Russian MMA fighter is a favorite in Strikeforce tourney event

Emelianenko looks to show why some say he’s the greatest heavyweight ever.

Jeff Chiu/STF "Everybody loves his fighter heart," said fighter Brett Rogers of Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (pictured). Rogers lost to him by knockout two years ago. "He's been in the game a long time, and people respect that." Associated Press file photo by Jeff Chiu

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By Dave Skretta, Associated Press 10:07 PM Friday, February 11, 2011

NEW YORK — Fedor Emelianenko barely speaks a lick of English. He rarely smiles. When he steps inside a ring or cage, he looks bored, as if he’d rather be reading a book.

But he just might be the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

“He just has that X-factor,” said Scott Coker, who runs the Strikeforce promotion for which Emelianenko currently fights. “When you’re an actor or an actress, or a fighter, you just have that charisma. He’s not a flamboyant character, but people just love him.”

Emelianenko is the biggest reason Strikeforce is expecting a sellout crowd when it stages the opening two bouts of its eight-man heavyweight Grand Prix tonight at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. He faces Brazilian star Antonio Silva in the main event, and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski takes on Sergei Kharitonov in the other tournament match.

The other two quarterfinals are tentatively scheduled for April, pitting Alistair Overeem against Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett versus Brett Rogers.

The favorite, though, is the mysterious man from Stary Oskol, Russia.

Emelianenko doesn’t look the part of a mixed martial arts icon. He stands barely 6-feet tall and weighs about 230 pounds.

Nor does he act and sound like a fighter. He exudes humility, trusts in his Orthodox Christian faith, and offers sincere praise for just about everyone he faces.

“In any nation, if you treat people with respect and kindness, they’ll treat you like that,” Emelianenko said through a translator. “People who are successful in movies or music, they get excited about the showbiz, and they very often lose their individuality and personality. They forget who they are. I’ve always tried to remember who I am.”

His fighting background is Sambo, developed by the Soviet Red Army to help soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. It has roots in judo and karate, and Emelianenko is among the best in the world.

He turned to MMA in 2000, for a Japanese promotion called RINGS, before the UFC had forced the sport into the public consciousness in the United States. He began racking up victories like Mike Tyson in his prime. The lone blemish in more than a decade came from an illegal elbow that opened a cut and kept Fedor from finishing.

Emelianenko had fought mostly in Japan, and it was widely believed he eventually would land in the more established UFC. Instead, Emelianenko joined up with Strikeforce a couple years ago, in part because Coker agreed to co-promote with M-1 Global, of which the fighter is part owner.

He’s been the biggest reason that Strikeforce has became a major player in the sport.

“When you see him in the cage, he’s a different guy, but when he fights, he brings it,” Coker said. “I’ve never seen the guy in a boring fight, and that’s very rare.”

Strikeforce Grand Prix

When: 10 p.m. tonight

Where: Izod Center, East Rutherford, N.J.

Main event: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva

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