Fedor Emelianenko is one of the best representatives of mixed martial arts throughout the history of MMA. But the Last Emperor began his glorious path to the heights of this sport after a resounding defeat from a little-known Japanese.

The scandalous decision to give the opponent the victory in just 17 seconds without any significant hits spoiled our athlete’s perfect track record, but it was the beginning of the era of our fighter in MMA.

“During the preparation, I went through hard times”

At the dawn of his career in mixed martial arts, Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko competed in the Japanese promotion RINGS. The start was impressive. The last emperor left behind four fights in a row, and only one opponent managed to reach the final gong.

The King of Kings 2000 event, loudly referred to in Japan as the last tournament of the millennium, had a strange structure. At the first stage, the athletes had to fight two fights per evening to determine the quarterfinal participant. Emelianenko faced Ricardo Arona in the first fight. With the Brazilian Tiger, Fedor was carried through all three rounds, but still won by unanimous decision.

From the next opponent was not expected much agility. The 30-year-old Japanese Tsuyoshi Kosaka, although he had 31 fights before the fight with Emelianenko, suffered ten defeats in them. In addition, the representative of the Land of the Rising Sun returned to mixed martial arts after a knee injury. But, according to the Japanese, he managed to approach the tournament fully armed.

Kosaka was preparing for the duel with Emelianenko in the company of very eminent fighters. He attended boot camp with Josh Barnett and Jeff Monson.

We have finally completed this preparation. The ones I worked with were also good. During the preparation, I went through hard times, but I feel that I managed to survive all the difficulties, – the Japanese fighter wrote on his blog.

He won his opening match at the RINGS tournament without any problems. The Japanese knocked out another Russian Mikhail Ilyukhin in the middle of the second round.

Tsuyoshi Kosaka / Photo: © Etsuo Hara / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

“I need to make the first move”

Before the fight, Kosaka was afraid of Emelianenko, because he knew practically nothing about him at that time. To avoid unpleasant situations, he decided to attack the Russian immediately after the start of the fight.

“It was December 2000, when there was not much information about Fedor yet, and I had a strong feeling that if he is a fighter who also knew nothing, then I need to make the first move,” Tsuyoshi recalled that fight after the end of his career.

The Japanese did not deviate from the plan and immediately went forward. With a sharp dive, he decided to mislead Fedor, while at the same time throwing a side kick with his right hand. But Emelianenko dodged the sweeping attack of the Japanese, pushing the opponent away from him. After that, they began to fight, but the referee decided to stop the fight almost immediately.

The reason for this decision was not the most serious cut that Fedor opened after the first blow of his opponent. The thing is that the elbow of the Japanese went tangentially with the face of the Russian, touching the eyebrow, from which blood immediately gushed out. But the Last Emperor did not even think of stopping. The referee was of a different opinion. He called the doctor to the ring, who offered to stop the fight. As a result, the fight lasted only 17 seconds.

Kosaka’s victory came with a touch of scandal. The thing is that elbow strikes in RINGS were then prohibited. The Russian side signaled this, but the judges were adamant, believing that there was no intent in Tsuyoshi’s actions. As a result, the Japanese were given the victory, and with it a ticket to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

– As a fighter who has seen many things, I want to say that I did not want to injure him by opening a cut on Fedor’s face. It happened by accident,” Kosaka told about the incident.

The unfair result upset Emelianenko very much, but the defeat only made the Last Emperor stronger. After that, he did not lose for more than nine years. At this interval, he also managed to take a convincing revenge from the Japanese.