Russian-bred heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (15-3) is set to battle 2008 Combat Sambo World Champion Blagoi Ivanov (0-0) at the Fighting Mixed Combative -- an upstart South Korean promotion inaugural event for on Sept. 29, 2009, according to Emelianenko’s official site.
Ivanov is likely best known to mixed martial arts fans as the man who recently dispatched of Aleks' famous older brother, Fedor Emelianenko (albeit in a Sambo competition), earlier this year. Now he has his eyes set on dispatching of another Emelianenko, which will serve as only Ivanov’s second professional bout.
But before he takes on Emelianenko, Ivanov will first make his mixed martial arts debut at World Victory Road's Sengoku 9 on Aug. 2, 2009. He will take on hard-hitting Japanese mainstay Kazuyuki Fujita, who has faced off against Fedor himself back at PRIDE 26 in 2003.
In fact, Fujita came just a whisker away from putting the consensus number one heavyweight away by rocking him with a thunderous right hook; however, in typical fashion, Fedor was able to quickly recover from the scare and later reclaim the bout with a rear naked choke.
Ivanov is certainly not easing in slowly to mixed martial arts -- he appears to be jumping into the deep end by debuting against the likes of Fujita and Emelianenko. We’ll have to wait till this fall to see if he sinks or swims.
Though if he is successful in both attempts he’ll likely be lobbying for a fight with Fedor somewhere down the line, which he has already been saying is a desire of his. But first he’ll have to make do with Aleksander who should present a tough stern test for the Bulgarian Sambo champion as it is.
Emelianenko has most recently been toiling on the European circuit mainly being based in his sovereign Russia, winning his last six contests all by way of first round stoppages. He now looks set to add another notch to his belt and in the process try to avenge his brother's loss.