MMA Legend - Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko (31-3) has generally been considered the number one overall MMA fighter since 2003 when he beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via unanimous decision to win Pride's heavyweight belt. Despite being only 6 feet tall and weighing 225-230 pounds, Fedor's heart, striking, submission skills, judo, and ability can't be questioned.

On Sherdog and various other MMA sites on the web Fedor has almost risen to a sort of mythical status as the consensus greatest of all-time. Unfortunately, with his recent two losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, and the emergence of Anderson Silva, Fedor's aura has faded slightly. A win over former Pride champion Dan Henderson this weekend could definitely put a little shine on.

Many fans of MMA have been dying to see him in the UFC, and it appears he might be on the verge of signing. Since the collapse of Affliction, and Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce, rumors about Fedor and the UFC have been swirling. However, the M-1 group which manages Fedor wants co-promotion of events and the UFC will not budge on that point of contention. Strikeforce agreed to that term, dying to get Fedor stateside.

There is no denying that Fedor has beaten some of the best mixed martial artists the world has ever seen. Fedor holds two decision wins over the aforementioned Nogueria, decision wins over Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, K1 legend Semmy Schilt and Ricardo Arona. He has KO victories over Heath Herring, Gary Goodridge, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. He has submission victories over UFC HW Champ Tim Sylvia, UFC HW Champ Mark Coleman 2X, Mark Hunt, Matt Lindland, Naoya Ogawa, UFC HW Champ Kevin Randleman and Kazuyuki Fujita.

One of my favorite Fedor fights was his brawl with Kevin Randleman. Randleman suplexed Fedor on his head and miraculously, Fedor was able to regain composure and submit Randleman with a Kimura.

He recently defeated yet another former UFC heavyweight champ in Andrei Arlovski in his last fight. Arlovski was generally considered the #3 or 4 heavyweight in the world at the time. Despite taking quite a few of Arlovski's punches and kicks, he remained calm and knocked Arlovski out cold three minutes into the bout.

The only loss that Fedor suffered early in his career came at a Rings Tournament. Fedor had beaten Ricardo Arona by slim decision in his previous bout and was cut in that fight. 17 seconds into his second bout of the day he was struck by the elbow of opponent Tsuyoshi Kohsaka reopening the cut and leaving Fedor unable to continue. Rings rules did not allow elbow strikes unless elbow pads were worn. However, because they needed to have someone in the final TK was given a victory.