Fedor
There was a NY Times article today about Fedor Emilianenko, where we learn among other things that we were ALL mispronouncing his name.
Fedor Emelianenko (pronounced FYO-dor yemel-YAN-enko) was born in 1976, the son of a teacher and a welder, and began as a boy to practice judo and sambo, a martial art developed in the Soviet Union.
He’s got the same first name as Dostoyevsky. So why doesn’t he spell it that way? (typical ignorant American question…)
The article sheds some light on his anonymity within the Russian sports world, which is interesting but not surprising. What continues to surprise me is that Fedor doesn’t get half the credit he should within the American MMA scene. As it stands right now, there is only one MMA organization that has proven its ability to take care of itself both in terms of promotion and money–the UFC. And because Fedor fights in Sambo competitions (not allowed within the rules of the UFC) and hasn’t really cared much about UFC President Dana White’s demands, he’s been blacklisted. Randy Couture has asked to fight him, but they’ve been unable to make any headway in negotiations.
This Saturday, he’s going to destroy Andre Arlovski. Arlovski will be lucky to make it out of the 1st round. I think someone in the UFC has to make a Brock Lesnar/Emilianenko fight take place. Otherwise, the Heavyweight UFC title lacks that extra measure of legitimacy.
About the title of this blog post: A while ago, members of this blog were discussing the merits of writing for an audience vs. writing for oneself. It looks like Fedor is content to practice his art for himself, but there’s no denying that it makes a much bigger statement when promotion elevates art. I like big statements.
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I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
I like Fedor Emelianenko. From what I know of him, he not only is probably the best fighter on this planet, but he doesn’t seem like the stereotypical athlete, as he likes to waterpaint and read Dostoyevsky!
How many of these MMA fighters–particularly Americans–can say that?
And Dostoyevsky … truly one of the greatest writers of all time.
Well, now that we have a literate president, maybe we’ll have literate fighters as well!
The UFC used to brag about how most of their fighters were college educated, but I’ve yet to see a poet-fighter or novelist-fighter. So Fedor would definitely be a great addition to the other interesting personalities out there.
I’m going to say a girly thing here: Literate warriors are sexy. I could never be attracted to brawn alone… it’d be a big bore.
Two questions: if a writer (or, in this case, a fighter) hones his/her art in solitary without much concern for promotion or audience, 1) is the art less valuable? 2) does an artist have a social responsibility to get his/her voice out there?
With the help of the internet, do you think people are getting lazy about looking/searching for undiscovered talent? Because they’re already bombarded with so much information out there?
(For me, my excuse if that I am maxed out on time so am depending on friends for recommendations of good books, arts, whatever, instead of discovering them myself.)
Hey Mama Nabi,
Here’s my opinion (and I’m sure my views aren’t universally held):
1. Yes, it is less valuable. Why? Because if no one knows about it, there’s no one to value it. Now it might be valuable to the artist, but it’s not valuable to me or others unless it’s out there.
2. I…actually don’t know. Do you remember Good Will Hunting when Ben threatens to beat up Matt because Matt is wasting his talent? At the same time, who is going to tell JD Salinger that he doesn’t have the right to lock himself up in his own home?
I actually think the internet will help people discover talent. Already, it’s easier to get the word out there with blogs, youtube vids, forum conversations, etc. I think we learn where to look through our conversations, so hopefully it’ll create diversity.
Hey, Journey found their new leading man through the internet, so there’s hope!