M1 GLOBAL - Fedor Emelianenko win over Jeff Monson

M-1 Global results: Fedor Emelianenko cruises in win over Jeff Monson
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Nov 20, 2011


It made not have been a vintage Fedor Emelianenko performance, but it ended victoriously like so many other of his fights did prior to a recent three-fight skid in Strikeforce.

Returning home to his native Russia and facing veteran globetrotter Jeff Monson in the headliner of Sunday's "M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson" event, Emelianenko cruised.

Emelianenko won the pay-per-view fight via clear-cut unanimous decision.

The bout took place at Olympic Stadium in Moscow and aired in the early-morning hours in North America.

After a split with Strikeforce a few months ago following consecutive losses to Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson, Emelianenko – a former PRIDE champion who was long considered the world's top heavyweight – returned to M-1 Global to fight an experienced opponent. However, Monson had little to offer the Russian and continually failed to get the fight to the mat, where the renowned grappler had his best shot at victory.

Instead, Emelianenko treated the fight much like a kickboxing match, and he dropped Monson on multiple occasions – including three times in a dominant second round –with single shots. However, unlike Strikeforce, where his aggression sometimes proved an unwise gamble, he remained patient, refused to follow his opponent to the mat, and simply chopped him down with stinging leg kicks and lunging punches once they were standing.

By the third round, Monson was battered and bloodied, and his flatfooted fighting style and telegraphed shots made him easy prey.

Emelianenko didn't get the finish, but he thoroughly dominated the fight to pick up the judges' nod.

Emelianenko (32-4) picks up his first victory in more than two years while Monson (43-13) suffers just his second loss in nine fights.

After the fight, Emelianenko manager Vadim Finkelstein hinted that the fighter could meet Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at DREAM's big year-end event in Japan.

monaroCountry wrote:MMA is already huge in Russia, its fractured though since they have so many combat sports. MMA would be bigger with state approval (getting there) and Olympic status. I like what Vadim and M1 is doing with MMA in Russia, they are trying to run it as a proper sport (notice the more subdued and respectful fighters and the more respectful and knowledgeable audience) and not as some barbaric show.

monaroCountry wrote:

monaroCountry wrote:...I like what Vadim and M1 is doing with MMA in Russia, they are trying to run it as a proper sport (notice the more subdued and respectful fighters and the more respectful and knowledgeable audience) and not as some barbaric show.

monaroCountry wrote:along with the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev

rezin wrote:

monaroCountry wrote:along with the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev

Excuse me but there is only one Russian president and his name is Vladimir Putin.