Posts Tagged ‘Fedor Emelianenko’

Fedor and his team with Stephen Koepfer at NYCS before Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament

‘SAMBO STEVE’
© Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com

President and co-founder of the American Sambo Association, Stephen Koepfer first took up the martial art of Shotokan Karate in 1976 at age eight; however Stephen has achieved so much since initially participating in the fighting arts, having earned the prestigious Master of Sport of Russia in February 2009 and being invited to instruct at the FKE’s Academy and the Suvorov Military Academy in St. Petersburg.

Speaking of the Russian combat system’s origin, Koepfer told Fight Nerd “Sambo was sort of the brainchild of the new Soviet government and it was established early in the 20th Century, around 1918…” Sambo has been rapidly spreading across the globe in recent years thanks to the success of its internationally successful practitioners, such as Oleg Taktarov (former UFC Champion), Andrei Arlovski (former UFC Champion), Igor Yakimov (former World Judo Champion and World Sport Sambo Champion), as well as Fedor Emelianenko (Former Pride and WAMMA Heavyweight Champion, and four-time World Combat Sambo Champion), and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (Master of Sport in both Sambo and Judo).

Sambo received a further worldwide boost through M-1 Global and the launching of M-1Challenge, which featured many Sambo practitioners showcasing their skills backed by their unwillingness to tap out. MMA fans then developed a desire to learn more about these hardened athletes and their fighting system.

Stephen ‘Sambo Steve’ Koepfer first took up Sambo training under Alexander Barakov in 1999 and has been one of the system’s greatest advocates in the United States since then. He graciously agreed to chat with Knucklepit about this amazing art that continues to grow across the globe.

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Vadim Finkelstein: “Fedor’s next fight will be in Russia” September 2, 2011 By Stan Kharlamov

Vadim Finkelstein, co-founder of M-1 Global, has confirmed today that Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko will fight in his homeland for the first time since April 2007.

“Fedor is going to fight in late fall in Russia, we have already reached all the necessary agreements on his fight”

Date, place and opponent will be announced soon.

M-1 Global Keeps Rolling Strong
© Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com
Special thanks to Irina Rogozhina

M-1 Global's Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan

In the mid sixties, there was a revolutionary underground rock sound that crept across the world, eventually surfacing in mainstream society and reshaping the way we would listen to music forever more.  Existing artists like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles quickly adjusted their tunes to the new beat of such acts as The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream.

Today, there is another underground movement rapidly sweeping the planet in much the same way acid rock did all those years ago.  Although M-1 Global is already Europe’s leading mixed martial arts promotion, the rest of the world is now being ‘turned on’ to M-1Global’s exciting new brand of MMA.

People worldwide are discovering Guram Gugenishvili, Magomed Sultanakhmedov and Pat Bennett, and talking about Yuri Ivlev’s combat sambo combinations the way they talked about Jack Bruce’s bass playing and Ginger Baker’s drum solos.

These are ground-breaking times in the sport of fighting and the Pied Piper for a lot of the interest in M-1 Global’s brand of mixed martial arts has been the world’s most successful MMA fighter of all time, Fedor Emelianenko, who will be facing off with Dan Henderson on July 30.

Joining Knucklepit to review what has been a huge start to 2011 for M-1 Global and to preview some of its incredible upcoming events is M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan.

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Evgeni Kogan chats about Fedor Emelianenko

Evgeni Kogan Chats with Knucklepit

© Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com

On February 12, 2011, the man Randy Couture described as “the best pound for pound fighter in the world”, Fedor Emelianenko, suffered his second loss at the Strikeforce/M-1 Global/ Showtime World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament.  Prior to Fedor’s two consecutive losses, Emelianenko won his first 31 fights before suffering a genuine loss.  The only other top-level athlete with an MMA record similar to Fedor’s is fellow Ukrainian-born legend, Igor Vovchanchyn.

Although both MMA superstars have similar winning streaks to their credit – Vovchanchyn 32 no-losses with one bout being a draw, and Emelianenko with 31 no-losses – these best-of-the-best athletes come from decisively different martial arts backgrounds.  Igor was a World Kickboxing Champion before crossing to MMA, and Fedor is a former Combat Sambo World Champion.

One similarity Fedor’s fans don’t want to see come to fruition with these two legends is the knowledge that Igor Vovchanchyn retired at 32 and Fedor Emelianenko, 34, was contemplating retirement after his loss to Antonio Silva.  Fortunately, M-1 Global’s Vadim Finkelstein has already declared that Emelianenko does intend returning to competition.

And although any fan’s main concern would be for Fedor’s health and wellbeing, when Knucklepit caught up with M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan, we were assured that Fedor is in good health and spirits.

It’s fine.  The orbital bone is not broken, and as far as I’m told, because Fedor is in Stary Oskol now and I’m in Holland, I’m told that he is okay.

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presented by FightSport
© Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com

Absolute Fedor DVD

The DVD Absolute Fedor presents 13 of Fedor Emelianenko’s highlight matches from Pride, and contains a further five bonus fights, including four from Rings.

Although this DVD is a collection of some of Fedor’s best fights and is extremely entertaining to watch, it also provides a unique opportunity for the viewer to study the disc as an instructional DVD and learn from the greatest fighter in history.

In Absolute Fedor, the mighty Russian takes on the world’s best heavyweights and dominates each opponent whilst displaying his mastery of each aspect of mixed martial arts.

THE BOUTS:

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Evgeni Kogan Chats With Knucklepit

© Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com
Photography by Nick Komic
Special thanks to Jacob Schaap

Russia's Fedor Emeliananko Fighting out of the Red Corner

It’s been four months since Fedor Emelianenko defeated Brett Rogers in the Strikeforce/M-1 Global match in Chicago and MMA fans are still talking about that classic showdown and remain eager to see more of The Last Emperor.  Fortunately, M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan, has some good news for readers.

At the time of this interview, Evgeni was in Holland when he spoke to Knucklepit and reflected on Strikeforce/M-1 Global’s Fedor vs. Rogers event.  “I was reasonably surprised because Rogers, I think, is originally from the suburbs of Chicago, so I was surprised by the warm response for Fedor.  When he came out the crowd just went wild.  At certain points they were chanting “Rogers, Rogers”, but when Fedor came out the crowd were definitely for him, and I was really surprised at how the American fans were behind a Russian from a small industrial mining town (Stary Oskol),” says Evgeni.

“I thought the event itself was lots of fun and it was a good card – the four fights aired live on TV were very good, and I thought that the actual Emelianenko vs. Rogers fight was unfortunate in that some people were not giving Rogers enough credit for being a worthy enough opponent for Fedor, because Brett actually ended up being a pretty strong opponent.  There were times during the fight when everyone going for Fedor was more or less concerned, so it was a good fight to see. Read the rest of this entry »

Fedor Emelianenko

A Tribute to ‘The Last Emperor’

©Marc Wickert ©www.knucklepit.com

Born in Rubizhe, Luhansk, Ukraine, on September 28, 1976, Fedor Emelianenko relocated with his family to the Russian industrial town of Stary Oskol when he was two.   Situated 500 miles south of Moscow in the Belgorod area, Stary Oskol is best known for its steel mills and iron ore plant, which suited Fedor’s father who was a hard-working welder.

As a child, Fedor grew up idolizing another Ukrainian, the legendary Soviet weightlifter, Yury Vlasov, and was determined to one day inspire young Russian children in the way Yury had inspired him.  The adolescent Fedor missed seeing Vlasov at his peak, when he took over from America’s Paul Anderson as the ‘Strongest Man in the World’ before slashing 32 world records in the super-heavyweight division. But the legend of Yury was enough for Fedor to set the bar for his own aspirations.

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