MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko was questioned by the FBI in his hotel room on Tuesday because of his connections to Donald Trump, his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Fedor signed with the fight league Affliction Entertainment, an organization that was partially owned by Trump, in 2008. Affliction came to an end after just two events due to financial reasons. Putin has attended numerous Emelianenko fights in the past. The two have also been photographed together.
Fedor‘s manager Jerry Millen confirmed to Washington Post that the 41-year-old Russian mixed martial arts fighter was questioned for “a few minutes.” Millen was unable to provide many details regarding their conversation, but repeatedly appeared to assert how cordial their interaction turned out. “The FBI came to the hotel looking to talk to Fedor and they were very nice, came in to speak with Fedor for a few minutes, spoke to me, very cool guys, and that’s all I can really say about it,” he said. “Again, the FBI did come to the hotel, they found us, knocked on the door. Hundred percent, kind of surprised. They were very nice, very professional.”
Following his first round victory over Frank Mir via knockout at Bellator 198 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, Fedor addressed the FBI questioning during his post-fight press conference. When asked, at the five-minute mark in the video below, if the events leading up his fight were a distraction, Emelianenko said through his translator, “Not at all. Everything was great. Everything was okay. Everything was good.” Fedor also couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh at the notion that he could be accused of being a Russian spy.
