Fedor Emelianenko Book Review

With the recent surge of popularity of MMA throughout the world, there has been quite the demand for high quality instructional material so that the general public can get at least a glimpse into the incredible world of Mixed Martial Arts competition. Ever since this demand began, Victory Belt Publishing has been putting out truly stellar books on the topic. Their most recent book is surely going to be causing some major waves in the MMA community based upon just who the book is written about.

Fedor Emelianenko is the most dominant MMA fighter in history. Having never really lost (his only “defeat” came when he was cut by an illegal strike), he has completely obliterated everyone he ever faced, making himself look like he belongs in a league of his own. He combines lethally powerful strikes with some of the best grappling in the heavyweight division. Now, he brings his unique style to the masses.

Format and Layout of the Book

This book features a similar layout to BJ Penn’s book which basically separates the content into several sections. Although I’m not a big fan of generalizing, one could say the book is broken down into a striking section, a wrestling/clinch section, and a ground fighting section. I’m not going to go into this too much since I want to spend more time focusing on each section individually.

Striking Section

I honestly think this is my favorite section of the book. It offers one of the most complete looks at MMA striking ever put into a book. While I must say BJ Penn’s MMA striking was very good, this puts it to shame. It looks at everything from punches to kicks to knees and everything in between. On top of that, it gives a very nice “Key Concepts” box at the end of every technique, which helps you to remember the technique and is very useful when reviewing many techniques at once. The plethora of strikes are shown standalone for purposes of demonstrating proper form as well as against a partner and in combinations, so you get a full idea of just what your punches/kicks/knees should look like. This section alone is worth buying the book for.

Clinch Fighting/Wrestling

This section has both good and not so good aspects. I am a big fan of clinch fighting/dirty boxing, and it is safe to say I was pretty happy with the techniques included in here. It provides information on everything from where to be punching to where to be stepping, which is very useful when taken as a whole. The wrestling/judo/sambo area left me wanting a bit more. Fedor doesn’t really use a whole lot of techniques to get people down and is a big fan of keeping it simple. Unfortunately, this is reflected somewhat in this section. I’m in no form complaining that the techniques do not work. In fact, I’d say it’s just the opposite. Though not nearly as numerous as the wrestling/judo found in Karo Parisyan and Randy Couture’s book, I can vouch that every wrestling technique in this book works very well and have much higher success rates then some of the moves found in the other books. Overall, I can’t really complain about this section very much; it had some negatives, but also many positives.

Ground Fighting

It was difficult to choose whether I liked the striking or ground fighting section better since both are excellent. Fedor shows some seriously excellent combinations of using striking to set up his Jiu-Jitsu game. Also, for the first time, there are plentiful amounts of guard passes shown. In fact, I’m pretty sure there are more guard passes shown here then in any other MMA book by any publisher. Other then guard passes, there are some great and slick submissions shown, as well as some sweet transitions. Be aware if you are new to grappling, you may want to learn a bit about the different positions before you read. They are never really clearly defined since it is assumed the reader will know the difference between “mount” and “side control”. Overall though, it is one hell of a section. I honestly think it could rival the groundfighting section in BJ Penn’s book, which was one of my favorite portions of any instructional book.

Conclusion

The more and more I think about it, the more I’m starting to think this is one of the best MMA books on the market. BJ Penn’s book was originally the best, but I’m starting to feel that this may just edge it out. It has a better striking section for sure as well as a nearly as good ground fighting section. It gives a pretty nice biography on Fedor which sheds some light on the enigma of his life outside of the ring. Overall, I highly recommend purchasing this book as it offers some great material for both newbies and veterans alike.

Final Verdict

Pros: Excellent striking section, good clinch fighting section, effective and simple take downs, great guard passes, transitions, and submissions, tried and true book format with a few new interesting twists (Key Concepts section).

Cons: While effective, wrestling section is a bit limited, basic positional information in ground fighting not explicitly explained, a bit more advanced then other MMA books.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10