The legendary Fedor Emelianenko has done many things throughout his storied career as a Mixed Martial Artist. But the one thing he’s never done is make excuses for his mistakes. “The Last Emperor” was more than willing to own up to his faults following losses to both Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, but apparently, that logic doesn’t apply to members of his camp. In a bizarre new interview, one of Fedor’s team accused Antonio Silva’s camp of using “psychological technologies”, and in hilarious fashion, Silva’s camp recently responded.
Certainly sounds weird, doesn’t it? But here’s a snippet of an interview one of Fedor’s trainers recently had over at Lifesports.ru, with English translations courtesy of MMA Mania: “…Certain technologies might have been used – certainly, not the ones that would be visible to an open eye. Most likely, they were psychological technologies that influenced both fighters from the distance of the crowd. For this reason Fedor simply wasn’t himself during fight.”
Recently, the manager of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva responded to these bizarre claims over at “The Underground”, the popular message board/forum of Mixed Martial Arts.com. Alex Davis had this to say regarding the accusation: “Jeez!! I got cought! I will have to come out with the truth now! I hired a Macumbeiro ( Brazilian wicth dr) and we killed a black chicken on the cross roads. After this,over a few beers, I showed the witch Dr Fedors fights, and he was worried that a chicken wouldnt be anough, so we went out and killed a black goat , just to make sure! Very potent stuff! Realy messed Fedors brain waves up! We wanted to try that other military stuff Voronov is talking about,but its expensive technology and we were broke! The chicken and the goat came out way cheaper. Witch Dr is a friend, did it for a few beers and an autograph!”
Obviously, the humor of this situation is not lost on Antonio Silva’s camp.
And to be quite honest, that’s really the only way you can react to this kind of accusation.
I mean, what else are we supposed to believe? That Team Silva had some sort of hypno-ray that influenced Fedor from a distance? Some sort of mind-control device that affected how Fedor fought? It’s stuff right out of a science fiction novel, and it’d be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad. No, wait, it’s still pretty hilarious.
This just comes off as total “sour grapes” on the part of Fedor Emelianenko’s camp. Not only is it a very weak excuse, it’s also a pretty bizarre one and I just can’t see anyone taking this notion seriously. I certainly don’t. As one of the biggest Fedor fans you’ll ever meet, even I can admit that Antonio Silva bested Fedor. I’m not looking for excuses to try and diminish what is definitely the biggest accomplish of Silva’s MMA career. I give credit where credit is due, and if Emelianenko’s camp can’t extend that simple common courtesy, that certainly says a lot more about them than it does Fedor Emelianenko.
And what about you, fans and friends? What’s your reaction to this accusation and the response from Silva’s manager?
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In all seriousness, I think I understand how Fedor’s camp might think there was something wrong with Fedor before that fight (not that I agree there was anything wrong other than in Fedor’s head). In the past whenever I’d seen Fedor approach a fight, he always seemed calm, even peaceful. He always seemed to express no concern until the fight was just about to start, and then he’d turn on murder.
When Fedor was walking up to the fight with Antonio Silva I actually turned to my girlfriend and said, “Look, he’s nervous!” And then when the fight was getting ready to begin, he kept hitting his own head and bouncing in a different way than normal, like he was trying to snap out of fear and get psyched for the fight. I’d never seen that on him before.
It reminded me very much of the last duel in the fantastic book called “Musashi” by Eiji Yoshikawa. For most of the 1600 page book Miyomoto Musashi built up a fued with a certain clan and character. Finally the two of them met, and Musashi’s opponent threw his scabbard into the sea as he approached Musashi.
“You’ve already lost,” Musashi told his opponent. That few minutes before Fedor’s fight with Antonio Silva part of why I was so nervous and on edge that Fedor might lose was that it had that feeling he’d lost already before the fight.
I can see how some people who thought of Fedor as more than human might mistake that for voodoo. But whether Fedor’s nervousness was real or just an outward illusion, it wasn’t voodoo.