Last February, Fedor Emilianoko officially ended the professional MMA competition at the age of 46. The Ryan Bader rematch did not bring the desired results to the “Emperor”, but he had the right to pride after more than 2 decades of dedication to professional MMA.
However, Fedor Emiliano himself once admitted he did not play MMA because of his early passion as people thought. In an interview with readers, Fedor said the only reason why he decided to play MMA instead of pursuing high -performance sports in Russia due to economic pressure.
“In the late 90s, I was a member of the Russian team and Sambo Russian. But the income of the athletes was not enough to live, especially I had to raise my family anymore. Therefore, I decided to do many other jobs to make a living, including MMA match,” Fedor Emilianko said. That is why he broke up with the national team and practicing MMA.
Fedor Emilianko's professional MMA competition is 48 matches, including 40 wins (16 no, 15 submission), 7 defeats and 1 match that is not recognized. When Fedor was at the peak, he was almost invincible. Many UFC champions have said their idols are Fedor Emilianenko.
In one shared with the media by 2020, the UFC Dana White once said his biggest regret in his management career was unable to convince Fedor Emilianenko to play. They came very close to an agreement in 2009, but in the end, the two parties could not find a common voice.