Alexander Emelianenko

Alexander Vladimirovich Emelianenko (Александр Владимирович Емельяненко ; born August 2, 1981) is a Russian mixed martial artist.

He is a three-time Russian national Combat Sambo champion and three-time world Combat Sambo champion in the absolute division.

He is a younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko.

Aleksander was born on August 2, 1981 in Stary Oskol, Soviet Union, into the family of a teacher, Olga Feodorovna Emelianenko, and a welder, Vladimir Alexanderovich Emelianenko.

He is the third child in the family and has an older sister, Marina, an older brother, Fedor, and a younger brother, Ivan.

In his childhood, since his parents were working during the day, Aleksander spent a lot of time on the rough streets.

During his early teens, he used to take part in street fights while his parents were working, going so far as being involved in a riot between neighborhoods.

Since his family did not have enough money, his mother used to prepare only a single meal for the entire week for Emelianenko and his brothers and he had to share clothing with his older brother.

Initially studying to become an electrician at the vocational school, Emelianenko finished his studies in 1999 as an electric welder after he was transferred several times to other technical specialties for bad behavior.

When he was a teenager, while his brother Fedor was in the Russian Army, his parents separated and, since then, Emelianenko has had a strained relationship with his father, with whom he rarely speaks.

Emelianenko started martial arts training at a very early age: his older brother, Fedor, often had to babysit him, and since Fedor did not want to miss his Sambo practice, he took young Alexander with him.

At first, Emelianenko only observed the older kids, but soon he started mimicking their movements.

He started his formal Sambo training when he joined elementary school, training with Vladimir Mihailovich Voronov.

Emelianenko would go on to practice Judo, Wrestling, and Boxing, and he also participated in other sports like Basketball and Football.

At 16 years old, when he was in training school, his mother forbade him from training boxing but Emelianenko kept doing it in secret.

Also at 16 years old, Emelianenko became a Russian Master of Sport in judo.

In 1999, Emelianenko won the European Sambo championships.

In 2003 he won the World Combat Sambo championships and repeated this feat in 2004 and 2006.

One of the youngest fighters to debut in Pride Fighting Championships at 22 years old, on 5 October 2003 at the event Pride Bushido 1, Emelianenko made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut against Brazilian Assuerio Silva, defeating Silva by split decision.

In his next fight on 31 December 2003, Emelianenko fought against Brazilian fighter Angelo Araujo at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 Inoki Festival, defeating Araujo by TKO after Emelianenko cut Araujo above the right eye and the doctor stopped the fight.

At PRIDE Bushido 3 on 23 May 2004, Emelianenko defeated Australian Matt Foki via rear naked choke in the first round.

In his fourth professional fight, Emelianenko was defeated in the first round via KO (head kick) by Mirko Cro Cop, one of the top heavyweight contenders in MMA at the time, at Pride Final Conflict 2004 on 15 August 2004.

On 9 October 2004, Emelianenko rebounded with a victory over Brazilian Carlos "Carlão" Barreto by decision at M-1 MFC Middleweight GP, the first time that Emelianenko fought outside Japan.

Returning to Pride, on 31 October 2004 at Pride 28 Emelianenko knocked out English brawler James Thompson in eleven seconds, Emelianenko's shortest fight to date.

In his second shortest fight, Emelianenko defeated Brazilian Ricardo Morais by KO (punches) in fifteen seconds on 3 April 2005 at Pride Bushido 6.

Emelianenko has commented that he broke one of his hands while punching Morais.

In his third consecutive KO victory, on 9 October 2005 Emelianenko defeated Dutch kickboxer Rene Rooze in 28 second with a brutal knockout that left Rooze unconscious for some minutes at Bushido Rotterdam Rumble in the Netherlands.

At Pride Shockwave 2005 on 31 December 2005, Emelianenko submitted 1996 gold medalist judoka Pawel Nastula with a rear naked choke in the first round.

In Emelianenko's second professional loss, on 5 May 2006 at the event Pride Total Elimination Absolute, during the second round of Pride 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, King of Pancrase Josh Barnett just defeated Emelianenko with a keylock, after Emelianenko slipped and Barnett took advantage off this in the final seconds off the last round.

Emelianenko dominated the entire fight well on his way to a decision victory moving on to the next round off the tournament.

Emelianenko used his brutal striking exchanges during the first round and broke Barnett's nose.

Official doctors claimed that Emelianenko had fever and sickness before the fight, with the doctors advising him not to fight that night, which he ignored because it was the Openweight Grand Prix, the most important competition at the time.

In his last fight in Pride, Emelianenko defeated former teammate and fellow Russian Sergei Kharitonov via TKO in a back and forth match which ended in the first round after Emelianenko punched and kneed Kharitonov relentlessly on the ground, forcing the referee to stop the fight at Pride Final Conflict Absolute on 10 September 2006.

Two months after his last fight, on 12 November 2006 at the event 2 Hot 2 Handle: Pride & Honor in Rotterdam, Emelianenko faced Brazilian Jiu-jitsu specialist Fabrício Werdum, who defeated Emelianenko in the first round via submission (arm triangle choke).

In an interview with Sherdog, Emelianenko stated that he did not train at all for the Werdum fight as his original opponent was not going to be Werdum, and he would like a rematch with him.

On 14 April 2007 at Bodog Fight Series II: Clash of the Nations, Emelianenko fought once again in Russia, knocking out American Eric Pele with punches in the first round, the first time that Pele was knocked out in his career.

In his next match, Emelianenko faced Dutch Jessie Gibbs (called Gibson at the time), who was a late replacement for Gilbert Yvel.

In 2010, during 19–22 February, Emelianenko took part in the Russian Cup of Combat Sambo representing Saint Petersburg, winning the heavyweight tournament (his brother Fedor injured his hand during the tournament) and earning the right to represent Russia at the World Championships.

Emelianenko participated in sambo at Sportaccord Combat Games 2010 in Beijing, where he won the silver medal in the +100 kg category.

Emelianenko has famously said of his fighting prowess, "My punches are like electric trains, if I miss, my opponent would catch a cold."