Sylvia, Emelianenko to fight for mixed martial arts world title in July

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By Eric Page | Sunday, June 15, 2008 |

When Tim Sylvia meets Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: Banned on July 19 in Anaheim, Calif., it will be for the mixed martial arts heavyweight championship of the world, it was announced Saturday before Adrenaline MMA’s debut event at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

There are UFC champions, PRIDE champions and EliteXC champions, among others, but Sylvia-Emelianenko will be the first to award a belt from the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts, which is seeking to unify the titles to recognize true champions of the sport.

“It’s huge,” said Monte Cox, the Bettendorf-based promoter/agent who heads up Adrenaline and also represents Sylvia. “We desperately need a sanctioning body or organization that’s not biased, an independent organization like boxing has.

“Right now, there are no world champions, in my opinion. There is the UFC champion, there’s an EliteXC champ — those are simply champions of organizations. There is nothing to say that the two best guys in the world fought and this guy is now the world champ. That’s never been done.”

Emelianenko, a Russian who held the championship in the now-defunct PRIDE organization, is WAMMA’s top-ranked heavyweight fighter. He has a 27-1 record but has been criticized for not facing top-flight competition. He was to be the headliner of M-1 Global’s budding promotion in the U.S. last fall but couldn’t come to terms with Cox, who then was the CEO of M-1 Global.

This spring, M-1 Global became Adrenaline MMA and signed Sylvia, the No. 4-ranked heavyweight, as its top name. The 32-year-old Sylvia, who trains at Miletich Fighting Systems in Bettendorf, is a five-time UFC champion. He is 24-4 but 1-2 in his last three bouts, including a loss by submission to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81: Breaking Point in February.

Sylvia and Emelianenko have never met in the octagon and have contrasting styles — Sylvia a 6-foot-8, 260-pound technical striker and Emelianenko a 6-foot, 233-pound submission artist.

Sylvia, in Hoffman Estates on Saturday for the Adrenaline event, could not be reached for comment but did return a text message confirming the WAMMA announcement.

Eric Page can be contacted at (563) 383-2277 or epage@qctimes.com.