The Red Devil Sport Club is a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

academy in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, founded by Vadim Finkelstein. In 2011, it was renamed to Alexander Nevsky OEMK.

History

The team's main fighter base is made up of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , oly ...

fighters who have adapted their style to

, and they regularly compete in full contact combat sambo tournaments. Initially, Red Devil fighters were primarily stars of Finkelstien's MMA promotion

M-1 Global M-1 Global (Mixfight-1) or MMA-1 (Mixed martial arts-1) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in St. Petersburg, Russia which organizes between 10 and 20 competitions per year. It hosted its first major show (rather than co-promoting with othe ...

such as Ibragim Magomedov,

Roman Zentsov Roman Zentsov (russian: Роман Зенцов, ) (born September 10, 1973 in Bryansk) is a retired Russian heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter who has competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, a major MMA organization based in Japan, and ...

Amar Suloev Amar Suloev (January 7, 1976 – June 27, 2016) was a Russian mixed martial artist. Following his mixed martial arts career, Suloev became involved in the world of organized crime and was arrested and accused of being a contract killer. He died o ...

, and Arman Gambaryan. Throughout the history of M-1 global, Red Devil has competed in team events, and have proven consistently to be among Russia's best MMA teams. Since 2005 the team's most notable fighters are the brothers Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko. The Emelianenko brothers left Russian Top Team due to claims of management abuse, and since that time the primary trainers for Red Devil have been the Emelianenkos' childhood coaches Vladimir Voronov, and Aleksander Michkov. The membership and popularity of the team has increased since Fedor and Aleksander joined as well, primarily drawing from the ranks of Russia's

Combat Sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , olympi ...

competitors. Former champions such as

Mikhail Zayats Mikhail Zayats (russian: Михаил Заяц;born October 14, 1981) is an ethnic Russian professional mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator's Light Heavyweight division. He has also competed in M-1 Global. According to the ...

, Victor Nemkov, Aleksander Garkushenko, among others have been drawn to the club since the success of the Emelianenkos. Because of Fedor's previous association with the Russian Top Team, the two MMA associations maintained a cohabitant rivalry, until Russian Top Team was largely dissolved following the death of former manager Vladimir Pogonin, as well as the retirement of the team's former featured coach and fighter

Volk Han Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov (russian: Магомедха́н Аманула́евич Гамзатха́нов; born April 15, 1961), is a Russian retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, sambo wrestler and former military ...

. In 2009 Aleksander Emelianenko officially left the Red Devil for unexplained reasons, however he currently continues to train with his brothers Fedor, and Ivan, along with longtime coach Vladimir Voronin, Aleksander Michkov, and family friend

Kirill Sidelnikov Kirill is a male given name, deriving from the Greek name Κύριλλος (Kyrillos) which in turn derives from Greek κύριος (kyrios) "lord". There are many variant forms of the name: Cyril, Cyrill, Kyrill, Kiryl, Kirillos, Kyryl, Kiril, Ky ...

in Stary Oskol, Russia. The team competed in the 2008 M-1 Challenge championship (M-1 Challenge # 1) and won it. In 2009 it performed much worse failing to win its group in the M-1 Challenge 2009, where it appeared under the name Imperial Team. This is thought to be largely due to the frequency in which Red Devil enters some of its most inexperienced members into the M-1 challenge events. The team also chose the name 'Imperial Team' as its current feature fighter

Fedor Emelianenko Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...

has reservations over the name 'Red Devil', and due to spiritual reasons prefers the name Imperial Team.

Notable associated fighters

* Alexander Volkov - UFC * Alexey Oleinik - UFC * Andrei Semenov -

- Bellator *

Gegard Mousasi Gegard Mousasi (born 1 August 1985), is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer, currently competing in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. As of December 13, 2022, he is #10 in the Bellator me ...

- Bellator * Victor Nemkov -

/ Eurasian Fight Nights *

- Bellator * Sergey Golyaev -

References

External links

Red Devil Sport Club RosterRed Devil on GymDbM-1 Mixfight HomepageThe Official Site of Fedor Emelianenko
{{MMA Team List 1997 establishments in Russia Mixed martial arts training facilities Mixed martial arts in Russia

History

Notable associated fighters

See also

References

External links