5 Things You Might Not Know About Fedor Emelianenko

His salad days in Pride Fighting Championships are now a distant memory, but the iconic Fedor Emelianenko still packs a promotional punch.

Emelianenko will make his once-delayed Bellator MMA debut when he faces “The Ultimate Fighter 10” alum Matt Mitrione in the Bellator 180 co-main event on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 40-year-old Russian enters the three-round clash on a run of five consecutive victories. However, Emelianenko has not competed since he was awarded a controversial majority decision over Fabio Maldonado under the Fight Nights Global banner a little more than a year ago. “The Last Emperor” has delivered 27 of his 36 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission; a staggering 24 of them have occurred inside the first round, including 12-, 26-, 36-, 54-, 62-, 63- and 69-second finishes. Emelianenko enjoys almost universal reverence among seasoned mixed martial arts observers, many of whom still rank him as the greatest fighter of all-time.

As Emelianenko prepares for his encounter with Mitrione, here are five things you might not know about the former Pride champion:

1. While he has his detractors, the track record speaks for itself.

Whenever “The Last Emperor” decides to hang up the gloves for good, he will do so with one of the sport’s most impressive resumes. He has defeated four former Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholders (Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman), three K-1 World Grand Prix winners (Mark Hunt, Mirko Filipovic and Semmy Schilt), two Olympic silver medalists (Matt Lindland and Naoya Ogawa), an Olympic gold medalist (Satoshi Ishii) and a former Pride champion (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira). Emelianenko’s list of vanquished opponents also includes Pedro Rizzo, Jeff Monson, Heath Herring, Renato Sobral and Ricardo Arona.

2. He put together a historic run of dominance in his prime.

From April 6, 2001 until Nov. 7, 2009, Emelianenko compiled a ridiculous 27-0 record, with one no-contest, across 28 appearances. He went 3,473 days between losses.

3. Few mixed martial artists have stayed at the top longer.

Emelianenko on March 16, 2003 waged a memorable battle against Nogueira in the Pride 25 main event at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. He took a three-round unanimous decision from “Minotauro” and assumed his position on the heavyweight throne. Emelianenko remained champion until Pride shuttered its doors in 2007, finishing a perfect 14-0 with the Japan-based organization. Only Jose Aldo, Wanderlei Silva, Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva have enjoyed longer reigns as major MMA champions than Emelianenko, who held the Pride title for 1,663 days.

4. Judges appreciate his work.

“The Last Emperor” has never lost a decision and in fact owns a perfect 9-0 record in bouts that have gone the distance. Those wins have come against Maldonado, Monson, Filipovic, Nogueira (twice), Schilt, Sobral, Arona and Ryushi Yanagisawa.

5. Prompting tapouts has always been a specialty.

Emelianenko has 15 submission victories to his credit: six by armbar, four by rear-naked choke, three by kimura and two by guillotine choke. He has also struck two opponents -- Wagner da Conceicao Martins and Jaideep Sing -- into submission.