M-1 has announced that Fedor Emelianenko is following in the footsteps of fellow fighters Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen and is running for a congressional seat as state representative in the Russian senate.

Here's the translation of the release courtesy of MiddleEasy, who were first to report on the news:


"The regional political council of the party "United Russia" approved the list of candidates for internal party elections - the primaries. In the list of 58 candidates. No less than 10 000 United Russia vote will determine the best, and who will receive the first place in the party list in the upcoming October elections in the Belgorod Regional Duma.
The list of early voting have 24 newcomers who have never participated in elections to the legislature. One of the achievements was the inclusion in the list not only members of United Russia, but also simply to party supporters and even non-party candidates. This is for example the managing director Combine KMA Ruda Vladimir Tom and CEO JBK-1 Yuri Selivanov. They are not only members of the party, but also by working in obldume fourth convocation, not included in the United Russia Duma faction.
Among the most notable candidates, in addition to the deputies (Anatolia Zelikow, Victor Filatov, Vadim Cage, Valeria Skruga, Ivan Kulabuhova, Vladimir Kulikovsky) - a famous athlete Fedor Emelianenko, the new director of Belarusian State Technological University Sergey Glagolev (by the way, non-partisan), director of the Institute of Public and municipal government BSU Alexander Mamatov."

Whether or not this means that The Last Emperor's MMA career is on its last legs is just conjecture at this point, but if he wins the election in Russia, which could happen considering he is very popular in the country, it's unlikely that he will continue to fight on a full-time basis.

With just two fights remaining on his Strikeforce deal, the timing of the announcement of the October election may lead many to conclude that the dominant heavyweight who sits at the top of most MMA rankings will likely retire when the contract expires, but considering that he is only 33 and has not shown any signs of slowing down, this seems unlikely.

Maybe this is just a scheme by M-1 Global to get the senate to sign over half of their power in exchange for them allowing Fedor to work for them.
-Cage Potato
What a bunch of bull crap it will be if he retires after his next two fights. He can't fight forever so if he wants to get a senate job then that is great and a smart move but it just seems like either Fedor or his management are trying so hard to not let him fight anyone too good so he stays on top and possibly retires on top.