The judges didn't have enough courage to make an honest decision on Emelianenko's fight
Oleg Taktarov on the Last Emperor's victory over the Brazilian Fabio Maldonado
On the 17th of June the long-awaited duel between the legend of MMA, the 39 year-old Fyodor Emelianenko and the 36 year-old Brazilian Fabio Maldonda took place. It was the Last Emperor's second fight after a break that lasted more than two years. But although he won the fight in December with the Indian fighter Djaidip Singh with no real trouble, this victory over Maldonado raised many questions.
In the first round, in which Emelyanenko was hit by a hail of punches, it seemed that the Russian could never recover and would be stopped inside the distance. However he withstood the battering and during the course of the next two rounds looked a little more convincing that his opponent, but no more. As it turned out the judges gave the advantage to Emelyanenko, which surprised many, including the Brazilian fighter, who threw up his hands when the final gong sounded, sure of his triumph.
"I have infinite respect for Fyodor, he's one of the most humble fighters that I've met," Maldonado told the news portal MMA fighting. "But I didn't lose the fight. In the worst case the judges should have given Emelyanenko the third round and declared it a draw. Fyodor went down several times. And the first round went to me without a doubt, everyone saw that."
During his interview with journalists after the fight Emelianenko himself said that the fight was one of the worst of his career.
"I thought that the fight would be much easier," he said. "I knew that Maldondo has good hands. But I was hoping that I would be able to catch him. The fans like those kinds of fights, but judging by how I got bashed up, it was one of my worst fights. I'm not used to this kind of thing."
Izvestiya asked one of the most well-known MMA fighters, the famous Russian champion Oleg Taktarov, to comment on Emelyanenko's victory.
"Fyodor showed his heart and got up, when others wouldn't have," he noted. "I have to give him credit for that without a doubt. I want to be respectful, but you can see that the judges from the MMA union were definitely forced to give that decision. And now that decision is going to come back to bite him. If they'd given a draw it wouldn't have been a problem. But I know how the world will react to that fight. They'll just write off Fight Nights immediately: "They fix fights there, why should we go, why shoudl we watch that?" I don't get it - it must be that they leant on the judges so hard that they didn't dare be honest. I wouldn't want them to do that for me. If I lost a fight then I lost a fight, it's got to be fair. And if there was a draw or Fyodor lost then there would be a chance for a rematch. That would be fair and honest. At least we can be grateful to the promoters for not bringing a cat in a bag, they gave him a serious opponent. I don't understand why Fyodor didn't take Maldonado down. Maybe he could tell that it would be difficult to handle the Brazilian on the ground. Or maybe it was the same thing that happened with me in Japan when I was fighting Gary Goodridge. A black knight loaded on steroids came out against me at the peak of his career and I was on the downward slope. During the fight, when I realised that there was a big difference in strength between us I still didn't take it to the ground. I decided that I had become a great boxer, but that isn't realistic, you can't become a boxer in six months. If Fyodor was a wrestler he should stay a wrestler."
Before Emelyanenko's fight with Maldondo there was discussion about whether he might sign a contract with the UFC. Oleg Taktarov gave his thoughts on how likely that was after his last fight.
"As far as the possibility of Emelyanenko signing with the UFC goes I don't think that they'll take him after that last fight," Taktarov thinks. "On the other hand from the business point of view the UFC can say better how much money they can make with him. In any case it's more likely now than it was before. But do they need Emelyanenko is a big question. Fyodor is getting to that age when you want to spend more time at home, in Starii Oskol. And it seems to me that at that age the money you can make is more important to you than sporting prowess, so I think Emelyanenko will go where they will pay him more.
