Fedor Emelianenko brother: Who is he and why did he go to prison?

Fedor Emelianenko is a true icon in the sport of mixed martial arts, with a career spanning more than two decades. Emelianenko just recently announced his retirement following a first-round TKO loss to Ryan Bader at Bellator 290.

His younger brother Alexander, who is also an MMA fighter, has had his fair share of legal problems, to the point where Fedor Emelianenko has stated that he is beyond help.

On 2 May 2014, Alexander Emelianenko was accused of assaulting and raping his former housekeeper Polina Stepanova and seizing her passport. 'The Grim Reaper' pled not guilty and asserted that the act was consensual. The prosecution demanded five years of imprisonment for Emelianenko.

Emelianenko was found guilty of sexual assault on 19 May 2015 and sentenced to four and a half years in jail and a $1,000 (US) fine. On May 20, 2015, his promoter Oleg Rajewski said that he would file an appeal. On September 24, 2015, the appeal was turned down. October 2016 marked Emelianenko's release on parole. In 2017, he returned to active MMA competition.

Alexander had to live under a cloud of expectations as his brother Fedor Emelianenko was revered as one of the best fighters in mixed martial arts history. Still, he made his own mark on the sport with victories over the likes of James Thompson, Bob Sapp, and Eric Pele.

Alexander Emelianenko is a three-time Russian national champion in Combat Sambo and a three-time absolute world champion in Combat Sambo. His last bout was against Marcio Santos at AMC Fight Nights 106 in November 2021. He was defeated via submission.

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When Fedor Emelianenko claimed that his younger brother was dead to him

Alexander, Fedor Emelianenko's younger brother, has also been a professional fighter for a long time, but unlike his older sibling, he has been surrounded by controversy in the past few years.

In 2015, he was found guilty of raping his housemaid and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. This was only one of many convictions on his lengthy criminal record.

Following his release from prison, Alexander pledged to lead a law-abiding life; he did so until March 2019, when he was detained for driving under the influence of alcohol after crashing his all-gold Mercedes into two other cars in the Russian resort town of Kislovodsk.

Fedor Emelianenko claimed (via translator) to Sport 24's Yaroslav Stepanov in a past interview that his younger brother is "dead" to him and that he can't be helped anymore:

"For me, today, Alexander is dead. He is disappearing. But I pray that he will come back to life and be found. Let him first apologize to those whom he raped, insulted, offended, and cheated on money. Help Alexander? Do you know how old he is, do you know for how long I have been helping him? For a long time. Now, the best help is not to help him."