Rivalries: Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko was without peer during his prime but still managed to engage in some of the sport’s most memorable and influential rivalries across a career that has now lasted more than two decades.

Emelianenko, 46, will ride off into the proverbial sunset after he challenges Ryan Bader for the Bellator MMA heavyweight championship in the Bellator 290 main event on Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, California. “The Last Emperor” has won nine of his past 11 bouts. Bader pinned one of those two losses on Emelianenko in 2019, when he put away the former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder with punches just 35 seconds into their Bellator 214 pairing. The Russian has never lost to the same man twice.

As Emelianenko prepares to write his final chapter as a mixed martial artist, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped steer him to this point:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Emelianenko was not a household name in most MMA circles before March 16, 2003. He was a 26-year-old heavyweight with a stellar record and two appearances in Pride under his belt. When Emelianenko climbed into the ring to challenge Nogueira for his heavyweight crown at Pride 25, those in the know labeled him an underdog. Nogueira was thought to be unbeatable by some, as he mixed an unwavering fighting spirit with superb conditioning, world-class submission skills and rugged durability. The Brazilian had not tasted defeat in nearly three years and had recently posted submission wins over the monstrous Bob Sapp, the 6-foot-11 Semmy Schilt and two-time Olympian Dan Henderson in one four-month span. Moreover, Nogueira had never been dominated in defeat, having suffered his only setback in a split verdict to Henderson in February 2000. Emelianenko wiped out his aura of invincibility by establishing one of his own. Over the course of their 20-minute encounter, the stoic Russian brutalized Nogueira with ground-and-pound, short-circuiting his potent submission game and stunning more than 19,000 fans inside the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. By the end of it, the torch had been passed and a new era had dawned. Two rematches followed. The first ended in a no contest due to an accidental clash of heads at Pride Final Conflict 2004; the second resulted in another clear-cut decision for Emelianenko at Pride Shockwave 2004.

Mirko Filipovic

They set the standard for heavyweights of their era, and their paths finally crossed under the Pride Final Conflict marquee on Aug. 28, 2005 in Saitama, Japan. At stake: Emelianenko’s Pride heavyweight championship. The Russian icon weathered several body kicks from Filipovic, closed the distance and crowded him with punches and clinches. While Emelianenko did not escape unscathed—“Cro Cop” broke his nose and opened a cut on his scalp—he put a strain on the Croatian’s gas tank with suffocating top control and heavy ground-and-pound. Filipovic’s movements grew visibly labored in the second and third rounds, where “The Last Emperor” tightened his grip on the match and ultimately walked away with a clear unanimous decision. By the time it was over, Emelianenko had landed five times as many significant strikes (50) as Filipovic (10), connected on almost twice as many total strikes (125-63), secured four takedowns and executed three guard passes.

Mark Coleman

The Pride 32 main event on Oct. 21, 2006 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas was not for the faint of heart, as Emelianenko—the event’s centerpiece—rematched onetime NCAA wrestling champion. He sprawled out of Coleman’s increasingly desperate takedown attempts, bludgeoned him with punches and methodically drained his gas tank. With a minute to go in the first round, referee Yuji Shimada hit the pause button and had Coleman evaluated by the ringside physician. The 1992 Olympian had sustained significant damage to his nose and both eyes yet was cleared to continue. The bill for Coleman’s repeated bids for takedowns came due in Round 2. Weakened by fatigue and the considerable punishment he had absorbed at the hands of the world’s premier heavyweight, he executed a takedown, settled in full guard and went to work with some of his patented ground-and-pound. Emelianenko was unimpressed. He calmly and coldly created some distance with a scramble and spun into position for the fight-ending armbar, netting the tapout 1:15 into the second round. A thoroughly beaten Coleman—who had to submitted to the same maneuver in their first meeting two years prior—was left to lick his literal and figurative wounds on the canvas as “The Last Emperor” rose to his feet. In the aftermath, Coleman’s two young daughters, sobbing and distraught, entered the ring. He did his best to reassure them, his own anguish somewhat masked by his badly swollen face. “I’m OK,” Coleman told them. “Daddy’s OK.”

Fabricio Werdum

When nearly 12,000 fans poured into the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, on June 26, 2010, few—if any—realized they were about to witness history. Fabricio Werdum met the great Emelianenko as part of a Strikeforce-M-1 Global collaboration and, in the span of 69 seconds, turned the MMA world inside out. “Vai Cavalo” retreated to his back when faced with a volley of Emelianenko power punches and invited the Russian into his notoriously venomous guard. “The Last Emperor” obliged and soon found himself entangled in a triangle choke. For several tense moments, Werdum transitioned between the triangle and armbar before consolidating the two into a shocking finish. Emelianenko tapped a little more than a minute into Round 1, the former Pride heavyweight titleholder suffering the first undisputed defeat of his remarkable career.

Antonio Silva

Silva forced a doctor stoppage against “The Last Emperor” when their Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal headlined Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Silva” on Feb. 12, 2011 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The end came between rounds two and three, Emelianenko’s right eye having been swollen shut by a series of hammerfists from the monstrous Brazilian. A competitive first round gave way to a lopsided second. Silva ducked one of the Russian’s trademark overhand rights and scored with a takedown inside the first five seconds. He passed to half guard and then to the north-south position before moving to full mount. Hammerfists left Emelianenko’s face a mangled mess and forced the former Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight titleholder to surrender his back more than once. Silva worked first for a rear-naked choke and later an arm-triangle that nearly finished his counterpart. Exhausted by the worst beating of his storied career, Emelianenko saw his last-gasp effort come up short, as the two men traded leglock attempts at the close of the second round. He returned to his corner, where it soon became clear he could no longer continue. Never before had Emelianenko been so thoroughly dominated.