WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko submitted lightweight title-holder Shinya Aoki on Wednesday in a special exhibition matchup at M-1 Challenge in Tokyo, Japan, forcing Aoki to tap to an Achilles lock midway through the five-minute matchup.

After going winless in last year, Team USA West is now just one win away from clinching a post-season berth in the 2009 "M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction." The Colin Oyama-coached team took sole possession of first place following Wednesday night's 5-0 shutout over South Korea during M-1 Challenge's "Third Edition," which emanated from Differ Ariake.

A literal parade of 38 fighters made their way through official weigh-ins on Tuesday at the Pearl Kasai Hotel in Tokyo in preparations for Wednesday's "M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction" event scheduled to emanate from Differ Ariake.

WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will participate in a special grappling match at M-1 Challenge on April 29th in Tokyo, Japan. The five-minute exhibition matchup was officially announced during a press conference earlier today.

Four of the most popular and accomplished champions in mixed martial arts, Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Matt Serra, have partnered with Round 5, the leading producer of MMA collectibles, to create figurines that will be included in an expanded Series 4, it was announced today by Barron Lau, Round 5 CEO and co-founder and Damon Lau, president and co-founder.

Top-ranked heavyweight and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko captured his fifth Russian Combat Sambo Championship gold over the weekend.
According M-1’s official website, Emelienanko needed a total of just 60 seconds to defeat three opponents and capture this year’s championship. Following 14 second and 26 second quarterfinal and semifinal matchups, Fedor defeated his finals opponent in [...]

Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko is considered to be the best heavyweight fighter in the history of MMA, ranking in the top 2 or 3 in every pound for pound ranking you will find. In Russia he is their Michael Jordan, but his sport of calling is Sambo. Fedor and his brother Aleksander will enter the [...]

Speaking to SI.com, famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach, who is currently working with Andrei Arlovski, commented on Fedor Emelianenko’s striking prowess, which is apparently none too impressive:
“He’s flat-footed, has no technique, but he can punch…That always helps. He’s accurate. He’ll follow you right to the floor, so he’s aggressive. But that aggressiveness can be used [...]

WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko has canceled a planned US media tour to begin training for his January 24th matchup at Affliction: Day of Reckoning against Andrei Arlovski. The decision to cancel the tour and begin his training camp early was made following his loss at the 2008 World Sambo Championships in Russia earlier this [...]

Fedor Emelianenko has come up short in a Sambo tournament this past weekend, earning only a Bronze medal after losing decisively to Bulgarian Blagoi Ivanov, according to a report from MMAMania. As one might imagine, this is somewhat of a big deal since Fedor practically had to scour the earth just to find [...]

Affliction has officially confirmed that Fedor Emelianenko (29-1) will face Andrei Arlovski in the main event of Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The event was originally scheduled to be headlined by Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett on October 10th in Las Vegas, but was postponed due to [...]

A heavyweight bout between WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelinaneko (29-1) and Andrei Arlovski (15-5) will headline Affliction “Day of Reckoning”, which is scheduled to take place on January 24th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio recently confirmed the news to MMA Rated.
Though the event will still be promoted in partnership [...]

Fedor Emelianenko, the world’s near-consensus top heavyweight and among the planet’s best pound-for-pound fighters, will not be competing on New Year’s Eve and will also not meet Josh Barnett early next year at Affliction’s second event.
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio recently alerted MMA Junkie of the status of the promotion’s top fighter.
“I’ve been told actually [...]

DREAM middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1), who last week claimed the title with an upkick knockout of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at DREAM 6, has signed with Affliction and will debut at the promotion’s next event, tentatively slated for January 17th in Anaheim, California, against Vitor Belfort (17-8).
Mousasi confirmed the matchup to Fighters Only.
Belfort, a former [...]

On Wednesday Affliction announced that they are rescheduling their October 11th event in Las Vegas to January 17th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
At the time we speculated that card changes could be a possibility and they have already become a reality just one day later.
Though a major announcement will be made on Saturday [...]