Mix the intimidation of Mike Tyson with the foreign intrigue of the cold-hearted Russian Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV," and you have Fedor Emelianenko, the man generally regarded as the world's most talented mixed martial arts fighter.
Emelianenko's training compound in southern Russia is remote, a 15-hour train and bus ride from Moscow. The flexible, fast-moving heavyweight routinely emerges from the mysterious solitude of conditioning sessions there for major fights, like Saturday's Affliction show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, and says little before producing awe-inspiring demonstrations of submission skills, as he did there in July by beating former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight belt-holder Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds.
"He does his talking in the ring," said Tom Atencio, Affliction chief executive. "He's got that stoic Russian face. Walking into the arena and leaving the ring, he looks the same."
Emelianenko, 32, is 29-1, counting triumphs over ex-interim UFC champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and other respected UFC veterans as he prepares for Saturday's showdown with another former UFC champ, Andrei Arlovski.
Arlovski, who has designs on a pro boxing career and trains under 2008 boxing trainer of the year Freddie Roach, obviously wants to keep the fight standing up to avoid becoming Emelianenko's 10th submission victim in his last 12 fights.
Roach stirred the Emelianenko camp by saying Arlovski is a more skilled striker.
"I like people that talk less and perform more," Fedor's MMA trainer Vladimir Voronov said coldly of Roach. "With us, our women are the ones that talk a lot. And the men are the ones that get into a ring and perform."
At 6 feet, 235 pounds, Emelianenko is devoted to judo, sambo, wrestling and muay thai. His calm before a fight sprouts stories of legend, such as the recent one that he merely stood up from a game of cards at his last Anaheim fight, walked directly to the ring without warming up and destroyed Sylvia. Emelianenko said that depiction was "a little bit off," as is the "myth" that he trains in Siberia with minimal human contact.
"It's just what I'm used to. It's my hometown, my gym," Emelianenko said. "I gain strength out of familiar surroundings."
That strength includes the most potent intimidation factor in combat sports since Tyson. Twelve of his last 15 fights have ended before the second round started.
