In the Immense Shadow Of Fedor: Aleksander Emelianenko

One statement that is often repeated is, "He's no Fedor."

Really? Must that be pointed out every time someone talks about Aleksander?

As a fighter, it's tough to overcome being the younger brother of the P4P champion of the world. To make it worse, Aleksander is continuously haunted in the media by his criminal past and rumored health concerns.

The bottom line is that his past and his "health concerns" are debatable to the fight fan community and is none of our business.

Aleksander was well on his way to being one of the greatest heavyweight fighters in the world before being derailed by these unfortunate events.

So how does one overcome this constant barrage of criticism?

He moved on, that's how. Being unable to fight on U.S. soil isn't going to deter "The Grim Reaper." 

Aleksander has fought twice over in Russia since being denied a license to fight here in the states, winning both matches. His next scheduled opponent is Blagoi Ivanov, who made world-wide news after defeating Fedor Emelianenko in Combat Sambo last November.

After this anticipated match-up, Aleksander will undoubtedly pursue greater opponents here in America. Now whether or not this will happen is uncertain until the whole "bad blood" thing is cleared up.

Aleksander is confident that it will, saying that he vows to come to America and beat everyone in the UFC.

With his stunningly fast hands and Sambo background, Aleksander is more than capable of doing so. 

Can he compete with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, Cheick Kongo, or Cain Velasquez? 

Who knows, but it's exactly what "The Grim Reaper" is trying to prove. Which, according to some, is more than Fedor is willing to do.

Let's all hope that the "bad blood" rumor is just that, a rumor.