sambo

(And to think this all started with a colorful gi, some little shorts, and a dream.)

It looks like Combat Sambo tournaments might actually lead to career advancement opportunities, after all.  Blagoi Ivanov has signed a three-fight deal with Sengoku and will reportedly face former Pride fighter Kazuyuki Fujita in his first fight at Sengoku 9 in August.  Ivanov is the guy who made minor waves (more like ripples by the time they reached the U.S.) when he beat Fedor Emelianenko on points in the World Combat Sambo Championships last November.  Fujita’s claim to fame is that he once hit Fedor so hard it briefly stunned him.  Neither of these accomplishments is enough to make this a truly interesting fight, although Sengoku has got to take what they can get when it comes to heavyweights. 

After sifting through the entries to our latest caption contest, we've chosen eight finalists. Check 'em out below, and use the poll on the right (scroll down a bit) to pick your favorite — the five people with the most votes will all score subscriptions to either the U.S. or Canadian versions of Fighters Only magazine; the other three are losers and will get nothing. (Okay, maybe we'll send 'em a t-shirt.) Results will be announced tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who entered!

***

Batman: After Fedor's circumcision, the Russian Team celebrates because they now have enough meat to eat for a year.
[Ed. note: This has to be the front-runner for first-place, considering all the love it was getting by other commenters.]

SiDeBuRnZ: In mother Russia, sky go youdiving.
[Ed. note: Yakov Smirnoff would be proud.]

danomite: Everyone was happy til someone told Fedor that Nicoli forgot the ice cream. A mass funeral service will be held tomorrow at 2 pm.

philaxler: Fedor returning from his glorious arm bar victory over God.

MitchBanks: "Light as a Fedor, stiff as a board."
[Ed. note:We were surprised at how many of you made reference to that girls' slumber-party game, but whatever.]

mayhem420: 3 cheers for Emelianenko!

Hep hep hooray

hep hep hooray

hep .....oh sorry that's the other Emelianenko!

Michael W.:
"Finally, Jerry Millen's lips are off of my ass"

El Famous Burrito:
♫ Believe it or not,
 I'm walking on air. 
I never thought I could feel so free. ♫
♫ With two ice cream cones and a really gay sweater.
 Who could it be?
 Believe it or not it's just me. ♫
[Ed. note: Great attention to detail, Burrito. Those musical notes really sell it.]

(A joy so pure, so simple, it can only come from two ice cream cones.)

Noted author and smug smartass Matthew Polly traveled to Russia to witness firsthand Fedor Emelianenko’s loss at the Sambo World Championships in St. Petersburg in November.  He tells the tale in an article for Slate.com that contains several interesting insights about Russia and none of the cloying, faux-intellectual bullshit that usually finds its way into any Slate article (“Was Kevin Costner’s ‘Waterworld’ an Ahead-of-Its-Time Eco-Parable?” asks one such article.  No, asshole.  No it wasn’t).   

While the whole thing is interesting, even if you don’t care about Russian history or why St. Petersburg is a bizarrely beautiful and yet poorly-designed city, the last page is where we get serious about the mystery of Fedor.  What we end up learning, though, both in the Slate article and the full post-Sambo loss interview on Fightlinker, is that Fedor is either too nice to be interesting or else an impenetrable enigma.  And maybe we just choose to believe the latter because it's more fun.

('It would be pleasure to hurt hand on your face very much.')

Fedor Emelianenko broke his silence about his Combat Sambo loss this past weekend, telling Dave Meltzer that it's no biggie. Sambo's just something he does for shits and giggles. MMA is what he does for money:

"My Bulgarian opponent wasn’t a surprise,” said Emelianenko through an interpreter. “I always understand there could be the possibility of losing a bout. My opponent was European champion in combat sambo. But for me, sambo is a hobby. I enjoy participating in the sport, but it’s a different sport. It’s a sport scored based on throws and being taken to the ground. That’s happened to me in MMA with [Kazuyuki] Fujita and [Antonio Rodrigo] Nogueira. It’s not my occupation or my work, which is MMA. I think the result would be different under MMA rules."

It's not quite 'Oh, Snap!' worthy, but in Fedor terms that's about as close to shit-talking as he usually likes to get. He makes a valid point, though. Sambo isn't a real fight, and anyway he lost on points. Word has it that he flew in from Thailand not long before the match, and a source who spoke to Fedor at the actual event tells Cage Potato that the Russian doesn't really seem too excited about Sambo these days, and may be doing it more out of patriotic obligation than anything else.

In other words, don't get your hopes up, Andrei Arlovski. Fedor hasn't fallen off just yet.

(Would it kill the Sambo guys to put on some pants?)

Fedor Emelianenko actually lost a fight this weekend. Sort of. Competing in the World Combat Sambo Championships, Fedor lost on points (8-5) in the semi-finals to Bulgarian Blagoi Ivanov, who went on to win the gold medal. Fedor won the bronze after his opponent in the third-place match conceded without a fight. So...does this mean he's no longer the world's best heavyweight?

No. Of course it doesn't mean that. Jesus, it's just Sambo. Would you calm down? In case you're wondering whether this Ivanov character is some preternatural fighting genius who's set to take over the world, he probably isn't. Fedor beat him earlier this year at the Russian Federation President's Cup. It just so happens that Ivanov got his revenge this time, and you could make a strong case that Fedor's been distracted by running around filming movies and hawking Affliction in the past few months.

Fighters Only floated a rumor that Affliction had already signed Ivanov to a contract, but MMA Rated has talked to VP Tom Atencio and he says it isn't true. The way things go in Affliction, someone else in the company may very well contradict that statement tomorrow.

Long story short: Sambo isn't MMA, so this isn't a sign that Fedor is washed up. It is, however, wonderfully ironic when you consider that Fedor's burning desire to continue to do Sambo was part of his problem with the restrictive UFC contract. Just think, it could have been him beating Randy Couture this weekend. At least then he wouldn't have had to fight that mean old Bulgarian guy.