FEDOR EMELIANENKO: STONE COLD READY

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FEDOR EMELIANENKO: STONE COLD READY
Saturday, January 24, 2009 - by Tom Hamlin - MMAWeekly.com

By the time you see Fedor Emelianenko in public, all the emotion has been rung out of him. He made it so months before in the blistering cold of mining town Stary Oskol.

Like his friend and colleague Randy Couture, the last weeks of fight hype are merely a “pleasant distraction” from the task at hand.

Though taped evidence has yet to reveal this, Emelianenko says his early career was marked with nerves, with emotion. Before a fight, he says he was more susceptible to the swings most fighters experience as they march toward an uncertain fate.

“I worried a lot more, and I got a lot more nervous, and the emotions were much less controllable,” he says.

He doesn’t remember when, but as he fought more, he beat his emotions – and his opponents – into submission.

“It was just a step-by-step process throughout my career, where every time I faced another fight, every time I go through certain things, I put more emphasis on that as a part of the training process,” he continues.

When you see him now, wearing the look of a home ec. teacher on summer break, you sure as hell won’t see any cracks in his armor; just a sheepish grin, alternating with an icy stare.

Boxing guru Freddie Roach won’t upset him; all the potshots in the preceding months are irrelevant.

“I know I don’t have a perfect boxing style and I know the flaws I have, and I’ll work on those,” Emelianenko drawls. “So it is what it is.”

His grappling trainer, Vladimir Mihailovich Voronov, can afford a little jab.

“I like people that talk less and perform more,” he says to the laughs of his team. “Our women are the ones that talk a lot, and the men are the ones who get into the ring and perform.”

Emelianenko is currently in Anaheim, counting the last hours towards his fight with Andrei Arlovski at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning.” His homey attire has been replaced with an Affliction t-shirt – no surprise there. On Saturday, he and his team will drive to the arena, warm up, and wait. He may play some cards before he steps out. The only emotion he’ll pay attention to is that of hurt – when Arlovski breaks down in front of him.

“When my opponent is in a position of weakness or struggle, that’s when I usually feel whether they’re ready to go,” he said. “When I’m in the ring, I’m calm both inside and outside.”

Ranked among the other challenges in his nine-year career, Emelianenko sees Arlovski as no less of a threat.

“Andrei’s a different type of fighter than those guys, but he’s not any less dangerous,” says Emelianenko. “Guys like Cro Cop and Nogueira, they have their signature moves, and their signature strengths.

“Andrei doesn’t have the best of submission skills compared to some of the guys, but the thing about Andrei is that he’s so well rounded in the ways that he could potentially hurt you. So they’re all very different types of fighters, but with respect to his striking skills, he’s not on any less of a level than some of the strikers I’ve been in the ring with.”

Emelianenko’s final preparations have centered on speed, accuracy, and reaction time, three things they’ll need to counter Arlovski’s quickness. He has trained for contingencies based on the Belarusian’s other strengths, but when the fight starts, it’s wait and see.

“We’ve got strategies ready for what may occur,” says Emelianenko. “But there’s no specific strategy for going into the ring.”

Clearly, what’s most important is calm. He’s got years of championship-level experience, and will take Saturday as another workday like any other.

No matter what Arlovski throws at him, Emelianenko will only express himself with action.

[TKD&JKD]

Fedor Is a beast! Master of Sambo. He's the total package. I also like a fighter who doesn't talk a lot of smack, he just smacks around his opponents.

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He's fighting Andrei soon. Very soon. Within this hour.