FBI pays Fedor a mysterious visit

The extremely well informed and connected Gareth A Davies is reporting for England’s The Telegraph that FBI agents spoke with MMA heavyweight G.O.A.T. Fedor Emelianenko in Chicago, ahead of his fight with Frank Mir on Saturday. There is no implication or even hint that Fedor has done anything whatsoever wrong. To the contrary, he has been in world’s eye since 2000 without even the faintest hint of anything untoward. The closest he ever got and it’s not remotely close was a divorce, but he ultimately remarried her. Second closest is probably not smiling a lot. Third is his brother Alecks, but we are not our brother’s keeper, and the two reportedly no longer speak.

So something is going on, and no one will speak about it, not the FBI, not Fedor’s camp, and not Bellator. But that doesn’t mean Fedor did a thing.

https://twitter.com/GarethADaviesDT/status/990426018132512768

Three days ago, while the mixed martial arts legend was taking a walk outside in the vicinity with some members of his entourage, officials from the FBI turned up at the hotel, requested to see him, and knocked on his room. They waited for him. They spoke with him. They have, by some accounts, been in and out in the last few days.

It is worth recalling that Fedor has friends, who are fans, in very high places. Namely Presidents Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump.

Putin has attended Fedor’s fights in the plush seats in the past, and the fighter has also served as a government official in the sports department in his native Russia. With Fedor being a person of note, and the current ongoings in Syria involving Russia and the USA, there could be security issues around his being here that are being monitored for his own safety.

But it could be other matters. The association with POTUS Trump goes back a decade ago to Fedor’s days fighting in the Affliction Entertainment fight league, which Trump had a “significant stake” in, and for whom, in 2008, the now President became a front man for.

When Affliction Clothing, a manufacturer of MMA apparel based in California, looked to challenge the UFC’s dominance, Affliction Entertainment was formed as a separate company to hold pay-per-view events. They needed big name signings. Fedor was one. So was Trump.

Affliction executives threw money in the direction of the Russian heavyweight. But who was appointed the COO of Affliction? None other than Michael Cohen, currently under deep scrutiny and investigation by the FBI.

Two weeks ago, federal agents raided the New York offices and hotel apartment of Cohen. Described by Rolling Stone earlier this month as a decade-long “heavy, fixer and connector” for Trump, the investigation into Cohen from the US Attorney’s office at the behest of Robert Mueller, looking into allegations of fraud and alleged payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels, may have seen Cohen’s associative net widened. It would certainly be intriguing if Fedor was being asked about that time.

 Mr. Cohen is facing a series of legal actions, and there is also a criminal investigation of Mr. Cohen in New York, which prompted the recent FBI raid. Even this week it has been revealed that sixteen cell phones belonging to Cohen, found in the New York raid, and many of them old, have been confiscated and are being examined.

Which brings us back to Fedor. Who knows whether imprints of Fedor’s time fighting in Affliction have shown up in the FBI’s fine-combing. As stated, there is no suggestion that Fedor has done anything wrong, or is implicated in any wrongdoing, but as fight week build-ups go, this has to rank as one of the strangest of all for the fan favorite.

The final theory was that he got his passport wet, and the embossed page was hard to read. While it must have come as a surprise to get that ‘knock on the door’, it doesn’t seem to have bothered the fight sports legend. He just looks ready to do the business.

Bellator MMA World Grand Prix 2018 heavyweight tournament Opening Round
•Chael Sonnen beat ‘Rampage’ Jackson via Unanimous Decision at Bellator 192 on January 20.
•Matt Mitrione beat Roy Nelson via Majority Decision at Bellator 194 on February 16, 2018.
•Fedor Emelianenko vs. Frank Mir at Bellator 196 on April 28.
•Ryan Bader vs. Muhammed Lawal at Bellator 199 on May 12.