When fedor was competing
Tthe guys he likely competed against were Tamerlan Tmenov, silver and bronze olympic medalist, two time silver and two time bronze world championship winner, and Alexander Mikhaylin, three time world championship winner and two bronze, and silver olympic medalist. Tamerlan Tmenov is 39, Mikhaylin is 37, and Fedor is 40 years old. And between Tmenov and Mikhaylins,they have 13 European gold medals..I dont know how strong they are not but according to mikhaylin, well to quote the guy
"...I remember Fedor Emelianenko as a very strong judoka. We constantly sparred with each other in training, and both of us held the upper hand at one time or another. We fought in a major competition only once, about seven years ago. I won against him in the final match of some international tournament then. ** However, right after that I won two gold medals in the world championships, one in the super heavyweight division and the other one in the absolute. My victory over Fedor Emelianenko was not easy, and that's understandable. He was a very tough opponent for anyone.
Today, I can't really evaluate all of the pluses and minuses of him as a candidate for the national team back then. I have also changed a lot since that time. However, his distinctive characteristic has always been the untamed desire to fight. Even when he lost the match, he fought until the very end, trying to use even the smallest opportunity to win. Many major sport teams would have wanted to have a strong heavyweight judoka like Emelianenko on the roster. However, the competition among the super heavyweights in the Russian national team has always been exceptionally strong. It would have been very hard for him to overcome it, especially when it was combined with sports politics. In that situation, Fedor, to put it bluntly, got fed up and transitioned to a different sport where he now has no equal..."