"That's him? That's the baddest man on the planet?" asked my friend last weekend at a Strikeforce fight night party I attended. "He's a little pudgy."
"Yes, that's him. That's Fedor Emelianenko," I replied to her.
Surely she wasn't the only person in America to bring this up upon first seeing him. After dominating overseas and fighting in non-UFC promotions stateside, Fedor is a relative unknown to the casual MMA fan. His introduction to the American masses on free network television was exactly what he needed and deserved.
CBS got it right last weekend and made up for the mistake they made in 2008 when spoon-feeding the overrated street fighter, Kimbo Slice, to the public. CBS displayed the best of the best MMA has to offer with Fedor.
The Strikeforce main event bout between heavyweights, Fedor and Brett Rogers ended up being one of the top ten most viewed MMA bouts in the history of the sport. It was an instant classic too and arguably one of the most entertaining bouts of 2009.
The pudgy Russian's appearance is deceiving. Like in most of this fights, he surprised new fans with his uncanny quickness and agility in the opening exchange. The first round was a back and forth war between Rogers and Fedor. At points it was surprising to see Fedor being dominated by his larger opponent.
Fedor showed resiliency as he made it through the first round with a cut nose. In the second frame he absolutely obliterated Rogers with a perfectly timed overhand right. Replay showed the beauty of the finishing punch. He used all of his body to launch the punch and land it with pinpoint accuracy.
Awareness of Fedor continues to rise in the U.S. Give him another shot on primetime television and he'll be a bonafide star.
Speaking of star, the reward for best arena entrance of the year goes to middleweight, Jason "Mayhem" Miller. The host of MTV's "Bully Beatdown" entered the cage in grand fashion, which included a choreographed dance with twelve dancers.
Viacom, the parent company of both MTV and CBS held a gem with this mixed martial artist/ entertainer. They leveraged his fame from his MTV show to attract younger viewers to the CBS event.
Mayhem is actually a good fighter too, but wasn't good enough to defeat one of the top fighters under the Strikeforce banner -- Jake Shields.
Switching gears, this Wednesday night will feature a WEC event on Versus (TWC 77, Dish 151). WEC 44 live from Las Vegas will include a main event featuring Mike Brown. He's set to defend his featherweight title against fast riser, Jose Aldo.
Another bout will feature former UFC fighter, Manvel "The Anvil" Gamburyan versus native Texan, Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia. This bout will be critical for Garcia to climb up the featherweight ranks after his defeat to the hands of Mike Brown at WEC 39 in Corpus Christi.
David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. He can be e-mailed at
DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com
