Jacob “Stich” Duran remembers being called to a dressing room to wrap Fedor Emelianenko’s hands.
The promotion was PRIDE. The fight was Mark Hunt. Maybe. They all blend together after all these years.
Anyway, Duran is a social guy. He likes to get fighters talking. It makes them more comfortable and makes his job easier. It’s also a lot more entertaining than his usual monologue: open … close … open … close. Fighters have good stories.
But not Emelianenko. He didn’t say anything as Duran wrapped protective tape around his hands, and Duran didn’t say much either. Open. Close.
Truth be told, Duran was intimidated. The Klitschko brothers, Andre Ward, every UFC star ever born – Duran has worked with them all. But Emelianenko is different.
“There’s a little special thing about Fedor,” Duran told MMAjunkie.
So he went about his business. Before long, the wrap was done. Emelianenko examined it; he was returning to the ring after breaking his thumb in a previous bout. Obviously, it was important that didn’t happen again.
Emelianenko looked at the veteran cutman. In an hour or so, he would head to the ring to fight Mark Hunt or someone who would try to end his long, magnificent win streak. He would need that looping right hand of his.
“Super,” Emelianenko said.
Duran can’t remember Emelianenko’s opponent, but when he left the dressing room, he doesn’t think his feet touched the ground.
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The Russian headlines the New Year’s Eve event, returning to the ring for the first time in three years. He faces Jaideep Singh (2-0), a former kickboxer with two MMA fights to his name.
Even by looser standards of Japanese matchmakers, the pairing is a mismatch. The promotion has gotten a lot of grief for threatening to drag Emelianenko’s legacy through the mud. Duran, though, thinks fans are missing the point.
“Fedor’s at the tail end of his career, number one, and what better way to have him fight in a mega-fight than to be at the Saitama with the old promoters that used to be with PRIDE,” he said.
Duran can’t ignore the “big discrepancy” between the fighters. He doesn’t know Singh’s body of work; he only sees the vast gap in experience. But in the end, he’s just wrapping hands and possibly treating cuts.
Over five or six fights, though, he’s seen Emelianenko through good times and bad. When Dan Henderson knocked him out in 2011, Duran said he had to explain three times what had happened. That was before the heavyweight went on something of a retirement tour and then hung up his gloves, presumably for good.
These days, Duran would prefer to see Emelianenko’s smile and get back at it.
“It’s not so much who he’s fighting; it’s more of an introduction to Fedor and more of a respect to Fedor,” he said. “That’s the way I look at it.”
LINK: Ahead of Fedor Emelianenko's return, 'Stitch' recounts his experiences with a legend
