Just a week removed from Fedor Emelianenko’s emphatic 48-second knockout victory over former UFC champion Frank Mir, Fedor’s brother Alexander followed suit with a knockout over a UFC veteran too. Emelianenko took on Gabriel Gonzaga in his native Russia on Friday (May 4, 2018), and overcame early adversity to score a knockout in the second […]
Just a week removed from Fedor Emelianenko’s emphatic 48-second knockout victory over former UFC champion Frank Mir, Fedor’s brother Alexander followed suit with a knockout over a UFC veteran too.
Emelianenko took on Gabriel Gonzaga in his native Russia on Friday (May 4, 2018), and overcame early adversity to score a knockout in the second round.
Gonzaga was working his top game on a grounded Emelianenko for most of the first frame, but a flurry of punches followed by a knee put the UFC veteran away a round later.
Watch the big stoppage here:
This was Gonzaga’s first fight since leaving the UFC following a knockout loss to Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis in 2016.
The elder Emelianenko brother has now rattled off a four-fight win streak since returning to competition last year after his release from prison.
Both Emelianenko brothers made their name in Japan’s Pride FC promotion, with Aleks scoring brutal knockouts over James Thompson and Sergei Kharitonov.
Would you like to see Alexander Emelianenko signed to a major promotion?
Perhaps Scott Coker will consider bringing him into Bellator, where fights with Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Mir, and potential rematches with Mirko Cro Cop and Kharitonov could await him.
There appears to be absolutely no love lost between the Emelianenko brothers. Revered MMA legend Fedor has always been the more law-abiding person compared to his brother Aleksander. Aleks spent years in a Russian prison over charges that he sexually assaulted a woman there. Ever since then, Fedor has been absent from his brother’s corner […]
There appears to be absolutely no love lost between the Emelianenko brothers.
Revered MMA legend Fedor has always been the more law-abiding person compared to his brother Aleksander. Aleks spent years in a Russian prison over charges that he sexually assaulted a woman there. Ever since then, Fedor has been absent from his brother’s corner when he fights, and vice versa.
Fedor recently opened up on his relationship with his brother in an open letter to Russian site RT Sport (via MMA Mania), which happened to be in response to an interview Aleksander did not long ago.
Needless to say, Fedor put his younger brother in place:
“Usually I don’t comment on other people’s statements. But I cannot remain silent. This is my first and last answer to you. I consider it beneath my dignity to constantly react to your lies.
“And now the most important thing – why I decided to make this open appeal to you: you called my relatives sycophants. Sycophant – that’s you, Judas. I feel sorry that people who were close to you and supported you in hard moments are now suffering. I personally have apologized for you to dozens of people.
“You can say what you like about me, I’ll endure it, but do not dare to insult those close to me. Besides, you don’t even know them. And all those whom you know helped you and played an important role in your life. And you are not worth their little finger. Therefore, you are not in my circle.
“In one of your interviews you said that you can help me. But I do not understand how you, [someone] who was released [from prison] not long ago and is known for constant violations of his training regime, can help me. I can only think of one thing – not to dishonor the family name of me and my parents!”
Aleks Emelianenko most recently won his first fight since his release from prison and is working on a comeback in the MMA world.
He had been recently quoted as saying that sycophants and leeches ruined Fedor’s fame and fortune.
Fedor clearly felt differently and took to penning this brutally honest open letter in response.
The date is October 31, 2004, and a young Alexander Emelianenko begins to step out of the shadow of his older brother. Just one year and five fights in to his MMA career, the younger brother of Fedor would take on James Thompson in a match up typical of the Pride FC era. ‘Colossus’ is
The date is October 31, 2004, and a young Alexander Emelianenko begins to step out of the shadow of his older brother. Just one year and five fights in to his MMA career, the younger brother of Fedor would take on James Thompson in a match up typical of the Pride FC era. ‘Colossus’ is a giant of a man, and appeared enraged as they stared down in the ring. Charging across the ring as the fight started, Thompson got himself caught by a clean punch to the jaw. Emelianenko’s hand was raised, and the Englishman was subdued in just 11 seconds. 10 years later, Emelianenko’s fighting career was in ruins.
No longer competing against the world’s elite, Alex lost a highly suspicious TKO to Dmitriy Sosnovskiy in January 2014. Although his last competition to date, this was by far from Emelianenko’s last fight. The Sambo specialist was first accused of assaulting an old man in a Moscow cafe, later settling out of court, before the real drama started. Brought up on charges of kidnapping and rape, Alex’s dark side had begun to catch up with him. Disregard his allegedly gang-related tattoos, forget about accusations he was fighting with Hepatitis C, Emelianenko was facing hard time.
Photo Credit: RIA Novosti/Vitaliy Belousov
Sentence
On May 19, 2015, Alexander Emelianenko was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Denying he’d drugged and raped the 27-year old house maid who’d accused him, Alex was sent behind bars until 2020. As things turned out, he’d serve less than 18 months, being released on parole this past October for good behaviour. Since being freed, Emelianenko has said he wants to fight again as soon as possible, and still denies the charges he served time for. During an interview with Riavrn.ru, as quoted by BloodyElbow.com, Emelianenko describes life as it was for him in a Russian prison:
“We are two people in a cell,” Emelianenko explained. “There’s the usual, ordinary people and are constantly changing. At first it was uncomfortable. But then you get used to it and you feel normal. We started doing athlete programs together.”
Squats & Push Ups
“The days are absolutely similar. Due to the limited closed space there is nothing for a person to occupy themselves. And so – nothing happens. I read books like “Faust.” When I was alone, from idleness, I began to do squats and push-ups. Had time to do more than 300 squats but I didn’t want to sweat because there was no place to bathe in the chamber. At the prison, you could go to the gym for an extra charge. I went every day.”
Referring to his alleged kidnapping and rape charges, Emelianenko said it was a ‘consensual’ encounter. However you view it, the younger brother of one of the greatest heavyweights ever is now a free man. He will still have to do ‘two years and 23 days’ of hard labour, but insists this won’t hinder him from fighting very soon:
“I do not care with whom I fight,” Emelianenko told MatchTV. “I want to be prepared to meet with the organizers and face foreign athletes. Why should Russians fight each other?”
One of the MMA’s most nefarious competitors – and the brother of all-time heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko – could be returning to the cage much, much sooner than expected. PRIDE FC veteran Alexander Emelianenko, who was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison last year when he was convicted of sexual assault, kidnapping by withholding a
One of the MMA’s most nefarious competitors – and the brother of all-time heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko – could be returning to the cage much, much sooner than expected.
PRIDE FC veteran Alexander Emelianenko, who was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison last year when he was convicted of sexual assault, kidnapping by withholding a passport, and the forced use of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances on Polina Stepanova, will be released three years early according to a report from Interfax.ru via Bloody Elbow. Apparently Emelianenko was released on parole for “good behavior,” and will complete “two years and 23 days of correctional labor with a 10% deduction of the convict’s salary going to the state.”
Emelianenko’s lawyer Kakhaben Dolbadze confirmed that the court had granted the petition for release of his client, who remains in a penal colony awaiting his freedom.
The news comes as surprising, due to Stepanova’s insistence that her rape at the hands of Emelianenko has ruined her life, with his friends constantly harassing her. The incident occurred when she was was working as a housekeeper in his house, where Emelianenko allegedly stole her passport and forced her to perform sex acts after force-feeding her drugs. Emelianenko plead not guilty to all charges, insisting that his sexual contact with Stepanova was “consensual.”
His lawyer voiced support for Emelianenko’s hopeful return to MMA on Facebook:
“I hope he learned the right lessons from the difficult situation. He has revised his views on standards of conduct in society. And, with the dignity of a true champion, will rise after a knockout. Today he should be released on parole, and I wish him to throw out his incredible power only in a sports ring, praising the strength of character and the Russian sport!”
Fedor’s younger brother maintained a powerful presence in the cage, compiling a 20-4 overall record in promotions like PRIDE and M-1 Global. He shouldn’t have much trouble finding a fight in his native Russia, where he remains a marketable name.
However, with his incredibly controversial past and a sexual assault conviction on his record, it’s hard to see him finding work anywhere else.
