Fedor Emelianenko wants to see Russia’s suspension for International Mixed Martial Arts Federation competition come to an end.
Emelianenko, an MMA legend and president of the Russian MMA Union, has asked for Russian athletes to compete at next year’s IMMAF European Championships. Presently, Russia is indefinitely suspended amidst the ongoing war with Ukraine.
Russia was barred from competing at this year’s European Championships, while Ukraine was still permitted to compete. Several Ukrainian athletes earned gold medals at the events.
Fedor Emelianenko Calls For A Stop To Russia’s IMMAF Exclusion
In a statement to the Russian news agency Tass, Emelianenko called for Russian MMA athletes to be allowed to compete in IMMAF events.
“Until recently, sport was out of politics, and now the situation has developed that talented Russian athletes are hostages of socio-political problems between states,” Emelianenko said. “Hopes, plans and colossal efforts have been reduced to zero, faith in the justice of the main principles of Olympism has been lost. We are sure that athletes should compete with worthy opponents, because this is the most important thing for the development of sports. And our team is one of the strongest in the world.
“A whole competitive and constantly developing team has dropped out of the world MMA. We would like to note that this year the Russian national team was formed as part of the national championship and is ready to take part in all international competitions next year.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has divided the MMA community, though most have spoken against the war. Bellator Welterweight Champion Yaroslav Amosov and others have stayed in Ukraine to defend their home against the Russian forces.
A polish MMA fighter, Tomasz Walentek, lost his life on the frontlines while fighting in support of Ukraine.
Emelianenko’s fighting future remains uncertain following a win over Tim Johnson at Bellator 269. He’s advocated for a heavyweight title fight against Ryan Bader for his MMA swan song.
Maybe he should sit his buddy Putin down and have a chat with him about how his actions have consequences
Fedor needs to convert to Islam and join Team Khabib.
They do whatever the fook they want in Abu Dhabi.
yes standing up to american bullshit
dont worry faggot yankee
whoever goes against russia
meets the same ending
the land of the free
that imprisons more of its own citizens then any country on earth
history is history
As of July 2021, the United States had the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide, with almost 2.1 million people in prison.
Eh i get where he’s coming from, from an athletes perspective. But on the other hand your country can’t invade a neighboring country and then expect the world to treat you like everything is normal.
That should boost morale!
The real cause of WWIII is going to be global upheaval when Putin mercs Fedor for dissidence.
fuck em! Fedor is a huge fan of Putin! Putin kills babies and wemon! Fuck all of them and Khabib as well!
american athletes do not have to worry about being banned from international competitions when their country invades and is directly responsible for the deaths of millions…
again…
and again…
seems a tab bit hypocritical, yes?
Whoever is in power or viewed as the most powerful gets to make the rules. Seemingly every country is against Russia right now outside of a few places so there will be very little push back on decisions like this.
of course there will not be much push back…
does not change the fact that american athletes are extremely lucky that they do not face the same scrutiny for their country’s actions…
I don’t think politics has any place in sports. That’s just my opinion. 
I often wonder why our government, and by extension country, hasn’t been sanctioned/banned over the past few decades.
The Canadian National boxing team is boycotting this years worlds comp in Russia like the goofs that they are, eh?
Or if he didn’t use illegal tactics and tap out
Huh? Of his 4 supposed losses, 3 of them are split decisions. One of them was a DQ
What the fook are you talking about
Unless they are denouncing Putin and his ways then they have no leg to stand on. I know its more complicated than that, what with Putin imprisoning and poisoning those who speak out but at the end of the day fuck Putin and fuck anyone who supports him.
