November 09, 2007

People say that he is happy indeed who is endowed with force. That us perhaps the reason why people have always been trying their strengths, organized stand-up fights and spear-runnings. Today the strongest men of the world compete the other way. In April Saint Petersburg will host the Ultimate Fighting Championship 'Russia vs. America' where the most eminent fighters are to compete. Alexander Emelianenko, European Combat Sambo Champion and World Ultimate Fighting Champion, competes for our country.

— Alexander, the name of Emelianenko is quite well-known among the sportsmen. Your brother Fedor is World Ultimate Fighting Overall Champion. All the boys in your class must have been jealous that you had such a strong brother!

— You know it never happened that the elder brother had to stand up for the younger one. But Fedor has always been a model for me. And since my childhood I knew that like him I'd be a wrestler. In 1999 I won the European Junior Judo Championship, then started to compete in combat sambo and became a three times World Champion.

— Wasn't it hindering your studies?

— To be sincere, studies weren't my priority, I always was a stable average student. After the graduation I entered a vocational school. And somehow I studied at all the departments: at first my specialization was electricity, than cookery, after - I was training for a machine tool operator, a craneman. I graduated with the conviction that every man should know how to do everything perfectly well and stand out due to this ability. And as far as cooking is concerned, there's no such dish that I wouldn't be able to prepare. The only things I've got to know are the ingredients proportions and cooking procedure. Still I don't think I'll be able to manage creating something cordon bleu because I never came to the cookery classes as well as the lectures for cranemen. I used to train and to prepare for the competitions at that time. Though later I understood that you can't do without education in your life. So, I entered the intramural department of Belgorod State University, Faculty of Economics and Management.

— How did you make up your mind?

— You mean, how did I pass the exams? Well, I did it all by myself and I passed the exams on my own . At the literature exams I got the question about Lev Tolstoy. And I like literature in general, I like reading classics, so the examiner didn't have any extra questions for me. But during the maths exam my neighbour helped me, he gave me a hint about the solution of the problem.

— And in what year are you now?

— Third. Well, of course, because of the tight training schedule I don't come to the university as often as I'd like to. My day is mapped out to the last five minute increment: I get up at 8 AM, then train, have my lunch and rest, in the evening I train again.

— Alexander, do you already know who's going to be your adversary at the Russia vs. America Championship?

— Pele, but he's not a relative of the famous football player. He's a very tough fighter. Though, there are no bad Ultimate Fighters, they give you worthy adversaries, so that the fight diidn't look like simple beating up or a set-up.

— I wonder, what's so special for you in the Ultimate Fighting? Why didn't you become a weight-lifter for instance?

— I guess because I can fight well. But Ultimate Fighting is not just an ordinary street fight, it's a sport. Two well-prepared professionals competes but the who wins is not the one who strikes harder but the one who manages to outgame the adversary.

— Some say that the fighters don't even feel pain during such competitions…

— It's really true. Once I broke my arm in two places during the fight. Only when the fight was stopped because my adversary couldn't go on fighting any more, I felt the pain.

— Does the fame of your brother hinder you in your life? Against your will, you stay in his background.

— Quite on the contrary, it's a good impetus for me, a motivation to reach better results. We are really good friends with Fedor, even as children we never fought. And we are not going to do it now, although we are often in the same subgroup during the combat sambo competitions. But it's just to create an exciting show for the spectators if the sponsors decide so.

— Are you a superstitious person?

— No. You can't be superstitious when it's time to fight, that distracts a lot. There are some other useful things worth of attention. Like, it's better to run five more kilometers before the competition than go home and have a nap if a black cat happens to cross you path.

— Do you have any hobbies besides sport?

— I like reading. Since recently I'm really taken with philosophy. I like theatre. I met actor Evgeniy Diatlov in the gym, he plays one of the title roles in the 'Streets of Shattered Lights' series and now he's getting ready for a new celebrities project. In the show there will be ten actors boxing with each other. Evgeniy turned out to be really gifted, he's doing rather well. We got on with him. So, he invites me to see his performances, I invite him to see my competitions…

— And didn't he ask you to star in some film?

— Lots of people have many offers but I don't have time. Though it would be interesting to try and do something new but a chose my vocation and it's Ultimate Fighting and I'm wholly devoted to it. And if I chose acting, I would devote myself to it. By the way, Jean-Claude Van Damme offered my brother Fedor one of the leading roles in the next part of his movie 'Bloody Sport'. So, they are discussing it and Fedor consideres the offer.

— Alexander, do you have a dream?

— Of course, I want to gain enough money to assure my old age and my children's future. Ultimate Fighting is still a very young kind of sport. So, my earnings are not as high as those of the professional boxers though the fights are more exciting. At the same time, it's very popular abroad. And it's not by chance that I'm constantly invited to move to that country or the other. By I want to live only in Russia and to compete only for my motherland.

— What would you advise all those boys who dream about becoming fighters?

— I will deject your spirits perhaps but I don't know such boys. All the gyms are empty. When I was young there were so many people who wanted to enter a club that you had to queue. And by boxing coach have told me recently that he's been to every school in the neighbourhood but didn't manage to persuade anyone to come to the gym just to watch. So there's nothing to talk about.

The article is taken from the Saint Petersburg News, June 27, 2007, Interview by Svetlana.