There’s a shiny golden belt on the line at Bellator 134 on Friday, February 27, and light heavyweight title challenger Liam McGeary will have his chance to earn it.
And while this typically represents a special moment in the life of a professional mixe…
There’s a shiny golden belt on the line at Bellator 134 on Friday, February 27, and light heavyweight title challenger Liam McGeary will have his chance to earn it.
And while this typically represents a special moment in the life of a professional mixed martial artist, McGeary remains completely unfazed by the challenge and the opportunity ahead.
The 9-0 English standout won Bellator‘s 2014 Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament to seal his shot at champion Emanuel Newton’s throne, and now that his time has come, he’s taking everything in stride, remaining calm and collected before he takes the cage at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
“A belt is just a belt,” McGeary told Bleacher Report. “It’s just another fight. I’m going to go out and do my work.”
At 6’6″ with an 81-inch reach, McGeary certainly looks the part of a dominant 205-pound fighter. He’s lanky and effective—both standing and on the ground—and he’s split his career victories between knockouts and submissions, earning five of the former and four of the latter.
Only once has he gone to the third round, and that came in his professional debut in May of 2010. His third pro scrap went to the second round, but besides those two instances, no opponent has seen the second frame against him.
Despite this remarkable run, McGeary feels no pressure, not even when he sees the glint of the belt just ahead.
“I don’t really have to get mentally prepared for a fight,” McGeary said. “If somebody were to square off with me, I’d pretty much fight them there and then…I just go out there and have fun. Whatever happens happens. If I catch something, I catch something.”
His verbal nonchalance is not echoed by his actions.
Under the Bellator banner, McGeary is a perfect 6-0, and his three-fight run to win the 2014 Summer Series tournament lasted just over seven minutes…total.
While he’s decimated all comers inside the Bellator cage, Newton is a different animal. The 31-year-old light heavyweight champion is 25-7-1, and he’s only been finished three times in those seven defeats, twice via submission and once via TKO.
Like McGeary, Newton is currently enjoying a particularly impressive stretch of excellence, winning his past seven fights and cementing himself as the clear-cut king in Bellator‘s 205-pound class.
But a lanky Englishman with sledgehammer fists and brilliant submissions is coming, and that man believes he’s the one to send Newton crashing back down the light heavyweight mountain.
“He’s never fought a fighter like me before,” McGeary said. “He’s never fought anyone who’s going to bring the nastiness and the ferocity that I bring. He’s brought out a side of me that I didn’t even know was there. It’s pure nastiness. Yeah…He’s in for a tough night.”
For McGeary, the significance of his Bellator 134 matchup is perhaps a bit overblown in the eyes of the fans and media around the world. There’s a belt on the line, sure. There will be thousands of fans in attendance. He’s fighting to remain undefeated.
Ultimately, though, he’s stepping into the cage to do something he loves. He’s known he was a fighter since his days spent scrapping on the streets, in schools and anywhere else where somebody felt ripe for a challenge, and no amount of fame or attention will change that mindset.
“When you can stand and fight with 30 people and still, with a broken wrist, still put your middle finger up as you’re walking away from fighting them all, then you know you can fight,” McGeary said. “I just learned how to do my thing, get my tools, get my talent, and then bring that over here.”
Right now, as fighters cut weight and prepare themselves for the mental and physical battle ahead, McGeary is a special kind of relaxed. He’s naturally just five pounds or less over the 205-pound limit, and cutting weight is a total non-factor for him.
“I just eat and play with my little remote control car in the snow, thanks to my coach,” McGeary said. “I just have fun with it, really.”
When the lights go down in Connecticut on Friday evening for Bellator 134, you can expect McGeary to continue having fun doing what he does best.
His playground awaits, and the whole school is gathered around to watch the two baddest dudes in class throw down.
It’s a Thursday night in the fight capital of the world, and one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts is thinking about video games. Not Call of Duty first-person shooter home-console variety, but the 16-bit arcade classic type.
“I…
It’s a Thursday night in the fight capital of the world, and one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts is thinking about video games. Not Call of Duty first-person shooter home-console variety, but the 16-bit arcade classic type.
“It doesn’t matter which one we pick,” MuhammedLawal says in a tone thick with confidence. “Whatever we play, I’m gonna whoop your ass.”
After the projected button-mashing beatdown takes place, an argument is made that Dig Dug would have been a better-suited platform, but apparently there is no room for excuses where he’s concerned. The only thing on King Mo’s mind in that moment was winning, and once he accomplished that, the conversation on such matters was over.
While there was no shortage of back-and-forth banter during the Street Fighter II dust-up, once the gaming had concluded, Lawal returned to his normal reserved self. Although his fighting persona is an all-eyes-on-me showcase, the real Lawal is on the other side of the observational spectrum. He would rather mind his own business than be the focal point of anyone else’s, and that’s an interesting paradox for a man who seems to covet attention in his professional life.
“I just care about winning,” Lawal told Bleacher Report a few weeks later from Coconut Creek, Florida, where he was training for his upcoming fight at Bellator 134 on Friday. “I don’t care what anybody else thinks or what they are going through…I only care about what I have to do to win. Everybody has different goals at the end of the day, and mine is to win and get paid.”
Furthermore, the word “business” is a crucial aspect to Lawal‘s drive as a fighter. Whereas most of his peers are on a constant push for recognition and doing everything in their power to compete under the brightest lights, the former standout wrestler from Oklahoma State University is all about his financial hustle. Using his gift of gab to promote a fight or land a high-profile matchup is all done in the flow of the game he’s come to know, and Lawal has honed his tools to improve his position in the chaos.
Lawal understands these things, and his knowledge of the MMA landscape has certainly helped him navigate his way toward the prominent position he enjoys under the Bellator banner. And while competing for the UFC—the most recognizable brand in MMA—could potentially boost his paydays and visibility, Lawal isn’t willing to exhaust himself courting its attention.
He’s fighting to get paid, and that is the bottom line. Yes, there is the fire to compete as Lawal is a born competitor, but his career throwing leather inside the cage is an ends to a means. The former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion-turned-Bellator contender doesn’t make illusions about being a prize fighter. In fact he’s fully embraced it.
“I’m not sure where it came from, but it’s something I’ve always had,” Lawal said. “Obviously when you get into competition mode, it is a different mode than when you are just sitting around and chilling. Competition mode is what you shift into when it’s time to work, and I developed that mindset early on through wrestling. When you are wrestling, every day you are going hard to prepare in the time you have during your training, and you use your downtime to chill, recover and get ready to do it all again. MMA is the same thing.”
And in the MMA realm Lawal is a unique commodity. Not only does he possess a fan-friendly style, but he brings a level of showmanship that is unrivaled by his peers throughout the sport. He instituted the flashy walkouts and entourages filled with dancing girls to hype up his walk to the cage, and no other fighter competing in the current era of MMA can claim to do it better than he does.
Yet, on the flip side, all the glitz and glam are simply Lawal‘s way of providing entertainment to the fighting faithful who tune in to watch him work. He wants to give the masses a show, and he’s determined to bring something exciting every time his name is on the billing.
“I just think it sounded cool,” Lawal said in regard to his King Mo persona. “I’ve always been a wrestling fan, and that became my angle. If you are an entertainer, then you bring elements of who you are into what you do. A day in the life is what I say. MMA is a sport, but it’s also entertainment, so you have to bring who you are to it. That’s what I do, and it’s part of who I am.
“I look at it as entertainment, man. I’m going out there to be entertaining and have fun with it. That’s what I’m going to do. Money is a big part of it for me because fighting is my job. That’s how I get paid and that’s my goal…to get paid.”
In addition to his attention-grabbing persona when the bright lights are on, Lawal has also never been one to shy away from putting what he calls “haters” in check. He understands everyone is entitled to their opinions, but he also feels that people are going to great lengths these days to act out and attempt to get their opinions heard.
There is no bigger platform to interact with professional athletes in the current day and age than Twitter. And it’s because of the length that people will go to sling dirt on social media that he’s completely backed away from participating on the platform.
“That’s why I don’t live on Twitter,” Lawal explained. “People get on there and rip on fighters and other people and it’s just crazy. I saw some girl or someone create a profile and use Ariel Helwani’s last name and start ripping on fighters. What does that say about you where you don’t have the originality to come up with your own persona and have to take someone else’s last name? You have to take someone else’s last name to try to become something? It’s a joke, man.
“That would be like me saying I’m going to be a good promoter, so call me Mo White or Mo Coker, and I start going to shows. Come on, man, it’s a joke. Be your own person and make your own way. The stuff that happens on Twitter is a joke.”
Putting outside distractions aside leaves Lawal more time to focus on his current grind as being one of the most marketable faces for Bellator. Although he’s been a key member of the promotion since joining the Los Angeles-based outfit’s roster in 2012, the organization has undergone some changes in key positions that have things moving in a new direction.
The biggest adjustment for the promotion was parting ways with longtime CEO Bjorn Rebney and replacing him with former Strikeforce front man Scott Coker. Lawal had a public feud with the way Rebney was handling business toward the end of his run with Bellator and welcomed Coker coming in and taking the reins.
With Coker‘s experience as one of the top fight promoters in the business, the future looks bright for the surging promotion, and Lawal is excited to see what the future holds for the place he calls home.
“It’s been a great feel so far,” Lawal explained. “The crowd turnout has been good, and there has been solid hype on the fights. The fights they are putting together are more exciting and everything about the production has been better. The canvas, the lighting…everything. It has just been better all around.
“I said it because it was true,” he added when asked about the colorful name he attached to Bjorn Rebney following his bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in May 2014. “I don’t even want to talk about the guy, but he did me foul because he was d*** riding.”
With everything moving in the right direction where Bellator is concerned, Lawal is looking to keep things rolling and is focused on making 2015 a big year for his personal brand. While he’s spent the better part of the past five years competing in the light heavyweight division, the 34-year-old American Top Team representative is making sure to keep his options open and will take his next fight as a heavyweight.
He will square off with UFC veteran-turned-Bellator heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo this weekend at Bellator 134 in a bout that has the potential to cement him as a two-division threat. While he was originally slated to face James Thompson in his first heavyweight showing inside the cage, injury threw a wrench in those works, and the end result was a showdown with Kongo.
Lawal is constantly looking for the biggest fights available, and locking up with Kongo fits the bill.
“I was supposed to fight James Thompson,” Lawal said. “Then I don’t know if he didn’t want to fight or got hurt or something like that, but he was out of the fight. They asked me if I still wanted to fight, and I said sure and said that I would fight at heavyweight, 205 or whatever. Then they said that Cheick Kongo wanted the fight, and I said, ‘OK, cool. Then I’ll fight him.’
“I don’t have a feel for anyone until I fight them or train with them. I won’t know what to expect until we get in there. We know he’s improved. He’s gotten bigger, stronger and faster, and his grappling has gotten better. He doesn’t have any submission wins on his record, so his submission game is whatever, but he’s gotten better all around. We’ll see what happens when we fight. I can’t predict the future.
“My goals are to get paid, win the belt, win big fights and live my life. That’s all it’s about.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
It’s a Thursday night in the fight capital of the world, and one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts is thinking about video games. Not Call of Duty first-person shooter home-console variety, but the 16-bit arcade classic type.
“I…
It’s a Thursday night in the fight capital of the world, and one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts is thinking about video games. Not Call of Duty first-person shooter home-console variety, but the 16-bit arcade classic type.
“It doesn’t matter which one we pick,” MuhammedLawal says in a tone thick with confidence. “Whatever we play, I’m gonna whoop your ass.”
After the projected button-mashing beatdown takes place, an argument is made that Dig Dug would have been a better-suited platform, but apparently there is no room for excuses where he’s concerned. The only thing on King Mo’s mind in that moment was winning, and once he accomplished that, the conversation on such matters was over.
While there was no shortage of back-and-forth banter during the Street Fighter II dust-up, once the gaming had concluded, Lawal returned to his normal reserved self. Although his fighting persona is an all-eyes-on-me showcase, the real Lawal is on the other side of the observational spectrum. He would rather mind his own business than be the focal point of anyone else’s, and that’s an interesting paradox for a man who seems to covet attention in his professional life.
“I just care about winning,” Lawal told Bleacher Report a few weeks later from Coconut Creek, Florida, where he was training for his upcoming fight at Bellator 134 on Friday. “I don’t care what anybody else thinks or what they are going through…I only care about what I have to do to win. Everybody has different goals at the end of the day, and mine is to win and get paid.”
Furthermore, the word “business” is a crucial aspect to Lawal‘s drive as a fighter. Whereas most of his peers are on a constant push for recognition and doing everything in their power to compete under the brightest lights, the former standout wrestler from Oklahoma State University is all about his financial hustle. Using his gift of gab to promote a fight or land a high-profile matchup is all done in the flow of the game he’s come to know, and Lawal has honed his tools to improve his position in the chaos.
Lawal understands these things, and his knowledge of the MMA landscape has certainly helped him navigate his way toward the prominent position he enjoys under the Bellator banner. And while competing for the UFC—the most recognizable brand in MMA—could potentially boost his paydays and visibility, Lawal isn’t willing to exhaust himself courting its attention.
He’s fighting to get paid, and that is the bottom line. Yes, there is the fire to compete as Lawal is a born competitor, but his career throwing leather inside the cage is an ends to a means. The former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion-turned-Bellator contender doesn’t make illusions about being a prize fighter. In fact he’s fully embraced it.
“I’m not sure where it came from, but it’s something I’ve always had,” Lawal said. “Obviously when you get into competition mode, it is a different mode than when you are just sitting around and chilling. Competition mode is what you shift into when it’s time to work, and I developed that mindset early on through wrestling. When you are wrestling, every day you are going hard to prepare in the time you have during your training, and you use your downtime to chill, recover and get ready to do it all again. MMA is the same thing.”
And in the MMA realm Lawal is a unique commodity. Not only does he possess a fan-friendly style, but he brings a level of showmanship that is unrivaled by his peers throughout the sport. He instituted the flashy walkouts and entourages filled with dancing girls to hype up his walk to the cage, and no other fighter competing in the current era of MMA can claim to do it better than he does.
Yet, on the flip side, all the glitz and glam are simply Lawal‘s way of providing entertainment to the fighting faithful who tune in to watch him work. He wants to give the masses a show, and he’s determined to bring something exciting every time his name is on the billing.
“I just think it sounded cool,” Lawal said in regard to his King Mo persona. “I’ve always been a wrestling fan, and that became my angle. If you are an entertainer, then you bring elements of who you are into what you do. A day in the life is what I say. MMA is a sport, but it’s also entertainment, so you have to bring who you are to it. That’s what I do, and it’s part of who I am.
“I look at it as entertainment, man. I’m going out there to be entertaining and have fun with it. That’s what I’m going to do. Money is a big part of it for me because fighting is my job. That’s how I get paid and that’s my goal…to get paid.”
In addition to his attention-grabbing persona when the bright lights are on, Lawal has also never been one to shy away from putting what he calls “haters” in check. He understands everyone is entitled to their opinions, but he also feels that people are going to great lengths these days to act out and attempt to get their opinions heard.
There is no bigger platform to interact with professional athletes in the current day and age than Twitter. And it’s because of the length that people will go to sling dirt on social media that he’s completely backed away from participating on the platform.
“That’s why I don’t live on Twitter,” Lawal explained. “People get on there and rip on fighters and other people and it’s just crazy. I saw some girl or someone create a profile and use Ariel Helwani’s last name and start ripping on fighters. What does that say about you where you don’t have the originality to come up with your own persona and have to take someone else’s last name? You have to take someone else’s last name to try to become something? It’s a joke, man.
“That would be like me saying I’m going to be a good promoter, so call me Mo White or Mo Coker, and I start going to shows. Come on, man, it’s a joke. Be your own person and make your own way. The stuff that happens on Twitter is a joke.”
Putting outside distractions aside leaves Lawal more time to focus on his current grind as being one of the most marketable faces for Bellator. Although he’s been a key member of the promotion since joining the Los Angeles-based outfit’s roster in 2012, the organization has undergone some changes in key positions that have things moving in a new direction.
The biggest adjustment for the promotion was parting ways with longtime CEO Bjorn Rebney and replacing him with former Strikeforce front man Scott Coker. Lawal had a public feud with the way Rebney was handling business toward the end of his run with Bellator and welcomed Coker coming in and taking the reins.
With Coker‘s experience as one of the top fight promoters in the business, the future looks bright for the surging promotion, and Lawal is excited to see what the future holds for the place he calls home.
“It’s been a great feel so far,” Lawal explained. “The crowd turnout has been good, and there has been solid hype on the fights. The fights they are putting together are more exciting and everything about the production has been better. The canvas, the lighting…everything. It has just been better all around.
“I said it because it was true,” he added when asked about the colorful name he attached to Bjorn Rebney following his bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in May 2014. “I don’t even want to talk about the guy, but he did me foul because he was d*** riding.”
With everything moving in the right direction where Bellator is concerned, Lawal is looking to keep things rolling and is focused on making 2015 a big year for his personal brand. While he’s spent the better part of the past five years competing in the light heavyweight division, the 34-year-old American Top Team representative is making sure to keep his options open and will take his next fight as a heavyweight.
He will square off with UFC veteran-turned-Bellator heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo this weekend at Bellator 134 in a bout that has the potential to cement him as a two-division threat. While he was originally slated to face James Thompson in his first heavyweight showing inside the cage, injury threw a wrench in those works, and the end result was a showdown with Kongo.
Lawal is constantly looking for the biggest fights available, and locking up with Kongo fits the bill.
“I was supposed to fight James Thompson,” Lawal said. “Then I don’t know if he didn’t want to fight or got hurt or something like that, but he was out of the fight. They asked me if I still wanted to fight, and I said sure and said that I would fight at heavyweight, 205 or whatever. Then they said that Cheick Kongo wanted the fight, and I said, ‘OK, cool. Then I’ll fight him.’
“I don’t have a feel for anyone until I fight them or train with them. I won’t know what to expect until we get in there. We know he’s improved. He’s gotten bigger, stronger and faster, and his grappling has gotten better. He doesn’t have any submission wins on his record, so his submission game is whatever, but he’s gotten better all around. We’ll see what happens when we fight. I can’t predict the future.
“My goals are to get paid, win the belt, win big fights and live my life. That’s all it’s about.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
On a map, it looks like the Dave & Buster’s in Manchester, Connecticut, sits along a quintessentially American stretch of blacktop.
Buckland Hills Drive cuts a gentle curve from east to west, just a stone’s throw north of I-84 and a little so…
On a map, it looks like the Dave & Buster’s in Manchester, Connecticut, sits along a quintessentially American stretch of blacktop.
Buckland Hills Drive cuts a gentle curve from east to west, just a stone’s throw north of I-84 and a little south of a thin blue pencil line called Plum Gulley Brook. It’s hemmed in on all sides by shopping centers. There’s a Home Depot right there, an Olive Garden, a Sam’s Club.
The restaurant itself sits across the street from a sprawling mall, where a Sears, a Barnes & Noble and a Dick’s Sporting Goods are among the anchor stores.
It seems fine, it seems like suburbia, but it seems impossible that FedorEmelianenko could ever feel at home there.
It’s difficult, in fact, to imagine the enigmatic Emelianenko at a Dave & Buster’s at all—yet that’s exactly where he’ll be come Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. He’ll participate with a fleet of other aging “brand ambassadors” at a function called Bellator MMA Fan Fest, a few days before that fight company puts on its biggest event of the year so far, in nearby Uncasville.
This trip marks the first time Emelianenko has set foot in the United States since his Strikeforce run, which ended in 2011 on the heels of three consecutive losses. Prior to that, he’d gone undefeated for nearly a decade. Afterward, he finished up his legendary MMA career with three straight wins overseas, though the rebound couldn’t totally blot out the fall.
By 2012, he ran his professional record to 34-4-1 and then walked away from a sport where he was universally loved but never really known. Now he’s back, to spend an hour or two signing autographs and meeting fans alongside other Bellator emissaries like Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie and Kimbo Slice.
At a Dave & Buster’s.
In Manchester, Connecticut.
If you could offer a penny for his thoughts, it might be fascinating to know what the religiously devout Russian knockout artist will make of this garish American chain restaurant, which markets itself as a glorified video arcade for grown-ups.
Unfortunately, we’ll never know. You could ask him, but Emelianenko probably wouldn’t say. The closest he’ll come this week is the following impenetrable report on how it feels to be back in America:
“There is a lot of diversity in America, cultural diversity,” he says through his interpreter. “There are a lot of things that I can appreciate about it, and there are some things that I’m definitely not used to and wouldn’t say that I welcome very much.”
Nearly three years into retirement, the consensus greatest heavyweight in MMA history still keeps most of his thoughts to himself. He’s still so judicious with words, his sentences still so difficult to parse, it’s hard to know if he’s just a very simple man or a very, very shrewd one.
Ask him if, now that it’s all over, he’s finally able to appreciate his status as one of the two or three greatest fighters of all time, and he says: “I never thought about it. I never try to think about it.”
Ask him if his new association with Bellator will last beyond this weekend and he says: “We’ll see.”
Ask him if he has a favorite memory of his fighting career and Emelianenko says: “The most colorful memory I have right now is when I realized God is with me.”
After a moment more to think about it, he adds that, yeah, that time he beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to unify the Pride heavyweight title on New Year’s Eve 2004 was pretty good too.
(Ed note: I’m paraphrasing.)
At base, Fedor is still Fedor. As if you didn’t know, he still talks and looks exactly the same:
He’ll give you a full paragraph about how much he likes Bellator CEO Scott Coker, a few fleeting words about his ongoing love for MMA, but it’s still pretty hard to talk to the guy.
There’s the language barrier, there’s the translator, there’s the occasionally wonky phone connection. Sometimes you ask a question and the pause afterward goes three, five, 10 seconds. Even after he answers, you’re left wondering if either side’s complete message got through.
But the man seems different in subtle ways too. Maybe it’s just your imagination, but Emelianenko appears ever slightly more relaxed these days. He’s a bit more talkative—which is to say, still not very talkative at all—a bit more at ease.
He actually laughed at one point.
Even the idea of the Dave & Buster’s meet-and-greet, which you might assume would be tortuous for a quiet, painstakingly private man, appears to be his pleasure.
“It’s like meeting old friends,” he says. “It’s never forced, I don’t look at it as work. It’s always two-way love.”
Spend a few scant minutes trying to peer into the impossible fortress of his mind, and you come away with the distinct impression that retirement agrees with him.
The life he describes in his hometown of StaryOskol, Russia—a city about the same size as Scottsdale, Arizona or Baton Rouge, Louisiana—sounds fairly idyllic. About a year ago, he reportedly divorced his second wife and remarried his first wife. Now he says he spends his free time with his family, going to church, going on trips, to museums and to the gym together.
“Now that MMA has become a very popular sport in Russia, it’s proved slightly more difficult to walk around on the street,” he says. “People do recognize my face.”
Today, Emelianenko describes himself as a full-time advocate for MMA. While it’s unclear exactly what that means, it’s easy to imagine him traveling the world, doing essentially the same thing he’ll do for Bellator this weekend: offering support and garnering free press just by, you know, being there.
Ask him if he ever has thoughts of a comeback, and he’ll say he never left.
“Even though I’m retired, I train every day,” he says. “I try to stay in shape to keep my stamina up. I’m still in the sport, but from a slightly different angle.”
Ask him a question he appreciates and he’ll thank you for it. Literally, he’ll thank you for asking. When the conversation concludes, he’ll thank you again and say he hopes you can meet in person one day.
He’ll say he hopes to continue the “dialogue,”—even though the talk you just had barely met the minimum requirements of a conversation—and then he’s gone.
On a map, it looks like the Dave & Buster’s in Manchester, Connecticut, sits along a quintessentially American stretch of blacktop.
Buckland Hills Drive cuts a gentle curve from east to west, just a stone’s throw north of I-84 and a little so…
On a map, it looks like the Dave & Buster’s in Manchester, Connecticut, sits along a quintessentially American stretch of blacktop.
Buckland Hills Drive cuts a gentle curve from east to west, just a stone’s throw north of I-84 and a little south of a thin blue pencil line called Plum Gulley Brook. It’s hemmed in on all sides by shopping centers. There’s a Home Depot right there, an Olive Garden, a Sam’s Club.
The restaurant itself sits across the street from a sprawling mall, where a Sears, a Barnes & Noble and a Dick’s Sporting Goods are among the anchor stores.
It seems fine, it seems like suburbia, but it seems impossible that FedorEmelianenko could ever feel at home there.
It’s difficult, in fact, to imagine the enigmatic Emelianenko at a Dave & Buster’s at all—yet that’s exactly where he’ll be come Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. He’ll participate with a fleet of other aging “brand ambassadors” at a function called Bellator MMA Fan Fest, a few days before that fight company puts on its biggest event of the year so far, in nearby Uncasville.
This trip marks the first time Emelianenko has set foot in the United States since his Strikeforce run, which ended in 2011 on the heels of three consecutive losses. Prior to that, he’d gone undefeated for nearly a decade. Afterward, he finished up his legendary MMA career with three straight wins overseas, though the rebound couldn’t totally blot out the fall.
By 2012, he ran his professional record to 34-4-1 and then walked away from a sport where he was universally loved but never really known. Now he’s back, to spend an hour or two signing autographs and meeting fans alongside other Bellator emissaries like Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie and Kimbo Slice.
At a Dave & Buster’s.
In Manchester, Connecticut.
If you could offer a penny for his thoughts, it might be fascinating to know what the religiously devout Russian knockout artist will make of this garish American chain restaurant, which markets itself as a glorified video arcade for grown-ups.
Unfortunately, we’ll never know. You could ask him, but Emelianenko probably wouldn’t say. The closest he’ll come this week is the following impenetrable report on how it feels to be back in America:
“There is a lot of diversity in America, cultural diversity,” he says through his interpreter. “There are a lot of things that I can appreciate about it, and there are some things that I’m definitely not used to and wouldn’t say that I welcome very much.”
Nearly three years into retirement, the consensus greatest heavyweight in MMA history still keeps most of his thoughts to himself. He’s still so judicious with words, his sentences still so difficult to parse, it’s hard to know if he’s just a very simple man or a very, very shrewd one.
Ask him if, now that it’s all over, he’s finally able to appreciate his status as one of the two or three greatest fighters of all time, and he says: “I never thought about it. I never try to think about it.”
Ask him if his new association with Bellator will last beyond this weekend and he says: “We’ll see.”
Ask him if he has a favorite memory of his fighting career and Emelianenko says: “The most colorful memory I have right now is when I realized God is with me.”
After a moment more to think about it, he adds that, yeah, that time he beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to unify the Pride heavyweight title on New Year’s Eve 2004 was pretty good too.
(Ed note: I’m paraphrasing.)
At base, Fedor is still Fedor. As if you didn’t know, he still talks and looks exactly the same:
He’ll give you a full paragraph about how much he likes Bellator CEO Scott Coker, a few fleeting words about his ongoing love for MMA, but it’s still pretty hard to talk to the guy.
There’s the language barrier, there’s the translator, there’s the occasionally wonky phone connection. Sometimes you ask a question and the pause afterward goes three, five, 10 seconds. Even after he answers, you’re left wondering if either side’s complete message got through.
But the man seems different in subtle ways too. Maybe it’s just your imagination, but Emelianenko appears ever slightly more relaxed these days. He’s a bit more talkative—which is to say, still not very talkative at all—a bit more at ease.
He actually laughed at one point.
Even the idea of the Dave & Buster’s meet-and-greet, which you might assume would be tortuous for a quiet, painstakingly private man, appears to be his pleasure.
“It’s like meeting old friends,” he says. “It’s never forced, I don’t look at it as work. It’s always two-way love.”
Spend a few scant minutes trying to peer into the impossible fortress of his mind, and you come away with the distinct impression that retirement agrees with him.
The life he describes in his hometown of StaryOskol, Russia—a city about the same size as Scottsdale, Arizona or Baton Rouge, Louisiana—sounds fairly idyllic. About a year ago, he reportedly divorced his second wife and remarried his first wife. Now he says he spends his free time with his family, going to church, going on trips, to museums and to the gym together.
“Now that MMA has become a very popular sport in Russia, it’s proved slightly more difficult to walk around on the street,” he says. “People do recognize my face.”
Today, Emelianenko describes himself as a full-time advocate for MMA. While it’s unclear exactly what that means, it’s easy to imagine him traveling the world, doing essentially the same thing he’ll do for Bellator this weekend: offering support and garnering free press just by, you know, being there.
Ask him if he ever has thoughts of a comeback, and he’ll say he never left.
“Even though I’m retired, I train every day,” he says. “I try to stay in shape to keep my stamina up. I’m still in the sport, but from a slightly different angle.”
Ask him a question he appreciates and he’ll thank you for it. Literally, he’ll thank you for asking. When the conversation concludes, he’ll thank you again and say he hopes you can meet in person one day.
He’ll say he hopes to continue the “dialogue,”—even though the talk you just had barely met the minimum requirements of a conversation—and then he’s gone.
Michael Page, one of the most exciting prospects in the Bellator promotion or anywhere else in MMA, has to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Curtis Millender Friday at Bellator 134 due to injury.
Ariel Helwani announced the news Monday on his sh…
Michael Page, one of the most exciting prospects in the Bellator promotion or anywhere else in MMA, has to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Curtis Millender Friday at Bellator 134 due to injury.
Brennan Ward will replace Page in the welterweight contest.
The decisive injury was a cut next to his left eye(Caution: Link contains graphic imagery), which required stitches to close. Page took to Twitter to explain the decision to withdraw and apologized to fans.
I wanted to fight but my coaches pulled me due to the location of the cut not the cut itself, not wanting it to open during the fight
The 27-year-old Page (7-0) is 3-0 inside the Bellator cage, with two of those wins coming by knockout. He is known for a creative, high-octane kickboxing attack, which frequently produces highlight-reel stoppages.
As a result, Page has drawn major attention as a big-time up-and-comer in the sport and has even been compared favorably to Jon Jones, the UFC light heavyweight champion who also garnered praise for exciting striking attacks.
Unfortunately, though, Page may also be prone to injuries. Previous absences and withdrawals have been the result of various problems with his knees, ankle and jaw. Injuries are the prime reason why Page has only fought seven times as a pro. He also only has three fights with Bellator, despite debuting with the promotion back in 2013.
Assuming there are no complications from the cut or additional injuries, it is probably safe to assume that Bellator honchos will attempt to rebook Page as soon as possible. Though he is still young in age and in the sport, he is no longer on the young side of his career and should be considered someone who is entering or fully inside his prime.
There’s a shiny golden belt on the line at Bellator 134 on Friday, February 27, and light heavyweight title challenger Liam McGeary will have his chance to earn it.