Fedor Emelianenko retires following knockout of Pedro Rizzo by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jun 21, 2012 at 10:10 pm ET One of the greatest mixed martial artists in the history of the sport is hanging up his gloves. HDNet's Ron Kruck on Thursday confirmed Fedor Emelianenko is retiring following a knockout of Pedro Rizzo at "M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Rizzo," which took place Thursday at Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The 35-year-old Emelianenko leaves the sport with an overall 34-4 record in 12 years of professional competition. The former PRIDE heavyweight champion left Rizzo in a heap just 84 seconds into their headlining bout. It was his third straight win since a knockout loss to Dan Henderson prompted his release from Zuffa-owned Strikeforce. His overall record in the promotion was 1-3. After the Henderson loss, Emelianenko (34-4) migrated back to his native Russia, where he outpointed UFC veteran Jeff Monson over three lackluster rounds. He then fought in Japan, where he first became a star under the now-defunct PRIDE, earning a first-round KO of Satoshi Ishii in a 2011 New Year's Eve card co-promoted by his management company M-1 Global, DREAM and Inoki Genome Federation. Following Thursday's knockout, Emelianenko was joined in the ring by his wife and daughter, as well as his trainers and managers. Russian president Vladimir Putin, who watched the event ringside, also paid his respects. Emelianenko ruled top-10 rankings for more than a half-decade as he went virtually unbeaten in almost 10 years of competition. A native of Stary Oskol, Russia, he found his way into the sport through the Russian martial art of Sambo. He made his PRIDE debut in 2002 and established himself as a dominant force after winning the heavyweight title from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2003. He defended the title twice in addition to winning the 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix, racking up iconic wins over former UFC champs Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman as well as Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. Emelianenko was aggressively courted by the UFC in 2009 following the collapse of Affliction's short-lived fight promotion and was reportedly offered a multi-million dollar contract. He and his representatives turned down the deal, citing the unwillingness of the industry-leading UFC to co-promote, among other concerns. Strikeforce soon after acquired Emelianenko, and he fought three times for the promotion before Zuffa purchased it in March 2011. Following his loss to Henderson, he was released from his contract by Zuffa. UFC president Dana White repeatedly took shots at the heavyweight in the press for his decision not to sign with the UFC. A report issued by Russian news outlet RIA Novosti quoted Emelianenko on his retirement: "My family influenced my decision. My daughters are growing without me, (and) that's why it's time to leave."
Props to Fedor for getting out when its time. He clearly isnt motivated anymore. While motivated, the guy was untouchable. Congrats on a stellar career.
Has there ever been a more explosive guy in MMA? Aside from his well-roundedness, I think his ability to explode is what kept him at the top and allowed him to compete against larger opponents. In a sport where a lot of fighters are content to win a decision, it's unfortunate a guy like him, who is always looking to finish, has to call it quits.
Has he ever been accused of juicing? Obviously it's not conclusive, but it's a nice change to have an mma guy NOT look like he is a cheating juicer. His ability to hurt guys while in their guard was pretty special. He's a very natural fighter who had the ability to get out of tough situations. The fact that he got into too many tough situations makes me wonder how good he really was, but he sure put together a long winning streak in a sport that is very difficult to do that in.
I'm sure he was juicing. After all he fought in all them small organizations where nobody fucks with a star like Fedor , they probably were too scared to ask him for any samples anyway. Maybe they tested him in Strikeforce , maybe that's why he went 1-3 there. The reason I think he might have juiced is because there was some RUssian kid that Fedor was a mentor to and he got busted juicing. On the other hand Fedor is EXTREMELY religious so that could have prevented him from cheating...who knows..who cares.
Fedor was well-rounded before it became common in MMA. It was the reason he did so well. He faced a laundry list of limited one-trick ponies and dominated them. The thing that I appreciate the most about a prime Fedor was the fact that his opponents weren't safe in any situation. On top, off his back, standing, in the clinch, etc, he was always dangerous and looking to end the fight. And the way Fedor was able to stay relaxed in ANY situation really set him apart and not just apart from the top guys in his division and era, but ever. Whether he was getting slammed on his head or tagged with a big punch, the dude never lost control. Just an amazing athlete to watch.
