Fedor Emelianenko left under blows - Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) dated 02/06/2023

Fedor Emelianenko left under blows - Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) dated 02/06/2023


Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko ended his distinguished career with a first-round loss to Ryan Bader. He and the American fought for the title of champion of Bellator, the second most important promotion in mixed martial arts (MMA) after the UFC, in the heavyweight division. The victory of Ryan Bader, of course, could not cancel the long-earned status of one of the main icons of the harsh genre by the loser.

The fight in Inglewood, California, confirmed that pity is not characteristic of mixed martial arts, and even with their greatest heroes, they sometimes part extremely cruelly. Fedor Emelianenko entered this fight to the sonorous chords of glorifying his talent, his titles, him, the MMA emperor of the zeros, the chic victories of the memories of other celebrities who crossed paths with him at different venues or simply enjoyed his gift from the outside, without trying it on themselves. He came out to him as an idol, forced by virtue of his age (and 46 is not even the limit, but the limit for any sport) to retire and decide to thank the audience with his last performance. This is how brilliant conductors and singers go to farewell concerts. But for them, conductors and singers, farewell is, by definition, always another, most likely, the most memorable triumph. It can't be otherwise - that's the way things are. And in this sense, the farewell of the MMA phenomenon turned out to be completely different.

With Ryan Bader Fedor Emelianenko for the first time faced in 2019, already a veteran. And then he lost to him in 35 seconds. Now the match went on a little longer.

Those who believed that, having announced the end of his career, Emelianenko in her finals, at least for one evening, would suddenly find a third youth, ran into a grimace of reality. He opened the fight with blows to the milk, then ran into Bader's hit on the right and fell to the floor.

Surely, people who have been fond of martial arts for a long time, in those seconds, pictures of about 20 years ago were resurrected in their memory. Being at the peak, Fedor Emelianenko not so rarely found himself in such, seemingly very unpleasant situations, when the opponent is on top and it seems that the initiative belongs entirely to him. But the thing is that these positions were never something mortally dangerous for him, he always got out of them, and it happened that it was on the ground, formally defending himself, that he himself carried out a smart counterattack, going into a painful hold that ended the fight.

In Inglewood, on this special day for Fedor Emelianenko and everyone to whom he is dear, everything was much more prosaic. The Bellator champion pounded him from above with his fists, and the challenger could not figure out how to dodge the cannonade.

Officially, half the round - two and a half minutes - passed from the moment the fight started to its stop. But in fact, referee Herb Dean seemed to be able to slow him down earlier: it is unlikely that he did not notice the obvious. But, it is possible that Dean, like the fans, also madly wanted Emelianenko to hold on, not to leave as long as possible.

And soon after the stop, that part of the show began, which was no less important than the duel itself. It had words instead of punches and takedowns. Ryan Bader, as if embarrassed by what he had just done, said that Fedor Emelianenko was once his idol and that his current success has a “bittersweet” aftertaste. And Emelianenko also talked about the duality of sensations: on the one hand, it didn’t work out the way he wanted, on the other hand, he still feels happy.

And at that time, a whole detachment of mixed martial arts stars, mostly heavyweights, mostly already former ones, Royce Gracie, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Frank Shamrock, Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes, Josh Barnett, Chael Sonnen. Names and faces well known to hundreds of thousands of Americans. Everyone shook hands with Emelianenko. And these handshakes only emphasized his special status, which few domestic athletes have and which certainly none of the domestic athletes who did not seek, like Fedor Emelianenko, purposefully build themselves a global brand for convenient foreign use: rather the opposite , all his life he was satisfied with his absolute "Russianness".

However, it was at the same time not quite his farewell from MMA. Or rather, not wires at all.

In mixed martial arts, Fedor Emelianenko will somehow be present thanks to the team of fighters he created in his time, which is among the strongest.

There are many excellent athletes in it - such as, say, Anatoly Tokov, who lost the fight for the middleweight title (up to 84 kg) to Johnny Eblen in the same tournament in Inglewood, or Vadim Nemkov, Bellator light heavyweight champion (up to 93 kg), who once dealt with Bader. Thanks to them, the name Emelianenko will not go anywhere from MMA.

Alexey Dospekhov



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