Russia Beats America Hand-to-Hand
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Jean Claude Van Damme and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi were entertained in the presidential hometown of St. Petersburg by a show called “Russia vs. America.” Russia's old competitor was finally defeated there, and Russia showed once again that it outstrips them all in martial arts.
Putin could have watched martial arts in Moscow, of course. That is what many of those in the March of Those Who Disagree say happened when the special forces set upon them. But the president wanted to see real hand-to-hand combat, so he took off for St. Petersburg to be the guest of honor at the “Russia vs. America” tournament organized by the Canadian company Bodog Entertainment Group and the Russian Mix-Fight M-1 League.
The president cheered for Russia along with Hollywood star Van Damme and Italian politician Berlusconi and a sold-out auditorium full of fight fans at the Ice Palace. The audience was so excited to see the president of the country and a Hollywood star, that the fight between Andrey Semenov and Jorge Santiago was delayed. The Russian clearly got overexcited in the wait. He went on the attack in the second round and was rebuffed by three strong strikes to the head. He was knocked out so deeply that the attempted to fight the referee from the mat as he attempted to protect him from the American. The audience reacted to the defeat with whistled, Van Damme tried to soothe the Russia president.
The second fight was a decisive Russian victory. Super heavyweight Alexander Emelyanenko knocked out corpulent American fighter Eric Pele. Putin nodded in approval and drank from a plastic bottle. Alexander Emelyanenenko was followed into the ring by his brother Fedor for the main fight. Fedor Emelyanenko, considered the number one fighter in the world, faced off against Matt Lindland, former Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman fighting.
Emelyanenko started string, and the American gave up in the first round. The VIP guests were ecstatic Berlusconi and Van Damme jumped from their seats and ran to congratulate Putin, who was standing and clapping.
The rest of the audience was roaring. Besides the general cheering, calls such as “Wipe out America!”, “This is for Iran!” and “Tell Bush he's next!” could be heard. Emelyanenko thanked his fans and promised to keep up the good work. He was transformed into a fighter in the political arena supporting his president in a difficult moment. He victory is symbolic against the background of the Russian-U.S. relations, which have taken a chill again. Just last week, the Federation Council and State Duma reacted anxiously to a critical U.S. State Department report on human rights.
Kelvin Ayres, CEO of Bodog, which owns the rights to the fight, told Kommersant that the fight was seen on pay channels in the United States and Canada. He declined to give any details of the broadcasts. In any case, Putin, Van Damme and Berlusconi gave it a big free ad.
The Russian president invited both the Russian and American fighter to Konstantinovsky Palace for tea later that evening.
Boris Gorlin, St. Petersburg
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 16, 2007
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