News
11/03/10 - Aleksander Emelianenko fights April 23rd in Russia
Aleksander Emelianenko will apparently be returning to the MMA fray with a fight against Swedish wrestler Eddy Bengtsson (4-1) on April 23rd in Moscow, Russia. The fight will be staged by the ProFC promotion, which also staged Aleksander’s last fight.
Aleksander is the brother of Strikeforce heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko and was one of the standouts in the Pride FC heavyweight division. When that organisation went under he looked at fighting in the USA under the Affliction banner but was removed from their debut card at the last minute.
His removal prompted rumours that there was something wrong with his blood tests, although neither he nor the California State Athletic Commission commented on this. A CSAC spokesperson did say that the Russian would never get a license to fight in California or the US, but no reason was provided. State privacy laws preclude CSAC from revealing the results of any test.
Since then Aleksander has fought twice, with both bouts being held in Russia. His last outing was against Ibragim Magomedov, with the fight being stopped at 0:51 of the first round when Magomedov sustained a cut.
Bengtsson twice represented Sweden in the Olympics before turning to MMA two years ago. He is very large and strong but has neither the speed nor the skillset of Aleksander, who has won most of his fights by TKO or submission.
Aleskander also recently made a foray into the world of professional boxing but has apparently decided to scrap plans to forge a boxing career, based on that experience. He will instead concentrate on his MMA career, which at present shows little sign of returning to the big international stages.
John Joe O’Regan
John.fightersonly@gmail.com
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