Fedor Emelianenko: Power Ranking His 10 Toughest Career Opponents (with Videos)

Known as “The Last Emperor,” Fedor Emelianenko is widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight mixed martial artist fighter of all-time. His impressive track record includes wins over some of the greatest fighters of this era, most of whom he defeated in their prime, and many of whom he completely manhandled.

But it hasn’t always been easy for the former Pride Heavyweight champion.

The world was shocked when fellow heavyweight Fabricio Werdum defeated Emelianenko in June 2010. The loss marked just the second time that he had been defeated in his career and the first time in over nine years. The previous loss was, as many know, very controversial because it came via cut from an illegal elbow. But the loss to Werdum was as legit as they get.

As dominant as Fedor has been, this wasn’t the first time that he has been in trouble in a fight. In fact, there have been times when this dominant fighter has been near defeat only to harness his inner-champion and come out on top.

This Saturday night, Fedor will enter the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament that features a first round fight between he Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Emelianenko is considered a big favorite for this fight, but that hasn’t always meant an easy victory in the past.

So as we prepare for this weekend’s fight, let’s look back on the ten toughest opponents that Fedor Emelianenko has faced in his mixed martial arts career.

10. Brett Rogers

Brett Rogers got his chance to dethrone “The Last Emperor” in November 2009.

Coming into the fight on a 10-fight win streak and having never been defeated, Rogers’ punching power was a concern for Fedor fans who had seen their favorite fighter rocked before.

During the impressive start to his career, Rogers had finished every one of his fights in the first two rounds, and all of them by way of knockout. His previous knockout victories over James Thompson and former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski proved that, while he wasn’t yet a household name, he had the potential to be one day.

The fight started off with Rogers tagging Emelianenko with a jab that opened his nose up which quickly led to Fedor taking him to the ground. The first round was back-and-forth from there with both men landing a few shots. Rogers impressed many by avoiding numerous submission attempts and raining down punches from on top at one point.

The second round was a different story, though, as Fedor took control, using his own aggressiveness to push the much larger Rogers against the cage where he punished him with punches.

When the men separated, Fedor got the opportunity he was looking for and caught Rogers with a thunderous right hand that sent him to the mat.

The loss was the first of Rogers’ career and while he wasn’t able to make history, he did show that he was a contender for the future by hanging with Fedor for nearly seven minutes.

9. Andrei Arlovski

Coming into his fight with Fedor, Andrei Arlovski had been on an impressive five fight winning streak. It wasn’t a padded winning streak, either. All five victories came against legitimate competition: Roy Nelson, Ben Rothwell, Jake O’Brien, Marcio Cruz and Fabricio Werdum.

But the former UFC Heavyweight champion was ready for the biggest challenge of his career.

While Fedor stood across the cage with his usual calm, almost nonchalant expression, Arlovski was perhaps more jacked up for this fight than any other in his impressive career.

From the opening bell, Arlovski was the aggressor. Using leg kicks and quick combinations, Arlovksi was able to throw off Fedor’s rhythm, and we saw him throwing quite a few wild punches that did not find their mark. The champion appeared to be very frustrated and quite flustered by the pace and accuracy of Arlovski.

With about two minutes left in the first round, Arlovski started to really feel it. He tagged Fedor with a body punch and followed it up by another quick combination that appeared to catch him a bit. Arlovski took the opportunity to connect with a push kick to the body that sent Emelianenko into the ropes.

When Fedor came off the ropes, Arlovski attempted a flying knee but was met with an absolutely devastating overhand right that landed directly on the button. The fight was over just that quickly.

Arlovski has since lost two straight fights to Brett Rogers and Antonio Silva and some say that the loss to Emelianenko was the downfall of his MMA career.

8. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

Before Fedor was the Fedor we know him to be now, he was competing in the Rings organization, based out of Japan.

While it was considered mixed martial arts, Rings had different rules than the MMA rules that most fans are aware of today. Perhaps the biggest difference was that strikes to the face were illegal on the ground in Rings. Of course, later in his career, we would find out that one of Fedor’s biggest strengths is his ability to land strikes to the head while his opponent is on his back.

But during this fight with Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Emelianenko would have to make use of his overall game to win the fight. While Fedor came into the fight with an impressive record, it was Sobral’s 19-2 record that looked even more daunting.

The fight was, by most accounts, fairly evenly matched. Emelianenko was declared the victor in the end, by decision, but it was Sobral who came closest to ending the fights on a few different occasions as he nearly submitted Fedor with an ankle lock and a heel hook.

7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

The only man to have faced Fedor on three separate occasions is the legendary Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Nogueira, the Pride Heavyweight champion, had already put together a legendary career at 19-1-1 by the time he was set to defend his title against Fedor Emelianenko. The only loss of his career to that point had come at the hands of Dan Henderson, whom he had defeated just three months prior to this first fight.

With Nogueira considered one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners in the world, most fans expected Fedor to attempt to keep the fight on the feet where he would have a chance to use his impressive punching power to end the fight.

But Fedor wasn’t going to completely change his style just because he was afraid of a potential submission.

Nogueira did nearly catch him with a triangle on a couple different occasions, but Fedor continued to use powerful ground-and-pound to control the fight and win the fight on the judge’s scorecards. When it was all said and done, the Fedor Emelianenko era had begun as he became the Pride Heavyweight champion, a crown he would never lose.

Nogueira and Fedor would fight twice more in their careers, with the second fight ending in a no contest due to an accidental headbutt and the third fight ending in another decision for Fedor.

While Nogueira didn’t ever truly catch Fedor, it is impressive that he was never finished by the world’s best heavyweight.

6. Kevin Randleman

A former two-time Division I NCAA Champion at Ohio State University, Kevin Randleman is one of the most powerful and decorated athletes to ever compete in mixed martial arts.

Coming into his fight with Emelianenko, Randleman had most recently defeated one of the world’s top heavyweight fighters, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, by knocking him out early in the first round of their fight at Pride Total Elimination 2004 in the first round of the Heavyweight Grand Prix.

In the second round, though, Randleman would face the toughest task of his career in the Pride Heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko.

Randleman used his excellent wrestling ability early to rush his opponent into the ropes before lifting him up and driving him into the ground. Fedor gave up his back as he struggled to his feet which led to perhaps the most replayed highlight in Pride history when Randleman lifted Fedor over his head and drove him into the canvas, head-first, with a German suplex.

The vicious slam would have been enough to finish almost any man—but Fedor is not just any man. Emelianenko eventually worked his way on top of Randleman and rained down punches on Randleman who eventually let go of his grasp and was left open for an impressive kimura submission, which earned Fedor the win.

This fight didn’t last long but it is certainly memorable for the slam and Emelianenko’s ability to recover.

5. Mark Hunt

This fight was originally scheduled to be Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett for the Pride Heavyweight championship, but Barnett turned down the fight after claiming he wasn’t in good enough physical condition.

Barnett’s loss was Mark Hunt’s gain as Mirko Cro Cop’s departure for the UFC left him as the top contender for Fedor’s title.

Everyone knew the scenario for this fight: Fedor would be looking to bring the fight to the ground while Hunt would be looking to keep it standing. But what ended up happening wasn’t what we expected.

After a minute or so of exchanging weak shots on their feet, Fedor used momentum to sling Hunt to the canvas where he quickly gained full mount. Fedor immediately went for an arm bar, but Hunt used surprising impressive submission defense to gain top control.

When the fight got to the feet again, it was Hunt who was again able to land on top of Fedor when the two clinched. Not long after that, Hunt shocked everyone by grabbing Fedor’s left arm and attempting an Americana submission. Emelianenko was able to slip loose, but was unable to stop Hunt from grabbing his arm and attempting it again just a few seconds later.

Things looked dire for the champion as his arm was turned in what looked to be an excruciatingly painful direction. It wouldn’t matter, though, as Emelianenko refused to tap and eventually wrestled his arm free.

The fight went to the feet again and Fedor was finally able to take Hunt down and gain top control again. From there, a kimura came at 8:16 in round one as Fedor had successfully defended the Pride heavyweight title for the last time.

4. Kazuyuki Fujita

The first title defense of Fedor’s run as the Pride Heavyweight champion came when he faced former amateur and professional wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita in June 2003 at Pride 26.

Emelianenko was expected to easily dominate Fujita in the bout, who was known for having practically no stand-up game and had relatively limited experience on his back.

Fujita weathered an early take down attempt from the champion but was hit and knocked to his back not long after that. Fujita scrambled to his feet, eating a soccer kick in the process, before attempting a take down of his own. Fedor was able to avoid it and the fight went back to the feet.

From there, Fedor worked his stand-up game on the over-matched Fujita...or so we thought.

When Fedor pushed Fujita against the ropes, he was met with a furious overhand right that sent him wobbling all over the ring. Fedor immediately clinched and was able to avoid being knocked out. Fujita brought Fedor to the ground but was unable to finish.

The fight eventually got back to the feet where Fedor landed a punch of his own that sent Fujita crashing down. From there, the champion took his opponent’s back and finished the fight with a picture-perfect rear naked choke.

Fujita wasn’t ranked high at all going into this bout and caught everyone by surprise when he nearly knocked out the world’s top heavyweight fighter.

3. Ricardo Arona

In the first round of the Rings King of Kings 2000 Tournament, Fedor Emelianenko battled Ricardo Arona. Though both men are considered legends in the sport now, this was just Emelianenko’s fourth and Arona’s third professional mixed martial arts fights.

Both men were undefeated going into the fight and were considered up-and-comers in the sport.

This bout was very controversial in that many people believe that the judges made the wrong decision in awarding the victory to Emelianenko.

Arona dominated most of the fight from the top and even had Fedor’s back early in the first round. He was unable to finish, though, which eventually led to Fedor gaining top control and standing the fight up.

This fast-paced fight was mostly a grappling contest with neither fighter truly landing much in the way of big strikes.

In the end, the RINGS rules were truly evident as scoring was based not on positional control but on attempting to finish and damage dealt. While Arona controlled most of the fight, judges ruled that he did not deliver more damage nor did he have as many attempts at finishing the fight; thus they gave the decision to Emelianenko.

2. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

In the fight that Fedor himself claimed was the most difficult of his career, he faced former K-1 star Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

This fight was highly anticipated with Filipovic having strung together a streak of seven straight victories including wins over top Pride heavyweights Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman. But things were even more interesting due to a personal score to settle with Fedor.

Fedor’s younger brother, Aleksander Emelianenko, was also one of Cro Cop’s recent victims, having been knocked out by the Croatian with a vicious head kick in the first round of their fight at Pride: Final Conflict 2004. Fedor would certainly be looking to avenge the loss of his younger brother in his very important fight that took place a year later in Aug. 2005 at Pride: Final Conflict 2005.

In the first round of this huge fight, Emelianenko was rocked a bit and had his nose broken by a jab from Cro Cop. In addition, Filipovic took to delivering his patented huge body kicks to the ribs of the champion.

The two men exchanged blows throughout the fight and while the fight did not end in a highlight reel knockout, it truly will go down as one of the most important fights in mixed martial arts history.

It only takes one look at Fedor’s face after the fight to realize how much damage he truly took at the hands of one of the best strikers the sport of mixed martial arts has ever seen.

1. Fabricio Werdum

June 26, 2010 will forever live in infamy as the date that the MMA world was turned on its head.

Though he was considered by most to be a top-10 heavyweight, Fabricio Werdum was a heavy underdog for his fight with the man who had not been defeated in over eight years. Though Werdum had defeated Antonio Silva and Mike Kyle in back-to-back contest since joining Strikeforce, few gave him a chance against the greatest heavyweight of all-time.

The fight started in typical Fedor-like fashion with him taking the center of the mat and stalking his prey. When Werdum went in for a series of punches, Fedor fired back, landing at least one shot that sent Werdum to his back.

Fedor followed Werdum to the ground where he was immediately met by a triangle attempt. Fedor got free and landed a few hammer fists before Werdum was able to secure the triangle again. This time, he would not let go.

I remember looking on in shock as the man that I had classified as “unbeatable” was forced to tap out in the center of the cage. The announcers on the screen were going crazy, and Werdum looked like he almost couldn’t believe it himself.

While there is no shame in losing to a top-level competitor like Fabricio Werdum, seeing Fedor Emelianenko lose a fight truly highlighted the fact that mixed martial arts is a sport where anything can happen. There may be heavy favorites in fights but nothing is ever guaranteed.

“The one who doesn't fall doesn't stand up,” Fedor said after the fight. “It happens that I was made kind of an idol. Everybody loses. That happens. I'm a normal human being, as are all of us. If it is God's will, the next fight I'll win.”

The ever-humble Emelianenko was as gracious in defeat as he has been so many times in victory.

This Saturday night, “The Last Emperor” will have a chance to start a new streak as he faces Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. If he can win the tournament, he may be once again regarded as the very best heavyweight in the world.

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