Former PRIDE Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder, Fedor Emelianenko, is widely considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters of all time — in any weight class — chewing up and spitting out former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions like Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski, just to name a few.
Chael Sonnen is not impressed.
That’s because “The Last Emperor” is the first phony, working a nice-guy gimmick because it matches his doughy bald head. Sure, the former Combat Sambo champion has earned his place among the all-time greats, but he’s not going to sell Sonnen on his frumpy-dumpy shtick.
From the MMA Hour:
“He found his gimmick. He found a little something with the respect and the humbleness and looking like a dumpy dwarf being interviewed by his translator, Snow White. I’m not impressed by it. I don’t fall for it. At the end of the day, that little frumpy look on his face and the little doughy bald head is a dirty rotten cage fighter just like me. He can pull the mask over the world’s eyes, ‘If ah, I believe in God, my this, and my that.’ Man, you’re getting in a steel cage half naked looking to whip somebody’s ass. You’re a scumbag and so am I.”
After an up-and-down run on the international circuit, which followed a brief retirement, Emelianenko (37-5, 1 NC) reunited with former Strikeforce head cheese Scott Coker for a stint under the Bellator MMA umbrella.
The result is a 1-1 split, with his most recent appearance ending in the destruction of the aforementioned Mir. More importantly, it advanced Emelianenko to the next round of the promotion’s heavyweight grand prix opposite Sonnen.
Who just so happens to know a thing or two about gimmicks.