Fedor Emelianenko Loses in Sambo, Will Affliction Sign Blagoi Ivanov?

Fedor Emelianenko lost to a guy named Blagoi Ivanov in the World Combat Sambo Championships this weekend, and I've heard from enough MMA fans who think this is a big deal that I figured I'd at least mention it. First, courtesy of FightLinker.com, here's a video of Fedor beating Ivanov in a previous sambo match (I can't find video of this weekend's Fedor-Ivanov fight):



So, does the fact that Fedor lost a sambo match somehow mean he's no longer at the top of his game?

No. Not at all. Look, sambo isn't MMA, and sambo isn't what puts money in Fedor's pockets. If you allow Fedor losing a sambo match over the weekend to change your opinion of whether Fedor will beat Andrei Arlovski in an MMA fight in January, you might be overreacting just a bit.

Interestingly, Fighters Only Magazine says there are rumors that Ivanov was signed by Affliction immediately after winning the tournament, and if that's true, I have to agree with Fight Linker that unless "signing him" means paying him $50 to wear an Affliction t-shirt on his way out of the arena, that's utterly ridiculous. Now back to our regularly scheduled MMA programming.