Report: Aleksander Emelianenko tests positive for Hepatitis B
July 23, 2008 by Adam Morgan
Rumors swirled around the internet this past weekend regarding the medical status of Aleksander Emelianenko, the younger brother of the best heavyweight on the planet, Fedor. At the weigh ins, Emelianenko and Paul Buentello were not allowed to weigh in and no one had any clue why. Rumors soon began to form that Emelianenko had tested positive for Hepatitis B. Now MMA News is confirming those rumors:
A source close to the situation spoke to MMANews.com’s Michael Moody on a condition of anonymity and explained that the blood tests came back right before Aleks and Buentello were scheduled to weigh in and that is why there was so much confusion around the stage and why the fighters did not weigh in. Gary Goodridge ended up stepping up on extremely short notice and filling in for the Russian heavyweight.
The tests were positive for Hepatitis B which resulted in the CSAC cancelling the fight. Hep B is the result of transmission from exposure to infectious blood or body fluids containing blood.
If this news is true, it’s unfortunate for Aleks. The younger brother of Fedor has so much potential to be one of the best heavyweights in the world but due to this he may never be able to reach his full potential. He almost certainly will be barred from fighting in the United States. As the article points out, it’s also unlikely that anyone will want to step into the ring against him if he has indeed tested positive for Hepatitis B for fear of catching the disease themselves. Aleks has been through some seriously hard times in his life and this is just another unfortunate happening in his life.
This is very sad if true.Is hepatitis B incurable?something that he’ll always have?
If it’s acute HBV then it’s something he should get over but if it turns chronic then it’s the end of his career and quite possibly fatal. There is no way of knowing how this will affect his career without more detailed information about his condition.
wow I didnt think this could stop him from fighting… this sucks
“Aleks has been through some seriously hard times in his life…”
Yeah - all of his own making - he’s a convict, so I’d hold off on the pity party.
“Yeah - all of his own making - he’s a convict, so I’d hold off on the pity party.”
Coming from a guy who quotes Lt. Gen. James Mattis on his website. It IS fun to shoot some people . . . Nice
I wonder if its from one of his tattoos.
Let assume there is potential opponent for Alex. It takes 2 months training preparation and announcement before the fight .The opponent can be vaccinated against hepatitis b vaccine and is protected 100 percent if he is interested in the fight money and prestige wise. I am not sure how long time it takes for the organism to create anti bodies against virus but I think not more that 3 weeks.
the real question: did DSE/Pride know about this or did they just not care? Or did the infection occur after his tenure in Pride?
The CSAC made the right choice. Better safe than sorry. This isn’t so much good news for Aleksander. Hopefully he can overcome this. It would be sad if he could never fight again.
I doubt Pride ever had any knowledge of this. His brother might not have even known? At any rate. This is unfortunate news. I wish him and his family the best. Aleks is one of top 10 HW’s in the world. It would be a shame to go out like this.
wow this sucks. I liked his fighting style.
This really sucks. Can Alek fight in Canada with hep?
Anyway thank god it isnt Fedor.
Ver, very sad! Yes, he is a former convict but he paid the price and worked hard to change his ways! Prays go out to Aleksander and family!
wow calm down its 95% curable… come on its 2008
I think in about 80% of cases, it’s simply acute hep that can be cured with treatment. No need to be ringing a death knell for Alek’s career just yet. It could very well be a temporary setback.
Hopefully he never steps into the ring with anyone. That would be seriously screwed up if he gave another person that disease without their knowledge. He should also tell every person he may possibly exchange fluids with. Sounds gross but that would be the nice thing to do.
The people talking about it being curable are correct. Hep C is a much bigger threat because there is no vaccine for the uninfected and its much less curable. Chronic Hep B is a likely eventual death sentence, but he fought HCF less than a year ago and didn’t test positive for it then. This means he is very likely still in the acute phase of the disease and will be fine because it can be dealt with at a high percentage at this stage. Aleks is a tough bastard, don’t count him out against a very curable disease.
I have a friend who contracted Hep B (from using a shared needle for heroin), so I know a bit about it. Hep B can be cured through interfuron treatments, which are much like chemotherapy. These treatments work about 80%+ of the time and presumably Aleks is relatively young and healthy, so his odds might be a little better. The problem is that the treatments take about 6 months and you’re totally drained. No energy at all. Also, you don’t know until a few months after you’ve finished the treatments whether they’ve actually worked or not. Realistically, he wouldn’t be able to do any training and would probably have to take about a year off. But it’s not the end of the world. My guess is he’ll do the treatments and we’ll see him back in action late next year. My friend’s was cured through interfuron. They keep tweaking the treatments for the better so I’ll be surprised if he’s not back in action soon.
I think he will be well with God on his side.