15 years ago, a duel took place in Japan, which was later recognized as the greatest fight of the first decade of the 21st century in mixed martial arts. Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Filipovich met in the main match of the PRIDE Final Conflict tournament. At that time, the Russian held the title of champion of the Japanese promotion and was considered one of the strongest MMA fighters in the world, and the Croat was called the most intimidating drummer. The fight lasted all three rounds and ended with the triumph of the Last Emperor.
The confrontation between Emelianenko and Filipovich is considered one of the classic in mixed martial arts. In the 2000s, the world of MMA presented fans with many bright battles, including the fights of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, Quinton Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva, but it was the duel between the Russian and the Croat that became the loudest. This is largely due to the fact that it was arranged at the perfect moment. At that time, both athletes were at the peak not only of their physical capabilities, but also of popularity.
Fedor has already managed to win the PRIDE champion title and conduct a famous duogue with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In 2004, it was the Russian and the Brazilian who were considered the strongest heavyweights of the planet, and their fight was perceived as the largest in the history of martial arts. Fuel was added to the fire by the fact that the first fight was declared invalid due to an accidental collision of heads. In April 2005, Emelianenko took the long-awaited revenge from Tsuyoshi Kosaki for an offensive defeat at the dawn of his career, but the Japanese was perceived only as a warm-up before the upcoming superfight with Filipovich.
It is noteworthy that the Croat expressed interest in the battle with the Russian already in 2003. For the first time, he challenged him after defeating Igor Vovchanchin. It took him only 89 seconds to send the Ukrainian to the floor and for the first time to attract the attention of the Last Emperor. After that, Filipovich's career was not the brightest period, which included two defeats. But by August 2005, he was on a streak of seven straight wins, six of which were finalized in the first round.
At the same time, a year before the fight with the Russian, Mirko began a real hunt in the ring for Fedor's relatives. First, he knocked out his younger brother Alexander, then dealt with his friend Josh Barnett, and two months before the in-person duel did not leave a chance to Ibragim Magomedov, whose second was Emelianenko. After that, the battle between the rivals was only a matter of time.
It is worth noting that the duel between Emelianenko and Filipovich could have taken place earlier. The leaders of PRIDE have repeatedly tried to organize a meeting, but Fedor each time said that he needed to be well prepared for such a serious challenge. As it turns out later, the reason for the delay could also lie in a severe hand injury, which the Russian received in 2003, and aggravated in a duel with Kosaka. According to members of his team, the athlete had a comminuted fracture of his thumb, which prevented him not only from hitting, but also from grabbing. Because of this, the fighter could not work on the pear at full strength and was forced to use special gloves with a foam rubber pad.
Preparation for the fight with Filipovich took place in four stages: the first - in the Elbrus region, the second and fourth - in Stary Oskol, and the third - in the Netherlands. At the same time, it is the departure to Europe that can be called the most important.
On the eve of the battle with the renowned kickboxer Emelianenko, it was necessary to improve skills in the standing position and learn how to defend against kicks. He was assisted in this by well-known percussion technicians - Remi Bojanski, Tyrone Spong and Gilbert Ivel, as well as the renowned trainer Johan Foss.
Filipovich also thoroughly prepared for the battle with Emelianenko. This is evidenced by the fact that Mirko arrived in Japan a month before the tournament in order to better get acclimatized. Fedor arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun only four days before the PRIDE Final Conflict. As explained by his sparring partner Roman Zentsov, in the Russian team, this was considered a sufficient time to get used to the time zone and climate.
The tournament became one of the most anticipated events in MMA at that time. About 47.5 thousand fans gathered at the stadium in Saitama to watch the battle between the two strongest fighters of the time. On the eve of the fight, Emelianenko was a favorite with the bookmakers, but it never occurred to anyone to write off Filipovich. Yes, Fedor was considered a more versatile athlete and had good standing skills and elite skills in the ground. But the Croat's terrible kicks with their feet could well become a key factor in this confrontation. In addition, Mirko felt good in boxing, which could also become a serious problem for his opponent.
The Russian's plan was extremely simple and straightforward. Emelianenko decided to work as number one and constantly put pressure on Filipovich. This should have allowed him to seize the initiative and force the opponent to constantly retreat, thereby depriving him of the opportunity to throw his trademark kicks.
At first, the impression was that Fyodor's idea was working. He pursued a counterpart, and the exchange took place exclusively on the hands. But after two and a half minutes, the Croat still hit the body with his left foot. Inspired Crocop tried to build on his success and threw out his trademark high-kick, but missed. The last emperor grabbed his leg and almost carried out a takedown, but flew out of the ring.
It might seem that such a failure could demoralize Emelianenko, but everything happened exactly the opposite. He increased the pressure on his opponent and began to feel more and more confident in the exchange. Filipovic tried to take revenge and rushed forward, but made a mistake and ended up on the ground. Fedor fell into his element and was able to demonstrate his signature ground and pound skills. The only drawback was the broken nose of the Russian, because of which the judge even had to temporarily suspend the duel.
Unlike the UFC, in PRIDE the first round is ten minutes, not five. This only worsened the position of Crocop, who found himself on the canvas in the middle of the starting segment. Until the gong, he remained on his back, desperately fighting off Emelianenko's attacks. At the same time, the Russian reigned in the stalls, skillfully changing positions and continuing to bombard his opponent with powerful blows. Filipovic could only answer with up-kicks, but mostly he missed.
At the beginning of the second round, Fedor almost sent his opponent to the canvas with his own weapon. He pushed Filipovic to the ropes, but instead of his trademark sweeping overhand struck a right high-kick. Mirko clearly did not expect this from a basic sambist. Another wake-up call for the Croat was that fatigue was increasingly evident in his actions.
Everyone knows that fighting takes a lot of energy. And this was instantly reflected in the famous kickboxer. Having arranged several bright cuttings in the rack, Emelianenko again transferred Filipovich to the flooring and cut off his escape route. Horvath lost his chances of winning on points and could only count on a knockout.
But for the third five-minute, Mirko did not have enough strength. Fedor continued to break him in a stance, and at the first opportunity he made passes to his legs. Already at the 30th second, he transferred the opponent to the ground and would probably have kept him there until the end of the fight, if not for the strange decisions of the referee.
He twice showed Filipovic a yellow card for inaction, but at the same time he raised the athletes in a rack and gave Crocop the last chance to create a sensation. But Emelianenko stopped all attempts of the opponent to turn the tide of the battle and sent him to the floor twice more. The judges unanimously gave the victory to the Russian.
The duel between Filipovich became one of the brightest in Emelianenko's career and subsequently was repeatedly recognized as one of the most important in the history of MMA. In 2009, the authoritative publication Sports Illustrated recognized him as the best fight of the first decade of the XXI century.