A curious stop-and-start during Aleksander Emelianenko’s latest mixed martial arts bout has fans around the world crying foul.
Emelianenko, brother of heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, returned to the cage for a heavyweight clash with vlogger Evgeny Ershov at the REN TV Superfight Series emanating from the Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia. Things were not going well for the Russian in round two as Ershov unleashed a flurry of strikes against the fence. With just over a minute to go, Emelianenko covered up and hunkered down, seemingly surrendering. The referee quickly stepped in, appearing to signal the end of the fight.
Instead, Ershov waived off the finish and encouraged ‘The Grim Reaper’ to keep fighting. Seconds later, Ershov shot in for a quick takedown but allowed Emelianenko to snatch an uncontested kimura en route to a very sketchy-looking submission victory. Fans on social media quickly recognized that the fix was in and levied their accusations without hesitation.
A New Emelianenko Brother Has Entered the Fight
Unlike his older brother, Aleksander has been little more than a blight on the MMA community since making his debut in 2003. Using Fedor’s fame, Emelianenko found himself regularly booked under the PRIDE FC banner. He also regularly competed for M-1 in Russia but failed to garner the same type of respect as Fedor. Much of that was due to the simple fact that he just wasn’t that good.
Of course, it didn’t help that he was accused of sexual assault in 2014. ‘The Grim Reaper’ allegedly raped his housekeeper Polina Stepanova in May of that year. He pleaded not guilty but was ultimately sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He was released in 2016 on probation, resuming his mixed martial arts career a year later.
In another interesting turn of events, the evening also introduced MMA fans to yet another brother. The youngest of the three, Ivan Emelianenko, made his memorable debut with a win over Alexei Ledenev via unanimous decision. To his credit, Ivan’s victory appeared to be much more legit than his brothers.