Perhaps the best Sambo competitor ever to live, Aleksander Federov, has died at the age of 61. The following is a translation from Tenshin Matsumoto's blog, by our resident Tensei:
Yesterday from Russia a notice arrived.
The man I saw as my mentor passed away.
Aleksander Fedorov. His life ended at 61.
Fedorov is the first world champion of Sambo. He has incredibly strong submission skills and he was known as the great destroyer.
About 10 years ago he was called in as a Rings coach, and he taught the students at Maeda dojo at that period.
It was a short period, but he looked at my game and taught me not only techniques but an important factor as a Sambist.
"You're trying to lock the joings but that's no good. In a fight they may get away."
"Then where should I lock?
"Lock which ever part of your body you grab. If it was in the middle of a bone, then if you break the bone from the middle with both hands the opponent won't be able to bare it."
"It was like something out of a Zen session, but in actuality when Master Fedorov puts you in a submission you feel like your body is breaking apart. You feel the fear that he's really looking to crush your bones and not just your joints.
Of course he has a large variety of submission moves for the joints, and you never get tired of learning from him.
At the time, Rings was experiencing an influx of BJJ and Vale Tudo, and the Russians were falling prey to them as well.
Seeing his disciples' demise, Master Fedorov took matters into his own hands and pushed his old body to fight Vale Tudo against the fearsome young BJJ fighters.
Although he lost, I couldn't help but feel my body shake all over watching him trying to protect the honor of Sambo.
"Sambo's submissions are the only real submissions. You need to learn more about submissions."
He is a pot bellied middle aged man, but his aura coming from his presence was a livind legend in itself.
Although I wanted our younger fighters to feel the legendary skills of Master Fedorov with their own bodies atleast once, I deeply regret that it can never be fulfilled.
The mighty star falls.
Rest In Peace
Federov is an underrated player in the development of the present MMA climate. As arguably the best sambist ever, he probably served as somewhat of a role model for guys like Taktarov, the Emelianenkos, and other Russian sambists to some extent. Before RINGS had moved to full shoots, he stepped up and fought Adilson Lima in 1997 despite being far past his prime. Also, he spent a lot of time at Maeda's dojo working with the Japanese fighters on sambo techniques. Obviously from his blog entry, you see the impact Federov had on Matsumoto, which in some sense means that Federov's influence led to the establishment of the SK Absolute team as well.
RIP Aleksander Federov.
I was looking up some info and ran across this come to find out he is one of the best ever.
__________________ 
Im young and thuggin, I dont give a f*ck.
He can make love to you, im gonna beat it up
I caused dreams that cause death that is my crime
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