Fedor Emelianenko doesn’t claim to be the greatest fighter of all time.
“The Last Emperor” is regarded by many as one of the best mixed martial artists to ever compete. His reign of terror in Pride Fighting Championships’ (Pride FC) heavyweight division is a key reason why. His dominant victories of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop, not to mention comeback wins over Kevin Randleman and Kazuyuki Fujita are considered legendary.
Emelianenko told Ariel Helwani on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” that he never put himself on a pedestal.
“I never considered myself to the best one. A fighter can lose at any moment. And there are some fighters that, for example, are defending on some position that will be better than me in some technique.”
When asked about what fights stood out to him the most in his career, Emelianenko had two in mind.
“All the fights were interesting for some particular reason, and I could find something in each fight. But maybe one fight that I can differentiate, it would be the first fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. And the fight with Mirko Cro Cop.”
“The Last Emperor” will do battle with Matt Mitrione this Saturday night (June 24) in the co-main event of Bellator NYC.
