Fedor Emelianenko is said to be one of the best heavyweight fighters in the world. Known in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as The Last Emporor, Fedor Emelianenko has proven that he is one of the greatest Mixed Martial Arts champions who has ever lived. ESPN, The Wrestling Observer, and The Fight Network all couldnt agree more.

Fedor Emelianenko was born on September 28, 1976 in Luhansk, part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the former Soviet Union. His father was a steel worker, and his mother had been an elementary school teacher. Fedor Emelianenko has two other brothers who also are fighters, though not quite to the extent that he does. All three of the boys are involved in Mixed Martial Arts. Aleksander, Fedor, and Ivan Emelianenko all have many years experience in fighting.

Fedor Emelianenko began as a small child training in the arts of Judo and Sambo, and had all but mastered the fighting styles before he was 10 years old. Fedor Emelianenko was not a large or oversized child at all; he was said to have been below average in size, and no one would ever have guessed that he would have turned out to be a fighter. He claims that it is through his dedication and will power that he was able to get as far as he has today as a champion fighter.

Fedor Emelianenko did not go into fighting as a career right after he was done with school. He graduated from high school in 1991 to attend a professional trade school. He did graduate from the trade school, and from there, Fedor Emelianenko enlisted in the army, and was a firefighter in the army for two years from 1995 to 1997. Once Fedor was out of the army for two years, he courted and married a girl he had been with for a long time, and not long afterwards, their daughter Masha was born.

All the while that Fedor Emelianenko had been in the army and in school, he had continued his training in Judo and Sambo, and by 1997 he was certified as a Master of Sports in both areas. He was asked by the Russian National Team to join them. He did join the team, and in 1998, he won the bronze medal in the Russian Judo Championship. Only two years later in 2000, he began competitions at the professional level in combat Sambo and Mixed Martial Arts.

The fans who follow this great fighter are extremely dedicated to Emelianenko. They admire his courage, his perseverance, and his determination even at a young age to not let his small size keep him from following his dreams of becoming a great fighter.