| Pride Fighter Fedor |
Pride fighter Fedor Emelianenko (Russian, September 28, 1976) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter and the current Heavyweight Champion in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, currently based in Japan. He has a professional MMA record of 23-1-0. He was the 1998 bronze medalist in Russian Judo championship; the 2002 World Sambo heavyweight division champion, the 2005 World Combat Sambo champion; Rings: King of Kings 2001 heavyweight tournament champion; Rings: King of Kings 2002 absolute weight class tournament champion and PRIDE FC 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament champion. He has been the reigning heavyweight champion in PRIDE since March 16, 2003. Fedor is what Pride fighting is all about. There has yet to be as dominant as a fighter as him. It is truley amazing and he is sure to keep up his dominance for many years to come!
On August 28, 2005, Emelianenko successfully defended his heavyweight title by defeating Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic by way of unanimous decision in the Pride FC Final Conflict event held in Saitama, Japan. It was his third title defense.
Emelianenko has had continuing problems with a persistent hand injury. Originally compacted in his 2003 bout with Gary Goodridge, Emelianenko has compounded his injury by continuing to compete without receiving adequate treatment and recuperation. In 2006, Emelianenko finally agreed to undergo surgery to break and re-set bones in his hand properly at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia. His recovery process is currently ongoing as of July 2006.
Its been officially announced that Pride Heavyweight Champion "Fedor Emelianenko" will defend his title against the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Pride 2000 Grand Prix winner Mark "The Hammer" Coleman in Pride’s first ever USA show on October 21st 2006. This would be Fedor’s first fight after the hand surgery.
