Martial Arts Mecca

By: Sarah Aswell

Fedor was born in what is now the Ukraine. Times were rough when he was growing up – his mother, a teacher, and his father, a welder, struggled financially. Fedor has said that in the winter months he had to share his coat with one of his brothers (who is also an MMA fighter). Upon finishing school, he joined the army where he built up his strength and discipline.
 

His formal fighting training started with judo, sambo, and a great deal of weight training. Currently, he has greatly diversified his training with grappling, kickboxing, long-distance running, altitude training, and strength training. Although he started out with Russian Top Team, he now trains in Holland with the Vos gym.
 

Currently, Fedor’s fate as the best MMA fighter in the world is uncertain. After PRIDE was bought out and quickly dissolved by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC attempted to draw up a contract for Fedor. After considerable negotiation, Fedor declined to sign with them. As to whether this failed contract was due to a stipulation that Fedor could not fight outside of the organization or if it was due to a simple lack of money isn’t clear.
 

Fedor went on to sign with the newly formed M-1 organization, which does not have many (if any) good contenders to put up against the Russian. On New Year’s Eve, they loaned him out to fight South Korean giant Hong-Man Choi in Japan. Although Fedor quickly finished the bout with a first round armbar, many considered the fight to be a waste of Emelianenko’s talents.
 

Randy Couture also recently broke ties with the UFC – mostly in an attempt to fight Fedor while both fighters are still in top form. This bout, which would arguably be one of the most anticipated in MMA history, is still a complicated one to execute: Couture is still under obligation to the UFC and Fedor is now in a two-year contract with M-1.