Aleksander Emelianenko Youtube Videos
Aleksander Emelianenko Bio
Alexander Vladimirovich Emelianenko (Russian: Александр Владимирович Емельяненко, tr. Aleksandr Vladimirovich Emel'janenko [ˌalekˈsandr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪlʲˈjanʲɪnkə]; born August 2, 1981(1981-08-02)), more commonly known as Alexander Emelianenko or Aleksander Emelianenko, is a Russian mixed martial artist. He is a three-times Russian national Sambo champion and three-time world Sambo champion in the absolute division. He is the younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko.
Background
Emelianenko was born on August 2, 1981(1981-08-02) in Stary Oskol, Belgorod Oblast, Russia (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic at the time) in a family of a teacher, Olga Feodorovna Emelianenko, and a welder, Vladimir Alexandrovich Emelianenko. He is the third child in the family and has an older sister, Marina, an older brother, Fedor, and a younger brother, Ivan.
In his childhood, since his parents were working during the day, Emelianenko spent a lot of time on the streets. During his early teens, he used to take part in street fights while his parents were working, going so far as being involved in a riot between neighborhoods.
Since his family did not have enough money, his mother used to prepare a single food for all the week for Emelianenko and his brothers and he shared some clothing with his older brother.
Initially studying to become an electrician at the vocational school, Emelianenko finished his studies in 1999 as an electric welder after he was transferred several times to other technical specialties for bad behavior.
When he was a teenager, while his brother Fedor was in the Russian Army, his parents got separated and, since then, Emelianenko has had a strained relationship with his father, with whom he rarely speaks.
Martial arts training
Emelianenko started martial arts training at a very early age: his older brother, Fedor, often had to babysit him, and since Fedor did not want to miss his Sambo practice, he took young Aleksander with him. At first, Emelianenko only observed the older kids, but soon he started mimicking their movements. He started his formal Sambo training when he joined elementary school, training with Vladimir Mihailovich Voronov.
Besides Sambo, Emelianenko practiced judo, wrestling and boxing and he also participated in other sports like basketball and football. At 16 years old, when he was in training school, his mother forbade him from training boxing but Emelianenko kept doing it in secret.
Also at 16 years old, Emelianenko became a Russian Master of Sport in judo.
In 1999, Emelianenko won the European championships in sports Sambo.
In 2003 he won the World Combat Sambo championships and repeated this feat in 2004 and 2006.
In 2010, during February 19–22, Emelianeko took part in the Russian Cup of Combat Sambo representing Saint Petersburg, winning the heavyweight tournament (his brother Fedor injured his hand during the tournament) and earning the right to represent Russia at the World Championships.
Emelianenko participated in sambo at Sportaccord Combat Games 2010 in Beijing, where he won the silver medal in the +100kg category.
Mixed martial arts career
The Pride years
One of the youngest fighter to debut in Pride Fighting Championships at 22 years old, on October 5, 2003(2003-10-05) at the event Pride Bushido 1, Emelianenko made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut against Brazilian Assuerio Silva, defeating Silva by split decision.
In his next fight on December 31, 2003(2003-12-31), Emelianenko fought against Brazilian fighter Angelo Araujo at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 Inoki Festival, defeating Silva by TKO after Emelianenko cut Araujo above the right eye and the doctor stopped the fight.
At PRIDE Bushido 3 on May 23, 2004(2004-05-23), Emelianenko defeated Australian Matt Foki via rear naked choke in the first round.
In his fourth professional fight, Emelianenko was defeated in the first round via KO (head kick) by Croat Mirko Filipović, one of the top heavyweight contenders in MMA at the time, at Pride Final Conflict 2004 on August 15, 2004(2004-08-15).
On October 9, 2004(2004-10-09), Emelianenko rebounded with a victory over Brazilian Carlos "Carlão" Barreto by decision at M-1 MFC Middleweight GP, the first time that Emelianenko fought outside Japan.
Returning to Pride, on October 31, 2004(2004-10-31) at Pride 28 Emelianenko knocked out English brawler James Thompson in eleven seconds, Emelianenko's shortest fight to date.
In his second shortest fight, Emelianenko defeated Brazilian Ricardo Morais by KO (punches) in fifteen seconds on April 3, 2005(2005-04-03) at Pride Bushido 6. Emelianenko has commented that he broke one of his hands while punching Morais.
In his third consecutive KO victory, on October 9, 2005(2005-10-09) Emelianenko defeated Dutch kickboxer Rene Rooze in 28 second with a brutal knockout that left Rooze unconscious for some minutes at Bushido Rotterdam Rumble in the Netherlands.
At Pride Shockwave 2005 on December 31, 2005(2005-12-31), Emelianenko submitted 1996 gold medalist judoka Pawel Nastula with a rear naked choke in the first round.
In Emelianenko's second professional loss, on May 5, 2006(2006-05-05) at the event Pride Total Elimination Absolute, during the opening round of Pride 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, King of Pancrase Josh Barnett defeated Emelianenko with a keylock in the second round, after Emelianenko dominated the striking exchanges during the first round and broke Barnett's nose. Emelianenko has claimed that he had fever before the fight, with the doctors advising him not to fight that night, which he ignored because it was the Openweight Grand Prix, the most important competition at the time.
In his last fight in Pride, Emelianenko defeated former teammate and fellow Russian Sergei Kharitonov via TKO in a back and forth match which ended in the first round after Emelianenko punched and kneed Kharitonov relentlessly on the ground, forcing the referee to stop the fight at Pride Final Conflict Absolute on September 10, 2006(2006-09-10).
After Pride
Two months after his last fight, on November 12, 2006(2006-11-12) at the event 2 Hot 2 Handle: Pride & Honor in Rotterdam, Emelianenko faced Brazilian Jiu-jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum, who defeated Emelianenko in the first round via submission (arm triangle choke). In an interview with Sherdog, Emelianenko stated that he did not train at all for the Werdum fight as his original opponent was not going to be Werdum, and he would like a rematch with him.
On April 14, 2007(2007-04-14) at Bodog Fight Series II: Clash of the Nations, Emelianenko fought once again in Russia, knocking out American Eric Pele with punches in the first round, the first time that Pele was knocked out in his career.
In his next match, Emelianenko faced Dutch Jessie Gibbs (called Gibson at the time), who was a late replacement for Gilbert Yvel. Emelianenko defeated Gibbs with a kimura submission in the first round at M-1 Mix Fight Championship: Russia vs Europe on July 21, 2007(2007-07-21).
Fighting for the first time in North America and originally scheduled to fight Wesley Correira, Emelianenko defeated American super heavyweight Dan Bobish via submission (guillotine choke) in the first round on October 19, 2007(2007-10-19) at Hardcore Championship Fighting: Title Wave in Calgary. This was Bobish last professional bout as he injured his back in the fight and refused to have surgery.
Returning to Saint Petersburg, on April 3, 2008(2008-04-03), Emelianenko fought Brazilian Silvao Santos, defeating Santos by TKO (punch) at M-1 Challenge 2.
Affliction controversy
Emelianenko was signed to make his United States debut at Affliction: Banned on July 19, 2008(2008-07-19). But at the weigh-ins for the event, it was informed that Emelianenko was unable to meet the licensing standards of the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). Emelianenko was replaced by Gary Goodridge.
Emelianenko denied the rumors about a positive test for Hepatitis B, commenting that he was unable to compete because he was late for his medicals, arriving two days after the scheduled date for his medicals with the CSAC due to visa issues. Due to the health and privacy rules in California, the CSAC was not allowed to comment why Emelianenko was denied a license, but a member of the CSAC commented on a radio show that Emelianenko was not and would not be cleared in California, and that this also would also stand for all the USA.
Emelianenko was also expected to appear at a planned upcoming Affliction event (Affliction: Day of Reckoning) on October 11, 2008(2008-10-11), but was removed from any plan due to still having licensing problems on August 2008(2008-08).
After Affliction
Returning to Europe, on November 21, 2008(2008-11-21) at M-1 Global's event M-1 Challenge 9 in Saint Petersburg, Emelianenko defeated South Korean Sang Soo Lee via KO (punches) in the first round.
Emelianenko left Red Devil Sport Club on March 3, 2009(2009-03-03).
At the event ProFC 5: Russia vs. Europe on March 29, 2009(2009-03-29), Emelianenko defeated fellow Russian Ibragim Magomedov by TKO in 51 seconds, after Magomedov was close to knocking Emelianenko out but, in the punching exchange, Emelianenko managed to cut Magomedov near his right eye, which promted the referee to stop the fight after the ring doctor checked the injury.
Emelianenko was slated to compete on September 29, 2009(2009-09-29) in South Korea at the event Fighting Mixed Combative 2 against Bulgarian Sambo practitioner Blagoi Ivanov, who had defeated Emelianenko's brother Fedor in the 2008 World Sambo Championships, but Ivanov injured his hands in a previous match against Kazuyuki Fujita, which left the event date in the air, so Emelianenko decided to withdraw from the event altogether.
After a year without professional MMA matches, Emelianenko's next fight was on April 23, 2010(2010-04-23) at ProFC: Commonwealth Cup against Swedish wrestler Eddy Bengtsson, who Emelianenko defeated by TKO in a strange ending after Bengtsson fell down apparently with a light punch. Emelianenko founded his own training team, AE Team, which he started to present in his fight against Bengtsson.
A month later, on May 22, 2010(2010-05-22) at the event Azerbaijan vs. Europe organized with the support of the Azerbaijan Pankration Federation (APF) and held in Baku, Emelianenko defeated Serbian fighter Miodrag Petkovic by TKO (punches) in the first round.
KSW controversy
During July 2010(2010-07), Emelianenko was in talks with Polish promotion KSW (Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki) for a possible match up against strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski and reached a verbal agreement. But on August 3, 2010(2010-08-03) KSW co-owner Maciej Kawulski stated in a Polsat News interview that Emelianenko would likely not fight in KSW, claiming that Emelianenko had Hepatitis C.Emelianenko denied this and demanded an apology from KSW. During the controversy, a previous opponent of Emelianenko claimed that he believed that Emelianenko had Hepatitis B, not C.
On August 10, 2010(2010-08-10), Polish MMA promotion Strefa Walk decided to make public the results of medical tests reportedly taken by Emelianenko. These tests are claimed to show that he had none of the varieties of hepatitis and, thus, was fit to fight for the promotion. There has not since been independent verification of the tests results or recognition of the results by independent licensing agencies.
Strefa Walk
After the controversy, Strefa Walk announced a fight between Emelianenko and Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem, which Bas Boon, head of Golden Glory, confirmed to a Polish MMA website that it was in negotiations, but a few days later Overeem announced on Twitter that he was not going to fight Emelianenko.
On October 19, 2010(2010-10-19), Strefa Walk held a press conference in which it was officially announced that Emelianenko would face Austrian fighter Chris Mahle in the main event of Strefa Walk M&W: Emelianenko vs Mahle in Łódź, Poland on November 19, 2010(2010-11-19). On November 17, 2010(2010-11-17) Strefa Walk announced that the date of the bout of Emelianenko's bout with Mahle was changed to February 25, 2011(2011-02-25).
Before his fight with Mahle, Emelianenko faced Australian kickboxer Peter Graham on December 18, 2010(2010-12-18), being defeated by Graham via TKO in the second round after Graham connected several low kicks that rendered Emelianenko unable to continue the fight.
On February 10, 2011(2011-02-10) it was announced that Emelianenko's bout with Mahle was postponed to an unspecified later date due to the injury that Emelianenko received during his fight with Peter Graham.
Emelianenko faced Magomed Malikov at M-1 Challenge XXVIII on November 12, 2011 in Astrakhan, Russia. Emelianenko lost the fight via first round KO.
Boxing career
On October 3, 2009(2009-10-03), Emelianenko made his professional boxing debut against Hizir Pliev, an army boxing champion from Ingushetia who was also making his professional debut, in a fight that ended in a draw.
Outside sports
Personal life
Emelianenko moved from his native city, Stary Oskol, to Saint Petersburg in 2003 where he met his future wife. Before moving out of Stary Oskol, Emelianenko regularly trained with his brother Fedor, although they still train together occasionally.
Emelianenko married his wife, Olga, on September 4, 2004(2004-09-04). The couple has two daughters, Polina, who was born in 2007 and another daughter from Olga's previous relationship, Xenia (nicknamed Ksyusha), the elder sister by 8 years.
Originally a member of Red Devil Sport Club after he and his brother Fedor left Russian Top Team, Emelianenko is currently at odds with Red Devil Sport Club's and Fedor's manager Vadim Finkelstein.
In an interview published on March 21, 2008(2008-03-21), his brother Fedor, in response to a direct question, confirmed that Aleksander had spent time in a prison after he was sentenced to 5 years, but was released after 3.5 years. Aleksander, however, has several times denied ever spending time in jail, including in an interview published on December 5, 2008(2008-12-05) in the same publication where his brother commented about the issue. Some commentators have put in doubt Emelianenko's prison time because of Japan's strict immigration policy against convicted felons, which normally would not allow him to fight in Japan as he has done, while others point out that some of his tattoos are an indication that he spent some time in jail, although some of his tattoos would indicate a status which he could not achieve at the time of his imprisonment for being too young.
Emelianenko has studied English and, in 2003, he enrolled himself in economics courses at the Belgorod State University from which he graduated in 2009 with a bachelor's degree.
Emelianenko has several tattoos on his body and claims that they do not really have a meaning for him, he just likes them as a hobby.
Emelianenko likes to practice hunting and has said that he killed a bear by trapping its head with a fork-like staff and stabbing it in the heart with a knife, a traditional but not common way of Russian bear hunting.
After the 2008 South Ossetia Conflict he went to South Ossetia to train in preparation for his bout against Sang Soo Lee, in a sign of solidarity with the Ossetian people.
In a controversy apparently sparked by Emelianenko's tattoos, a story shown in Russian channel NTV on March 20, 2010(2010-03-20) presented Emelianenko as a Russian nationalist, equated with Roman Zentsov, which Emelianenko quickly denied, stating that he was only engaged in the development of MMA in his country, with no political motivations, especially for extremist groups.
TV appearances
Emelianenko has made some appearances in TV shows, including a Korean comedy show and Russia Channel One's show Big Races where he participated and lost two teeth in a competition against a bull in 2010.
Emelianenko also participated as one of the protagonists, along with fellow MMA fighter Julia Berezikova and other Russian athletes, in the 2010 Russian TV series starring Yevgeni Sidikhin, Olympic Village.
Mixed martial arts record
Professional boxing record
Championships and accomplishments
- 1999 European sports sambo champion
- 2003 World combat sambo champion
- 2004 World combat sambo champion
- 2006 World combat sambo champion
External links
- Official website
- Official blog (Russian)
- Professional MMA record for Alexander Emelianenko from Sherdog
- Professional boxing record for Alexander Emelianenko from BoxRec
- PRIDE profile
- PRIDE english profile
MMA Shirts
