Fedor’s Greatest Challenge

Fedor pins Affliction's success, at least in part, on himself.

"I think that every fighter will try to draw as many fans as he can," he says. "So this is also a responsibility of every fighter to do that, to be a part of that."

Which is what brings him to America. He's not so stoic outside of the ring. Sitting here now, he is laughing, grinning and telling in Russian what is probably a joke.

"Sorry," he says in English before turning back to the interview with a grin and … was that a wink? Did Fedor just wink?

Later he laughs when asked of his favorite Russian writer.

"Leo Tolstoy."

"But what about Dostoevsky? I thought you liked Dostoevsky?"

"Well of course I like Dostoevsky as well," he answers, "but most likely he will take second place after Tolstoy. I have read everything from Tolstoy, everything."

What does this have to do with fighting? Next to nothing.

"I think I've proved everything for myself already," Fedor says of his battles in the ring. "But as far as American fans, I'd like them to get to know me personally, as my Japanese audience knows me personally. Not just as a fighter -- as a human being as well."

Well, he's certainly likeable. No sense in Affliction playing the scary-Russian-fighter angle with a man who doesn't seem interested in the stereotype. Not that the promotion is going down that well-traveled road just yet; at this point, Affliction is simply introducing him and reintroducing him, letting him shake hands and be human.

He breaks for his radio interview, then returns apologetically 20 minutes later to sit right down on the criticism many MMA fans have had of him: Fedor has not been fighting top competition lately.

He could blame that fact on promoters trying to maximize their profits with bouts that appeal to broad audiences, but he doesn't. Top fighters, Fedor says, should not always fight top competition.

"I think it should be a mixture," he explains. "Everyone should be given a chance. Even if a fighter is not very strong or very famous and not everyone knows him, he should still be given a chance to try. In every fighter's career, you should fight both of them: fighters who are not as good as you are and fighters who are much better."

Of course Fedor could have added that he has beaten the UFC's best heavyweight twice. He considers his encounters with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) the most difficult fights of his career, along with his August 2005 showdown against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, when the Croatian was perhaps at his best.

For 20 grueling minutes Fedor stood and out-struck Filipovic. The strategy was as stunning as it was effective, yet what truly won him the fight was mental fortitude. He pinpoints an exchange in that bout as the most memorable moment in his career.

"He was trying to kick me in the liver, hard," Fedor says. "I put up a very hard defense with my leg. It was painful for myself and for him, and I could see that. It was a strike, leg against leg. It was very painful for both of us. I didn't show that it was painful for me, but I could see in his eyes that it was very painful. I could feel he broke a little bit inside. I could feel his weakness at that very moment, and I used it."

Tim Sylvia would prefer that Fedor also engage him on the feet in their July 19 contest. The Pat Miletich (Pictures)-trained fighter stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 265 pounds, giving him significant height, weight and reach advantages.

"He's tall and has reach of course," Fedor says after complimenting Sylvia's punching power. "But I have had tall opponents before, so I know how to deal with them."

Fedor is the favorite, but Sylvia is good and this is MMA -- the sport of endless variables, a game at which everyone loses at some point. Even Fedor has a notch on the right side of his impressive win-loss ledger, and another defeat, taken at the wrong time, could ruin his mystique in the United States.

"I'm just doing everything I can," he says. "I just train and do everything the best way. I'm not thinking about if I'm going to win or lose."

A loss, though, could also spoil a potential dream matchup with Randy Couture (Pictures). So could the prolonged legal proceedings between Couture and the UFC. Fedor has been following the saga.

"I don't have the opportunity to follow it all the way through, but I read online," he says. "And I get information from my friends and people, so I can say that I follow it. I know the important things."

Rooting for Randy?

"Yes," he says. "Of course."

Affliction began teasing the fight with a January photo shoot that brought Fedor and Couture together. Fedor's interpreter, Antonina, relays that they discussed families and interests, friends and fighters they both know.

"That's one of the questions the journalists kept asking in Los Angeles," Antonina confides with a giggle. "What Randy Couture and Fedor talked about at the photo shoot. Everyone asked."

Whoops.

It's 70 degrees and sunny this morning, the final few hours of another trip to New York in which Fedor won't have time to see Central Park or much else. His friends have told him to make time on these trips to see America.

"Maybe one day," he says, "I will come and do that."

But today he's answering the Affliction photo shoot question again. The next interviewer will probably ask it, too, and Fedor will likely answer as he just did -- patiently and kindly, the response of a man who is hoping to be heard despite a great barrier.