All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the third installment. You can find parts one and two here and here.The semifinals were over and Fedor had reached the climax of Pride's heavyweight tournament. After steamrolling Naoya Ogawa in just 51 seconds, he was primed for the final match. To capture the belt, he only needed to do something he'd done once before: beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Both were undefeated since their first meeting, but Fedor undoubtedly had the easier schedule and easier road to the finals. Along the way, Nogueira had beaten five opponents, including three that were previously undefeated. Fedor was fresh; Nogueira had just gone 15 hard-fought minutes with Sergei Kharitonov.
vs. Nogueira ... again
The question was: what would Fedor's gameplan be this time? In their first match, Fedor shockingly chose to engage Nogueira entirely on the ground. He proved the point that his ground-and-pound and submission defense were enough to pummel Nogueira and his BJJ. Would he go back to the ground even with the ever-present threat of a submission?
In the first couple of minutes, it seemed the answer would be yes. He willingly went to the ground again, but encountered a more game Nogueira. The jiu-jitsu black belt showed a much more active guard and better defense; it was 90 seconds before Fedor landed his first strike. He eventually started finding his target, but it was clear that this was already more competitive than the first time around.
But in an attempt to throw another of his lunging punches from on top, Fedor's and Nogueira's heads collided, opening a gash on the Russian's face that called a stop to the bout. There would be no tournament winner that night. It was as anti-climactic an ending as could be, a No Contest caused by unintentional injury.
After giving Fedor enough time to heal, Pride immediately scheduled a re-rematch to be the main event in their biggest show of the year, the annual Shockwave show on New Year's Eve.
vs. Nogueira again ... again
The match started just like the first two, with Fedor getting the takedown and landing on top within 10 seconds. The difference was that this time he stood up and did not enter Nogueira's guard. Twice more within the first two minutes Fedor literally threw Nogueira to the canvas, but again, he did not follow to the ground and waited for the referee to stand Nogueira up.
On the feet, Fedor used his quickness to evade Nogueira's more technical boxing and employed a new weapon: kicks. Fedor had not thrown a single leg kick in any of his 10 fights to date. Using the stick-and-move approach, he landed eight punishing kicks -- four to the legs, four to the body -- in the first round.
Mid-way through the first, Fedor landed the most significant strike of the match, a crushing right hook that put Nogueira on the mat. But rather than rush in and try to finish on the ground, Fedor again waited for the fight to be stood up. His patient assault at distance continued, outstriking Nogueira 17-3 in the first round.
The second round looked a lot more like the first two fights. Fedor willingly entered Nogueira's guard, easily shrugged off any potential submissions, and landed hammering punches whenever possible. A third round spent mainly on the feet with the striking advantage to Fedor was all it took for Emelianenko to come away with another unanimous decision and the heavyweight Grand Prix title. He had again proven that he had Nogueira's number, dominating on the feet, landing takedowns at will, and most impressively of all, never even allowing Nogueira to try a submission that was remotely close. (Full stats available here.)
vs. Kohsaka
What does one do when they've just proven again that they are the best fighter in the world? Avenge their only loss. Or rather, make that "loss." The lone blemish on Fedor's record came in a RINGS battle against Japanese scrapper Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in late 2000. The fight lasted all of 17 seconds before an inadvertent elbow by Kohsaka cut Fedor badly enough that the fight had to be stopped. Normally, one would expect that this would result in a No Contest. But because this bout was part of a tournament and there needed to be a winner, the organization awarded the victory outright to Kohsaka.
Now four-and-a-half years later, Fedor was the champion and Kohsaka was clearly on the decline in his 10th year of professional fighting. Even though the match lasted 10 minutes, Kohsaka was really only in the fight for the first 20 seconds. After attempting a takedown and falling to his back, Kohsaka was on the receiving end of about a dozen nasty power shots from Fedor, which opened several cuts. Kohsaka fought on valiantly, but those cuts would eventually force doctors to call off the bout in between the first and second rounds.
vs. CroCop
The saga of finalizing the matchup between Fedor and Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic was long and frustrating. It was one of the most anticipated and demanded matches in MMA history, but it took nearly two years to make a reality.
After Fedor beat Gary Goodridge in August 2003, it was assumed that Mirko would be next in line to face Fedor. But Fedor turned down the matchup, saying he couldn't fight because of a broken thumb. In spite of this, he was healthy enough to take a huge payday to fight Yuji Nagata on New Year's Eve for a rival promotion. 
Four months later, at the start of the heavyweight Grand Prix, Pride engineered the matchups so that Fedor and Mirko's paths would cross in the quarterfinals. Kevin Randleman threw a monkey wrench in that plan with a huge upset knock out of Mirko in the opening round of the tournament. The match would have to wait until the tournament was over.
So after defeating Nogueira to win the tournament, it again appeared that Mirko would get his shot. This time it was a contract dispute that kept the match on hold. Fedor was unwilling to sign a long-term deal and only signed a one-fight deal to face Kohsaka. The grumblings were getting louder that Fedor was intentionally ducking Mirko.
But at long last, with new contract in hand and both thumbs intact, there was nothing else to stand in the way. On August 28, 2005, fans finally got to see Fedor face the man many said had the perfect style to beat him.
The thinking goes that the best style to counteract a good ground-and-pound specialist is the sprawl-and-brawl. If the superior striker can sprawl away and avoid takedowns, he'll keep the fight on the feet long enough to land the knockout punch -- or in Mirko's case, knockout kick. CroCop was a K-1 level striker who had a highlight reel full of knockouts via left high kick, notably, one against Fedor's brother, Aleksander.
Coming in, it seemed obvious that Fedor would take the fight to the ground and neutralize Mirko's advantage, just like he did against Semmy Schilt. This fight was the confirmation that there's nothing obvious about Fedor.
The fight began and Fedor made no move that looked like he wanted a takedown. Instead, he was moving forward -- he was stalking Mirko around the ring! Not only that, he was landing more frequently and with greater power. Mirko's attempts at the left-high kick caught nothing but air. Only after five minutes had elapsed did Fedor take the fight down, where it remained for the rest of the round. Interestingly, his ground assault was less effective against the striker Mirko than against the ground master Nogueira.
The second and third rounds were more of the same: Fedor moving forward and forcing Mirko into the role of counter-puncher, then Fedor taking the fight to the ground, working some ground-and-pound, and ending each round with Mirko on his back. When it was all said and done, Fedor had outstruck the striker, landing 42 HiPer Strikes compared to just nine for Mirko. The constant pressure had worked so well in taking Mirko out of his game that Mirko did not land a single head power shot on the feet the entire fight.(Full stats available here.) Fedor had, again, made the doubters look foolish.
With the victory over Mirko, Fedor had nearly cleaned out the Pride heavyweight division. If a match with Josh Barnett couldn't be arranged, who would Fedor fight next?
Tomorrow: 2005-Present: Mismatches and Reflections
