The great Fedor Emelianenko snapped a three-fight losing streak when he earned a victory over American Jeff Monson in the main event of M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson – but Russian dictator (formally Prime Minister), Vladmir Putin, was jeered and booed by the crowd before being allowed to praise Emilianenko as a ‘Russian Hero’ after his victory.
Putin climbed into the ring on Sunday evening (local Russian time) after the blood-spattered bout between Russian heavyweight champion Emelianenko and the skilled veteran Monson but the start of his speech was drowned out by boos and whistles.
Of course, true to the strong traditions of Russian censorship and propaganda, the top news show on Russian Channel One later tightly edited the speech and showed it after eliminating all the booing – showing only the sole Putin phrase that evoked a cheer.
Anyway – back to the fight! Emelianenko, who has lost to Dan Henderson, Antonio Silva and Fabricio Werdum in his last three fights, was competing in Russia for the first time in over four years. Emelianenko was in control of “The Snowman” for the better part of the fight, but refused to go to the ground against the former UFC fighter. Talks of Emelianenko competing on the Dream New Year’s Eve card have already started, with Satoshi Ishii a possible opponent.
Fedor had the following to say after the fight: “I was very happy with (the outcome) because everything we planned before with my coaches, I did exactly what they asked me to do – I went for the kill once before against Fabricio Werdum and I paid dearly for that. This time I thought I better change my strategy. Monson was a tough fighter and I was just happy that I won.”
How tough was Monson? He finished the fight standing despite having had his leg broken by Emelianenko early on in the bout!
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