Freakshow Fight of the Week: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong Man Choi

MMA has come a long way since its inception; it has grown from being a gritty toughman-esq competition that just wanted to find out what martial arts style was the best, into a true sporting event and martial art all its own. MMA today looks nothing like it did in the early days and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to reminisce about the good ole’ days.

The one part of MMA we truly miss in its modern form is the “Freakshow Fight”. For those of you who don’t know, a “Freakshow Fight” is a fight that pits two fighters against each other that have no business fighting; generally there is a crazy size difference between the fighters.

So in honor of our love for “Freakshow Fights”, we at The MMA Corner will share our favorite videos of our favorite fights that had no business ever taking place.

This week we look at Yarennoka!, an MMA event that took place on December 31, 2007 at the Saitama Super Arena and featured one of the greatest Freakshow Fights of all time; Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong Man Choi.

Standing 7’1” tall and weighing over 300 pounds, Choi towered over Emelianenko — but that didn’t matter. Even though Choi found himself on top of the great Russian multiple times, the giant couldn’t finish the job and was eventually submitted via armbar.

Even though the fight is a glorious display of things Freakshow, the best part of the video isn’t the fight, it was the inappropriate crotch touching of the referee prior to the bout.

Enjoy!