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  - FEDOR READY TO DO HIS JOB
Saturday, November 07, 2009 - by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com
Fedor Emelianenko is one of the most successful mixed martial artists of all time. In 31 attempts, he has one lone loss on his record – a fight early in his career stopped due to a cut just 17 seconds into the opening round. For all intents and purposes, he hasn’t truly tasted defeat.
His accomplishments in MMA rival those of Kobe Bryant, Ken Griffey Jr., or John Elway in their chosen sports.
The shining lights and glittery nights of American success, however, have eluded the dominating Russian. And that doesn’t appear to be of any particular concern to him.
While the majority of successful athletes in America are swarmed with attention – sometimes welcome, sometimes not – the man simply known as Fedor drives on, plotting his course through MMA history with a workmanlike attitude.
“When I go out in the ring, it’s not my passion; it’s more of a job to me. I just go out there and try to do my best,” he said on Showtime’s “Fight Camp 360º: Fedor vs. Rogers.”
Fedor’s words encapsulate his attitude toward training and fighting.
Counter to the showmanship so prevalent on the American sports scene, Fedor’s demeanor is best described as stoic, formed from an upbringing in the former Soviet Union.
Born in the Ukraine, he has called Stary Oskol, a small mining town in Russia, home since the age of two. He still resides there with his family, not in an elaborate mansion, but a modest apartment.
His mother, a former schoolteacher, and his father, a former welder, still live there, as well.
Following high school, he graduated from a trade school then, from 1995 to 1997, served a stint in the Russian army as a firefighter. With numerous accomplishments in Judo and Russian Sambo, Fedor made the move to mixed martial arts in 2000. He hasn’t looked back since.
Disregarding the conventional Western wisdom of success breeds success. He has eschewed moving on to bigger, better training facilities, lined with name brand fighters; he continues to punch his training clock in Stary Oskol.
Who’s to argue? It obviously works for him.
On Saturday night in suburban Chicago, he takes that training into the most prominent fight of his storied career. His opponent, Brett Rogers, is an explosive, undefeated powerhouse, cut from the American cloth. Rogers is living his dream, fulfilling his passion, searching for the spotlight.
Fedor is doing his job.
But this time, his job will put him in front of his largest viewing audience ever, particularly in the United States, where the fight is televised over-the-air on CBS under the Strikeforce banner.
A win now elevates him to the elusive superstar status in American sports.
Yet, Fedor hasn’t changed a thing, and likely won’t after the fight. He doesn’t trash talk. He doesn’t do one-liners. He just goes out and tries to win.
“I’m gonna knock him stupid,” says Rogers, but Fedor doesn't bite.
“Everybody has relatively the same chin,” says Fedor, which is about as close as he gets to the gift of gab, before adding, “He’ll be hunting mine, and I’ll be hunting his.”
Any bets on who has the better aim?
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