#1 ‘The Last Emperor’ vs ‘Techno Goliath’
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Fedor (L) faces off against ‘Techno Goliath’
Fedor Emelianenko has faced all kinds of opponents over the course of his long and storied career, including fights against elite opposition such as Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic, Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Nogueira, Dan Henderson, Semmy Schilt and many more. ‘The Last Emperor’ has also been a part of more than a fair share of straight-up freak-show fights, most prominently his bout against Japanese giant Choi Hong-Man.
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Fedor faced Hong-Man at ‘Yarrenoka!’, a 2007 MMA event co-promoted by ex-Pride FC executives, FEG, DEEP and M-1 Global. The fight started with Fedor closing the distance attempting a power-double on the 7’2” 330 pound Japanese giant, but ended up being taken down, with the giant securing top-position.
After a failed armbar attempt from the bottom by Fedor the fight resumed on the feet. The Russian legend was showing visible signs of facial damage courtesy of the ground-and-pound shots that his mammoth opponent landed on him.
The exact same sequence took place again, only this time Fedor took fewer shots in order to secure the perfect position for the armbar, tapping out Choi at 1:58 of the very first round. On December 31st 2007, Fedor Emelianenko electrified the crowd inside the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan, with his 1st round submission victory over his intimidating opponent. The Russian Emperor, slay the fearsome giant.
It’s essential to understand that MMA has weight-divisions for a reason and size does play a role in fights. However, size is not the be all and end all in a fight. Fighting is a complex thing, influenced by various factors such as skill, determination, endurance, power, co-ordination and so much more.
So the next time you find yourself up against a big, intimidating tough guy, remember the legends of our game and don’t back down. Keep up with our combat tradition and write in to me about fights and fighters that you feel could’ve made our list.
Keep training and remember- Regardless of the size of your problems, never back down. If David can slay Goliath, so can you.
