Fedor’s Manager Says He Will Be Fighting For A Long Time
Added on Jan 13, 2011 by John Petit in
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The Last Emperor Fedor Emelianenko doesn’t do many interviews so it was easy for fans and spectators to speculate on his future in MMA after his first real loss. His manager Vadim Finkelstein says those fears are baseless, and Fedor should be fighting well past his new 4 fight deal with Strikeforce. He spoke with MMAWeekly and assured us “If everything works out great and he’s healthy and he’s performing at the level he’s accustomed to performing then I don’t see why it won’t be beyond those fights as well.”
Fedor is coming off his loss to Febrico Werdum, and many are anxious to see how the Russian responds. His management company is notorious for proving to be difficult to deal with, but they maintain Fedor has been training hard. He said “For the last month he’s been up in the mountains at high altitude, he’s already been training, he’s already been trying to get his body ready and functionally ready for his next fight. He’s just been doing a lot of what he usually does.”
Fedor is set to face Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in the first round of an 8 man tournament that is still shrouded with confusion, but the fight will take place on the February 12 in New Jersey. If Fedor wins he will face the winner of Allistair Overeem and the only man to ever stop him Febricio Werdum. Finkelstein says that Fedor is only focused on the task at hand, and thats beating Silva. He said “Fedor’s a person that doesn’t like to look too far in advance, and sometimes people don’t understand when he says ‘it’s God’s will’ and ‘it’s up to God to see how things turn out’ that’s a very Russian way of people saying that it all really depends on certain factors, and that’s always how he’s approached the future of his fights. Assuming everything works out and his health is great, and feeling fine, he could very well fight beyond the four fights and who knows where, but that’s something that’s very difficult to predict. Fedor just by nature is not someone who looks too far ahead for anything.”
As far as their feelings on the tournament are concerned, they feel it could be a historic moment for the sport. He continued “We embraced the idea, we thought it was a great idea. Particularly because the tournament consists of eight of the best fighters in the world, and I think it’s a tournament that’s going to capture a worldwide audience and be something that’s very historic, and well received.”
The only out the ordinary thing Finkelstein mentioned is only out of the ordinary when you are talking about most fighters. Most fighters are mainly concerned with championships and belts, but he maintains that these things don’t concern Fedor. He said “Fedor’s always been a person when asked that never considers himself the best fighter in the world, but like any fighter, when Fedor goes into that ring or that cage, he fights to win. He fights to defeat his opponent. As long as he keeps wanting to fight, I’m sure he keeps going to fight to win and not to lose. I don’t think he’s the type of person that has anything to prove, he never fought with the desire to prove anything.”
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January 13, 2:17 am
Great article. This is all very exciting and here’s to a future without a zuffa monopoly. Competition for the best fighters means they can’t be lowballed as easily. And how about a fighter’s union???