One of the LifeJournal users was shocked when he met Monson in the city’s Metro, which he decided to take in order to make the 40-minute trip to the Moscow outskirts, where he was to hold a master class the day before the fight. He was dressed in hooded top and wearing flip-flops. The temperature on that day was around zero degrees.
On one of the stations he noticed two policemen trying to calm down a drunken man. Their methods seemed too aggressive to the American and he rushed to calm down the policemen. Monson’s escort decided not to wait until the American, known for his penchant for anarchism, beat up the surprised law-enforcers and stopped the scuffle.
One of the LifeJournal users was shocked when he met Monson in the city’s Metro, which he decided to take in order to make the 40-minute trip to the Moscow outskirts, where he was to hold a master class the day before the fight. He was dressed in hooded top and wearing flip-flops. The temperature on that day was around zero degrees.
On one of the stations he noticed two policemen trying to calm down a drunken man. Their methods seemed too aggressive to the American and he rushed to calm down the policemen. Monson’s escort decided not to wait until the American, known for his penchant for anarchism, beat up the surprised law-enforcers and stopped the scuffle.
Now, we can only assume that this story was fabricated by the Russians to cover up the real story – Monson caught them spying on his training regimen, as they’ve been known to do, and decided to lay a good old fashioned American ass-whooping on those commie bastards. It’s no wonder he looked so worn out in his unanimous decision loss to Fedor that night, the man had already used up all of his best combinations saving one of the 99 percent. But if you think about it, Monson went 2-1 on the evening, whereas Mother Russia only went 1-2. What we’re trying to say is…AMERICA!! FUCK YEAH!
On a side note, flip flops?! In zero degree weather?! Really Jeff? And here we thought his “Snowman” nickname came from his short, stocky physique.
(Fight starts at the 2:38 mark.And is that Fedor’s new lady at the 29:22 mark? Alright, buddy. Upgrade. / Props: valetudorus via MMAMania)
It’s been a tough couple of years for heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. First, a brilliant MMA strategist named Damian Demento went public with a groundbreaking strategy on how to defeat him, which involved putting the boots to Fedor’s belly and intentionally mispronouncing his name. Then, his next three opponents beat him by stoppage. Coincidence? I don’t know. You tell me.
What’s important is that Fedor finally got back in the win column on Sunday, winning a unanimous decision over American grappler Jeff Monson at M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson, in front of a crowd of over 20,000 at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium that included Vladimir Putin. The full fight video is above, which shows Fedor in more controlled, measured form than his recent appearances, choosing to stay on the outside and score with leg kicks and long punches for the majority of the fight.
Monson, unfortunately, had nothing for him. In fact, the only times the Snowman was able to get the fight to the ground is when he fell over after getting punched in the face.
(Fight starts at the 2:38 mark.And is that Fedor’s new lady at the 29:22 mark? Alright, buddy. Upgrade. / Props: valetudorus via MMAMania)
It’s been a tough couple of years for heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. First, a brilliant MMA strategist named Damian Demento went public with a groundbreaking strategy on how to defeat him, which involved putting the boots to Fedor’s belly and intentionally mispronouncing his name. Then, his next three opponents beat him by stoppage. Coincidence? I don’t know. You tell me.
What’s important is that Fedor finally got back in the win column on Sunday, winning a unanimous decision over American grappler Jeff Monson at M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson, in front of a crowd of over 20,000 at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium that included Vladimir Putin. The full fight video is above, which shows Fedor in more controlled, measured form than his recent appearances, choosing to stay on the outside and score with leg kicks and long punches for the majority of the fight.
Monson, unfortunately, had nothing for him. In fact, the only times the Snowman was able to get the fight to the ground is when he fell over after getting punched in the face.
So, is Fedor “back”? Since we don’t know if he’ll ever face top-ten competition again, it’ll be hard to answer that question. He’ll reportedly return at DREAM’s New Year’s Eve show against Japanese judoka Satoshi Ishii (4-1-1), who most recently fought to a draw against Paulo Filho at Amazon Forest Combat. Full results from M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson are below.
– Fedor Emelianenko def. Jeff Monson via unanimous decision
– Daniel Weichel def. Jose Figueroa via KO, round 1 (becomes new M-1 lightweight champion)
– Alexander Yakovlev def. Juan Manuel Suarez via TKO, round 2
– Yuri Ivlev def. Jerome Bouisson via TKO, round 1
– Mairbek Taisumov def. Joshua Thorpe via KO, round 2
– Mikhail Malyutin def. Seydina Seck via KO, round 1
– Albert Duraev def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam via submission (triangle choke), round 2
– Salim Davidov def. Sergey Kornev via unanimous decision
Filed under: M-1 GlobalFor the first time in more than two years, Fedor Emelianenko has won a fight.
Fedor, the heavyweight who was among the best MMA fighters in the world for most of the last decade, snapped his three-fight losing streak with an eas…
For the first time in more than two years, Fedor Emelianenko has won a fight.
Fedor, the heavyweight who was among the best MMA fighters in the world for most of the last decade, snapped his three-fight losing streak with an easy unanimous decision victory over Jeff Monson at an M-1 Global event in Moscow on Sunday.
The fight wasn’t much of a competition at all: Fedor battered Monson with punches and leg kicks, and Monson repeatedly failed in his efforts to take the fight to the ground. Fedor didn’t look great, but he did look a whole lot better than Monson.
The victory was Fedor’s first since he beat Brett Rogers on November 7, 2009.
Fedor landed some good punches in the early going, and when Monson tried to close the distance and secure a takedown, Fedor easily backed away. After three minutes of tentative fighting, Monson did succeed in pulling Fedor to the ground, but all he was able to do was pull Fedor on top of him, and Fedor easily got back up. After another minute of tentative stand-up action, Fedor knocked Monson down with a hard punch, and although Fedor looked hesitant to engage with Monson on the ground, it was a first round that Fedor easily won.
In the second round Fedor picked up right where he left off, knocking Monson down with a punch just 15 seconds into the round. Fedor decided not to follow Monson to the ground, however, showing the respect for Monson’s submission game that Fedor didn’t show in his loss to Fabricio Werdum. As the second round wore on, it became clear that Monson’s only real game plan was to go to the ground and hope Fedor would follow him there, and Fedor continually refused to play into Monson’s ploy. That made it a fairly dull round, but another round that Fedor won easily.
By the third round Monson didn’t have anything left, as Fedor had been battering him with punches and leg kicks, and it was all Monson could do to stand up and go for some weak takedown attempts that Fedor easily shrugged off. Midway through the third round Fedor had hit Monson in the face so many times that Monson’s mouth was spewing blood, and the referee called time to have the cut examined. Monson was allowed to continue, but he didn’t have any fight left in him, and Fedor easily took the decision.
So does this mean Fedor is back? Not really. Emelianenko weighed in at 238 pounds, 15 more than he weighed for his loss to Dan Henderson four months ago, and he was noticeably flabbier around the midsection. He didn’t look any better for this fight than he did for any of the three Strikeforce fights he lost — he was just fighting an easier opponent.
The win improves Fedor’s professional MMA record to 32-4. Monson falls to 43-13.
Although Fedor’s last win was seen by millions of American fans on CBS, this win was likely seen by only a few thousand fans on pay-per-view. The Integrated Sports broadcast of the fight left a lot to be desired: The cameras sometimes seemed out of place, the audio cut out and replays failed to show the key elements of the fight. Worst of all, announcer Benny Riccardo repeatedly pronounced “Fedor Emelianenko” incorrectly, getting both the first and last name of the headline fighter wrong.
But while the handful of American fans who woke up early and bought the pay-per-view weren’t treated to a first-class broadcast, Fedor did seem to get an enthusiastic reception from the Russian fans in the arena. According to M-1 Global, 22,000 people attended the fight at Olympic Stadium in Moscow. Vladimir Putin walked into the ring afterward to congratulate Fedor, and the local fans seemed to love Emelianenko. Fedor is a winner and a hero back home, even if he’s no longer one of the elite fighters in MMA.
The MMA world is buzzing this weekend, as former PRIDE Fighting Championship stars collide, live on PPV.Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua? Well, yeah, those guys are fighting too. But we’re here to talk about the other fight that fits the above descrip…
The MMA world is buzzing this weekend, as former PRIDE Fighting Championship stars collide, live on PPV.
Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua? Well, yeah, those guys are fighting too. But we’re here to talk about the other fight that fits the above description (well, aside from the buzzing part). Live on Sunday, it’s M-1 Challenge Fedor vs. Monson, from the shadows of The Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.
It’s pretty amazing to look back at the MMA landscape a scant two years ago. The mighty Fedor Emelianenko, in his Strikeforce debut, was coming off an impressive knockout of Brett Rogers, live on national network TV on CBS.
Two years and three consecutive Fedor losses later, Strikeforce exists in name only under the Zuffa umbrella. And the once-mighty Fedor is fighting on a PPV show that starts roughly six hours after Henderson & Rua will exit the cage in San Jose, at the yawn-inducing start time of 7:30 a.m. Eastern.
If I had told you two years ago that 730 days later, home grown Strikeforce star Cung Le would be fighting for the UFC, in San Jose no less (the former unofficial home of Strikeforce, and to complete the symmetry, the site of Fabricio Werdum’s shocking upset that sent Fedor into his current three-fight tailspin), while Fedor was fighting in obscurity in Russia on a show that will surely bomb on PPV, you would have thought I had drunk too much vodka.
With that said, Fedor is no stranger to bombing on PPV. His first two PPV outings, against Mark Coleman for PRIDE and Matt Lindland for Bodog Fight, were huge money losers that contributed to the demise of both promotions.
Affliction tied their hitch to Fedor, and although his fights against former UFC champions Andre Arlovski and Tim Sylvia did better than the PRIDE or Bodog efforts, neither were considered PPV successes (and Affliction ultimately suffered the same fate as PRIDE and Bodog, bowing out of the fight promotion business and selling off whatever assets remained to Zuffa).
To be fair, those four fights were badly promoted, with little to no national television exposure for those groups.
Fedor was a good ratings draw for Strikeforce, and would have likely produced far better on PPV while with Strikeforce than with the other groups, due to Strikeforce’s network exposure on CBS and Showtime, and Strikeforce being an overall stronger promotion than PRIDE in its dying days, Bodog, or Affliction.
But Strikeforce was (wisely) not in the PPV business.
But much like the previous attempts to showcase Fedor on PPV, Sunday’s show has had virtually no promotion. M-1 Global does have a television deal with Showtime, but they have not aired a show on the network since the Fedor fight was announced.
Unless you are the hardest of the hardcore MMA fan variety, it is highly unlikely you have any clue that Fedor is even fighting this weekend, let alone on PPV. This show has a very good chance to be the biggest PPV bust in MMA history.
Where does the once-mighty Fedor go from here?
I’m not so sure the book is closed when it comes to the UFC. While Dana White has taken great pleasure in the demise of Fedor, he would likely still be open to doing business if the sides were able to agree on a deal. And with Fedor now possessing virtually no leverage, if he is truly interested in reviving his career, it will have to be on UFC’s terms.
The concessions White was willing to make three years ago, not to mention the amount of money being offered, are out the window.
Monson, the 15-year veteran, is no pushover. After having his eight-fight win streak snapped at the hands of hot up-and-comer Daniel Cormier, Monson bounced back with a round one submission win over Paul Taylor.
Monson is 43-12, with 27 submission victories, and is very hard to knock out (he has only been stopped twice in 55 fights). He fought for the UFC Heavyweight Title at UFC 65 (a five-round decision loss to Tim Sylvia). Many people expected Fedor to find a weak “get right” fight after being dropped by Zuffa, but Monson is a live opponent.
The rest of the card features a variety of international names, the likes of which even hardcores will struggle to recognize, and will be a challenge to pronounce for even the most skilled of linguists. Good luck to the commentary team.
Arthur Guseinov takes on Xavier Foupa-Fokam. An M-1 regular, Guseinov (9-2) has a loss to former UFC fighter Luigi Fioravanti on his resume. Foupa-Fokam (21-16), known as “Professor X”, is a former UFC and BAMMA veteran.
Mairbek “Beckan” Taisumov (15-3) faces Joshua Thorpe (11-6) in a welterweight tilt. Thorpe is 1-2 for M-1 and has also lost to Hermes Franca. He will be a significant underdog here.
Alexander Yakovlev (12-3) will face the top Spanish prospect known simply as “Juanma” (Juan Manuel Suarez), who comes in at 8-0 and is a name to watch.
Rounding out the undercard are two names familiar to regular M-1 viewers on Showtime, as Jose Figueroa (10-4) faces off with German Daniel Weichel (27-7).
The show is $29.99 on DirecTV and most major cable providers (with replays throughout the day), and will be offered in HD.
(Monson when he fought Tim Sylvia for the UFC HW title)
Longtime Mixed Martial Arts fans are very familiar with ‘The Snowman’ Jeff Monson. He made his name as a Division 1 wrestler for Oregon State University, made his professional MMA debut in 1997, and has been a dominate force in the submission grappling world for many years. He has fought for every major MMA organization and one of the few fighters in the world to have fought on all corners of the globe. Back in 2006, fresh off a decision loss toTim Sylvia for the heavyweight title he requested a release from the UFC with intentions of one day facing Fedor Emelianenko. Negotiations fell through and the fight never happened until now.
Fedor vs. Monson will be held on Russian soil under the M-1 Global banner on November 20th 2011. Jeff took time out of his day to speak to the Lowkick.com about his upcoming fight with Fedor, the future of Strikeforce, tattoos and the idea of an epic battle between him and the ancient Roman emperor Julius Caesar. No holds are barred from this interview and this is a must read for fans of one of the most interesting people in Mixed Martial Arts.
You’ll be facing one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport when you go to Moscow, Russia to face Fedor Emelianenko. What have you been working in your camp to ensure victory on November 20th?
His standup is up is probably one of his greatest assets. I’ve been doing a lot of striking in my camp. In the past I didn’t really feel confident in it, but now we’ve been working on it and I feel much better in it.
(Monson when he fought Tim Sylvia for the UFC HW title)
Longtime Mixed Martial Arts fans are very familiar with ‘The Snowman’ Jeff Monson. He made his name as a Division 1 wrestler for Oregon State University, made his professional MMA debut in 1997, and has been a dominate force in the submission grappling world for many years. He has fought for every major MMA organization and one of the few fighters in the world to have fought on all corners of the globe. Back in 2006, fresh off a decision loss toTim Sylvia for the heavyweight title he requested a release from the UFC with intentions of one day facing Fedor Emelianenko. Negotiations fell through and the fight never happened until now.
Fedor vs. Monson will be held on Russian soil under the M-1 Global banner on November 20th 2011. Jeff took time out of his day to speak to the Lowkick.com about his upcoming fight with Fedor, the future of Strikeforce, tattoos and the idea of an epic battle between him and the ancient Roman emperor Julius Caesar. No holds are barred from this interview and this is a must read for fans of one of the most interesting people in Mixed Martial Arts.
You’ll be facing one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport when you go to Moscow, Russia to face Fedor Emelianenko. What have you been working in your camp to ensure victory on November 20th?
His standup is up is probably one of his greatest assets. I’ve been doing a lot of striking in my camp. In the past I didn’t really feel confident in it, but now we’ve been working on it and I feel much better in it.
After losing three straight back in Strikeforce, it appears that Fedor may perhaps be in the twilight of his career. From what you’ve observed in his three losing fights or any of his past fights what sort of holes in his game will you be looking to exploit?
I don’t think he’s in his twilight; he’s only 33 years old. He hasn’t taken too much of a beating in his past fights. If you look back at his fights, he dropped Dan Henderson but he got caught with an uppercut. He dropped Fabricio Werdum but got caught in the triangle. The only person who really beat him up recently was Antonio Silva, but he’s like 300lbs. Look at the kind of guys he’s fought. When you fight that many times, when you the roll the dice that many times, you’ll eventually get caught.
You’ll be fighting under the M-1 Global banner on 20th. Have you signed a contract with them or do you have any sort of agreement with them or will you be allowed to fight under any other banner?
I’m still signed with Strikeforce, they actually let me go to M-1 for this fight. I’m still with Strikeforce and this so far is a one shot deal with M-1.
Next weekend, “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (32-4) will look to prove he still knows how to win fights, squaring off against the fellow MMA veteran Jeff Monson in the main event of M-1 Global’s “Battle of Legends” in Moscow, Russia. The event will mark Emelianenko’s first bout in Russia since the BodogFights encounter with the now-retired Matt Lindland.
The “black stripe” of Fedor Emelianenko‘s career started back in June of 2009 with what was then a shocking defeat to Fabricio Werdum in just 60 seconds. The negative streak continued with a painful-to-watch TKO loss to the “Bigfoot”Antonio Silva, and the latest disappointment just a few months ago against Dan “Hendo” Henderson.
Against Jeff Monson, Fedor and his team hope for a different outcome.
By Anton Gurevich, Lowkick.com
(Photo courtesy of Lowkick.com/A.Gurevich)
Next weekend, “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (32-4) will look to prove he still knows how to win fights, squaring off against the fellow MMA veteran Jeff Monson in the main event of M-1 Global’s “Battle of Legends” in Moscow, Russia. The event will mark Emelianenko’s first bout in Russia since the BodogFights encounter with the now-retired Matt Lindland.
The “black stripe” of Fedor Emelianenko‘s career started back in June of 2009 with what was then a shocking defeat to Fabricio Werdum in just 60 seconds. The negative streak continued with a painful-to-watch TKO loss to the “Bigfoot”Antonio Silva, and the latest disappointment just a few months ago against Dan “Hendo” Henderson.
Against Jeff Monson, Fedor and his team hope for a different outcome.
The main part of Emelianenko’s training camp for Jeff Monson took place in Special Sports Gym in Amstelveen, Netherlands (20 minutes from Amsterdam). I had an exciting opportunity to interview Fedor Emelianenko in Netherlands (3 hours by train from my home, up north in Groningen), ahead of what could easily be the most important fight of his illustrious MMA career. Visibly reenergized Emelianenko shared about his plans for the fight with Jeff Monson, and what he’s been concentrating on in this training camp
“I don’t like to talk about other fighter’s weaknesses. That’s something we’ll be able to find out during the fight,” he said. ”Jeff Monson is physically strong, and has a very good ground game, with both wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He’s a game opponent.”
Check out the rest of this Lowkick.com exclusive interview with “The Last Emperor” HERE.
For the first time in more than two years, 
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