Midnight Mania Highlights! Emelianenko Bros Victorious In Russia, But Was The Fix in?

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Fedor Emelianenko is widely regarded as the greatest Heavyweight of all time, and amongst those who saw “The Last Emperor” at his peak, he’s still considered a candidate for the overall GOAT (Uncle Dana disagrees). The retired PRIDE legend came from a fighting family, as his brother Aleksander also fought in PRIDE as well before instead opting for a life of crime.

Arrests aside, Aleksander Emelianenko has been fighting (and mostly losing) for the last few years. Fortunately for any remaining fans of the disgraced 41-year-old veteran, he returned to the win column earlier today (May 26, 2023) at an event in Russia.

Sort of.

Now, the details are shaky here — my Russian is questionable — and I’m relying heavily on Caposa’s information and the videos on Twitter. The short summary is that Emelianenko was fighting a blogger, who seemed to defeat Aleksander via strikes. The referee certainly intervened, but the blogger waved the fight on to continue.

It did, and the blogger was promptly submitted. Check it out:

There are plenty of accusations of fight-fixing online, and it sure looks like some nonsense to me!

In a seemingly more regular affair, Ivan Emelianenko made his pro debut! The youngest of the three Emelianenko brothers was always heralded as a top talent, and occasional sparring footage once had fans excited. Back when Ivan was 16, Fedor himself was hyping up his younger brother’s eventual move to MMA.

Ivan Emelianenko is now 35 years old, but he managed to get the job done. Scoring a knockdown in the process, Emelianenko won via unanimous decision opposite Alexei Ledenev.

Insomnia

End of the VandERAa.

I respect that Henry Cejudo is trying to get back in the cage quickly, but I’d rather see him calling out someone down the ladder slightly like Cory Sandhagen or Song Yadong rather than trying to book a second consecutive title fight.

Think we ever get Darren Till vs. Mike Perry in bare knuckle? They’re both free agents!

Merab Dvalishvili is still rocking the stolen Sean O’Malley jacket, and he has big plans for it.

It has to be CM Punk, right?

A pair of Flyweight bookings are headed to “The Music City” on August 5.

Matt Brown lets it rip!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

I hate seeing Aleksei Oleinik lose. His resurgence a few years ago was a lot of fun, but even that time seems to have come and gone.

Homie does not appear to be having a great time.

It’s easy to miss this knockout blow, so look closely!

Random Land

Feeding the fish!

Midnight Music: Indie rock, 2020

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.