Contests since someone had to advance, so the event awarded Fedor with a loss because the cut prevented him from being able to continue fighting. In short, it was a credited loss that wasn't actually a loss. For all intents and purposes, his record should be 27-0-0 with 2 No Contests. He has fought just about every top fighter in the world at the Heavyweight level and (usually handily) beaten all of them.
He holds wins over the following notable fighters:
Ricardo Arona, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice; the first of which won him the Pride Heavyweight Championship, the second of which won him the Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix title), Kazuyuki Fujita, Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Naoya Ogawa, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, Mark Hunt and Matt Lindland.
His only two near-losses in his career came against Kazuyuki Fujita, where he was nearly knocked out with a punch but quickly recovered and won via submission, and Mark Hunt, where he was dominated for much of the fight and nearly submitted by keylock/Kimura before submitting Hunt with a keylock of his own.
He has fought the best and beaten the best. If the UFC successfully inks a contract with him, they will then be able to legitimately claim that they have the best mixed martial artist in the world among their ranks.
I, for one, look forward to seeing him inside a UFC cage, with the ability to throw elbows. He will then be the single most lethal ground-and-pound fighter in MMA history.
For anyone not familiar with Fedor [pronounced like Theodore, except with an F], he is the #1 Heavyweight MMA fighter in the world, and here is a brief list of his numerous accomplishments.
He has an "official" record of 27-1-0 with 1 No Contest, though it should be noted that his only credited "loss" was not actually a loss at all. He was cut by an illegal blow in a fight against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in a fight in the now-defunct RINGS organisation in late 2002. The event was a tournament format, so there could be no Draws or No Contests since someone had to advance, so the event awarded Fedor with a loss because the cut prevented him from being able to continue fighting. In short, it was a credited loss that wasn't actually a loss. For all intents and purposes, his record should be 27-0-0 with 2 No Contests. He has fought just about every top fighter in the world at the Heavyweight level and (usually handily) beaten all of them.
He holds wins over the following notable fighters:
Ricardo Arona, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice; the first of which won him the Pride Heavyweight Championship, the second of which won him the Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix title), Kazuyuki Fujita, Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Naoya Ogawa, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, Mark Hunt and Matt Lindland.
His only two near-losses in his career came against Kazuyuki Fujita, where he was nearly knocked out with a punch but quickly recovered and won via submission, and Mark Hunt, where he was dominated for much of the fight and nearly submitted by keylock/Kimura before submitting Hunt with a keylock of his own.
He has fought the best and beaten the best. If the UFC successfully inks a contract with him, they will then be able to legitimately claim that they have the best mixed martial artist in the world among their ranks.
I, for one, look forward to seeing him inside a UFC cage, with the ability to throw elbows. He will then be the single most lethal ground-and-pound fighter in MMA history.