My friend grew up in the Soviet Union and still goes back to Russia often, answered the who is more famous question. "Fedor is a huge celebrity in Russia, Karelin is revered. Fedor is an Icon for sport, Karelin is a symbol of Soviet superiority. When people talk about Fedor, they get excited like when Americans talk about Tyson. When people talk about Karelin, they get solemn like when Catholics talk about the Pope."

In a recent interview (in Russian) Karelin was asked a question: “When there were difficult times in your life, how did you fight through them ?” He just said: “Silently”.

Karelin is so goated he literally wrote a doctoral thesis on suplexing people

I honestly believe if Karelin had been invited to the first few UFCs, most people today would never have heard of BJJ.

Karelin had a record of 887-2 both loses from one point deficit. He had a move called "Karelin lift" which is reverse body lift, he slammed wrestlers that weighted around 130 kgs around 800 times. Easily the greatest ever

Karelin is one of those legendary athletes that not only was dominant but actually looked exactly how you’d expect a monster to look

I remember when Karelin was asked what it was like to be the strongest guy in the world. His response: "What? I'm not even the strongest man in my village."

Here's how I know Karelin is the best athlete of all time, when there is a promising young wrestler nobody says "this guy could be the next Karelin". It never occurs to anybody that that could be a possibility.

“He was only 60-0”. Easy to say when you’re the greatest of all time.

Karelin won the 1993 world championship with two broken ribs. There has never been a more dominant athlete in my opinion.

He has a PHD in sports. Wrote his thesis on the art of the suplex. Not only a beast but a genius

Karelin was the ABSOLUTE BEAST of martial arts! I used to be a Greco-Roman wrestler myself at 87kg and I met him in 1999 Greco_Roman WC in Athens ( I was a spectator ) when I shook his hand I felt like an infant. His hands where gigantic and he seemed like he was a giant made of rock. I met a lot heaveweights but noone so scary.

Aleksandr Karelin said he did not want to do MMA / cage fighting because he did not want to hurt people! He is a nice guy and very good person.

If karelin did MMA there would be a funeral after each fight.

Karelin used to put 200+ on the bar, set a timer for 15 minutes then start lifting the weight until the timer went off. He timed his weight lifting rather than count it. That's utterly amazing.

Karelin's record was 887 wins, 2 losses (both by one point, and Rulon's victory was somewhat cheap). I don't believe anyone in any sport ever has had anywhere remotely close to that good of a record.

Shortest discussion ever: "- Can Karelin be defeated by..." "- No"

Alexander Kerelin and men like him are why I learned how to use weapons.

I met Karelin once, An extreamly nice person. Shoock his hand and felt giddy as a schoolboy. Huge hands.

I recall watching that match when Gardner upset karelin. Me and my step-dad was rooting for Aleksandr. We didn't care that he was Russian and going against an American, we were rooting for a legend and wanted to see him go out on top. Gardner was such a damn wide body it was hard to do anything to him.

Karelin was a God. He once wrestled for 10yrs straight without losing a single point. Let's look deeper into why he lost the Gardner match. First, he wrestled earlier in the day leaving him a bit weathered to begin with. Second, and this is important, the referee warned Garner several times during the match for "passivity" meaning that he wasn't engaging in battle. Normally, when this happens twice, a point is awarded to the opponent. Well, Gardner was warned five times without a single point awarded. When Karelin lost, he didn't complain. Instead, he took off his wrestling shoes and left them on the wrestling mat as a sign of respect and also signifying a changing of the guard. To further his sign of respect, he attended the next Olympics in support of Gardner. I can go on and on, but I won't. Fedor and Karelin are both Gods of their respective sports therefore one will never badmouth the other.

Just because you shot Jesse James doesn’t make you Jesse James

I’m so glad you point out the rule change that lead to Karelins loss

Fedor was and still is the most feared mma fighter of all time dude is a freak of nature💯 hes my all time favorite fighter

You gotta respect Marty - 5% body fat with 0% charisma.

I wish somebody would make a good documentary on Karelin he’s one of the greatest athletes ever but it’s hard to find much out about him and there’s not much on UKposts

I love your Fedor stories Chael. I was a huge UFC fan years ago. A friend of mine told me about Fedor and Aleks in Pride, but I never paid much attention. Then a couple years ago I had a lot of spare time and came across Fedor fights on UKposts. So I FINALLY decided to check him out after having moved away from MMA as a whole some years prior. I was blown away by Fedor's AND Alek's fights to a somewhat lessor degree. Aleks is a great fighter. They both look like ordinary dudes you'd meet and think they're just average Joe's. Watching Fedor fighting in Pride turned me into a MMA fan again 💯, and a Fedor fan for life.

The experiment walked on his shoulders faster than a toddler walks on it's feet. His "move" was picking up and tossing other Heavyweight wrestlers. He held an undefeated streak of thirteen years. He is a modern day Hercules.

Karelin was the greatest Olympic wrestler of all time, no doubt about that. Imagine if he had competed in MMA

Karelin deserves more recognition. I mean, he's a respected figure but more people should learn about him, his achievements are amazing. One of the best combat athletes ever.

Boy, Chael remembered this fight incorrectly... The grip was very easily lost and it was lost before OT but since you needed to be up 3-0 to win it then went to OT where the win went to Gardner.

Karelin was the smallest guy in his family, he is one of those super athletes that comes around once every 100 year.

Karelin was 33 when he competed in the Olympics in 2000. He was the most tested athlete in the history of the combat sport and he never tested positive. Those are the facts.

Alexander Kerelin is a legend. Looks like a demon.

You know what? I didn’t expect to subscribe to you but you were sooo spot on with this story that I had no choice. You’re a great orator and story teller and I really enjoy that. Thanks.

In my opinion, Karelin is the single best athlete in any combat sport. His accomplishments were simply insane. The only wrestler who comes close to him in terms of as the GOAT is Cael Sanderson, who went 159-0 in his collegiate career and won 4 straight NCAA championships. But Karelin was simply ridiculous. Undefeated for 13 years, with no one scoring a point on him in 6 years, a feat just as impressive as his record. I can't imagine someone doing something like that in high school, let alone against the best wrestlers in the world, and as for his record, his two losses came at the beginning and very end of his career. Wrestling is not like, say, boxing, where you can pick opponents, and go up against 2 people a year. Karelin average more then 50 matches a year. I'm wrestling, you go up against whoever you go up against. So for 13 years, he beat literally everyone. Even crazy records, like Mayweather's 50-0, aren't even close to 887-2. Also, saying that Karelin juices isn't fair. There's no proof, and Karelin trained like a motherfucker

As a life long wrestler, Aleks was one of the most dominant and intimidating forces who ever lived. Had MMA been a major sport in his time I have no doubt he would of been a Mark Coleman type but better.

CHAELIPEDIA Physi-logically : To physically and logically be able to accomplish one’s goal.

My father was best friends with Aleksandr back when they both were competing. My father was a Cuban so when the Russians starting coming in to train with the Cubans they met and became great friends. So great, my father named me after him. The true GOAT of wrestling.

I’ve pondered these same questions many times myself. I wonder how Karelin would answer these questions, my guess is the same way Fedor did. A good topic, Chael. More like this, please!

He was referred to as "The Karelin" .....an unstoppable monster....feared and revered by all wrestlers. His reverse lift from the floor are things of legend.

My senior yearbook quote was out of his book. " i train everyday of my life as they have never trained a day in theirs."

You have to admit that he still showed respect to everyone in that match . He made one mistake in 13 years . He’ll always be a legend.

Dude this is one of the best videos you’ve released. I love hearing back room stories like this

Before Alexander Karelin goes to sleep, he checks under his bed for Chael P Sonnen.

Karelin had an MMA fight with Akira Maeda. He was offered gloves so that he could hit. Karelin refused and used only wrestling

Karelin always impressed me with his opening move in every match...he wished his opponent well with a genuine handshake of appreciation. He is a GOAT.

I am always impressed with Karelin's injury list and how many championships he won while injured. I'm sure he had all the medical care he needed once he became famous, but still...Around January 1988 he had a serious concussion, and doctors considered removing him from the 1988 Olympic team. Karelin won the 1993 World Championships despite breaking two ribs in the opening bout against Matt Ghaffari. At the 1996 European Championships in Budapest, he had torn the right pectoralis major muscle so badly that doctors predicted he would not be able to use his right hand for several months. Karelin won the Championships, but had to be urgently operated on in Budapest. He recovered within three months to compete at the 1996 Olympics

Thank you for this. I met him once when he was a competitor. Man, this guy was a specimen and he had an aura like Mike Tyson did. It felt like you were near a wild animal that can chop your head off like its nothing. But the strangest thing, he was one of the nicest athletes i have ever met, next to the great and untouchable Sergey Bubka and of course respectable Jonah Lomu. The most impressive part about him other than his sheer size was his intellect. You don't get to hear about Solzhenitsyn or poetry or class struggles when you talk with a heavy weight wrestler other than The Experiment.

Karelin was not a juicer. In fact he trained on his own very often separate from the Soviet system. He also never tested positive for anything and he didn't do the mandatory tests, he'd volunteer to be tested. No one associated with wrestling EVER suspected Karelin. Plus, look at him today. He's still massive.

Beautyful and respectful breakdown by Sonnen. I loved it

A young Karelin trained in MMA would have been something, he was awesome and 286+ pounds of muscle, strong like a bull.

How good was Karelin? And where does kevin lee fit into all this?

I just recently gently started watching Chael’s videos. Damn he's such a great story teller lol. Totally enjoying his videos

We were moving into the same apartment block in Novosibirsk (I was about 11 at the time), he had a flat on the 5th floor and the elevator was out. The guy loaded a double “American-style” fridge freezer on his back and walked it up the stairs... Nice man though, used to chat with my granny all the time.

Thanks for explaining the rule that changed Katelin"s perfect record on his last match, most people have no clue about this

Between Masvidal vs Usman there is only one winner; it is Uncle Chael.

Short answer: *Fedor evaded the question.* I just saved you 11:15 minutes of your life.

I love the way chael breaks things down

Bruce Prichard said in his podcast the WWF was trying to sign “The Experiment”, and said they watched one of his workouts where he went on the bench and did 225 lbs for 15 minutes. Not reps, 15 minutes!

Chael, we need more of this for the college-international wrestling. Need to get the sport out there more. Talk about personalities, rivalries, and more.

I saw rulon about 8 years ago, and it was sad to see how far he has fallen. I hope he is better now.

thanks a lot Chael, love this 'report' of LEGENDS, and i 'd to say you thank you for the way you are speaking you are really easy to understaand for a (quite old) foreigner who has that 'english roasted' problem.

Gardner stalled the whole match and didn’t deserve the win. As an American it was a very hollow victory

Alexander has been my athletic hero for as long as I can remember.. Never enough on him or his achievements. thank you Bad Guy for acknowledging him. 🇨🇦🌎🇺🇸❤👍👍👍👍

I remember some story about Karelin lifting a big old school fridge on his back, up a flight of stairs, like 5-6 floors. This guy is such a legend, and he looks like a savage as well.

Good explanation of how badass this guy was and disciplined

Dammit. Chael has the gift of gab. I sat out in the parking lot of my gym waiting to hear what Fedor said all the way to the end.

YES! I'm so glad Chael brought up this legend for others to learn about. I still don't know enough about him even though I wrestled since I was a kid, and was astonished by Karelin's stature. Before the days of losing to Rulon, back when Karelin was in his prime, I'd never seen anything like him. PED's or not, nobody looks or wrestles like that from only drugs. You might be looking at leftover genetic mixing that developed size and strength demanded by Siberian winters and living amongst some of the harshest environments any hominid lineage endured. Either be big and strong, or die. I'm only half joking here. Thought that since I was a kid, and it's taking scientists forever to finally say "Hey! you know what? Everybody is a mix! Seems that some genetics for certain areas and necessities are leftover! That's why we're all human but different!" Derrrrrr. Just look a people and where they're from, numb nuts. It's a compliment. Anyway, yeah Karelin is a beast, and that reverse lift he used to do was against other huge and strong men that would chuck most of us a country mile. I met Rulon Gardener and got the shameless photo opportunity, and he put one arm around my shoulders the way they do for that nice scene implying we're old friends. Then like he did to everyone else, he started to squeeze. Now I'm a smaller guy, only about 5'7", but at that time in very good shape; at just around 160 pounds, strong enough to bench a little over 300, muscular, could do sets of 30 pull-ups, former wrestler, etc... blah blah you get it. I wasn't fragile. When Gardner squeezed my shoulders SIDEWAYS I thought something might pop or a slight injury would happen if he went further. It was with control but it caused something that I call "educational pain". With one arm. He's THAT strong, and believe me he used everything he could to beat a past-prime Karelin that day. When Karelin did his reverse lift move, some other world-class wrestlers actually quit before it happened. They actually called it, like verbal tapping because the move often put these extremely heavy people briefly towards a pile-driving position, which feels fatal. It eventually gets back exposure and that's all Karelin was going to do with it, but it's terrifying for the victim to feel their 285 pound bodies being tossed in the direction of the head before their back exposure, upside down and backwards possibly paralyzing them for life or death. Karelin would have had to train earlier in life to handle the nasty striking some heavyweights can do; because there's always that chance, but a healthy, somewhat young Karelin trained in MMA? If Alexander could avoid big mistakes, I don't know if there would have been much hope for anybody.

He was 33 , he is almost 55 now . He was competing senior level since he was 13 and hadn’t lost since age 16. That why it seems he was older then. I was 15 in 1988. And he was triple champ of everything . At 21.

Beating Karelin because you were too fat to grip or lift is the most American thing i have ever heard…

Karelin only lost after they changed rules on him. The guy was an absolute beast!

Karelin never tested positive for PEDs and was probably the most tested wrestlers in the olympics. Not saying he was clean but some people are just freaks of nature. Edit: I'm not looking for a debate. Steroids or not he was by far the best to ever do it at his sport and weight category. He beat plenty of confirmed juicers.

Karelin was BORN with 12 lbs in him. Peds or no Peds, the guy was a monster from the get go...

That was a great story to hear that Chael tells. Aleksandr Karelin and Fedor Emelianenko are both superstars in their own sports. I watch that match between Karelin and Rulon. Rulon should never have beaten Karelin, but Aleksandr was preparing to win his 4th Olympic title. The problem was when they panned over to the Karelin match. Karelin looked so disinterested in the match. He didn't even look like he wanted to wrestle that match. I thought he wasn't prepared. Sure enough, Rulon fought the match of his life to defeat one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.

*It was a clear cut case of changing the rules to win via cheating....then changing rules back to normal once he's gone.* And I'm an American...Alek was just on another level....last minute rule changes had to be implemented in order for him to place 2nd place....

Yeah, Russians are the synonym for doping while you have: Andre Agassi, Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, Jon Jones, Ryan Lochte, Tyson Gay, Ben Johnson, Roy Jones Jr., Florence Griffith Joyner

Watch the match again chael, the unlocking of his clasped hands happened in the first period, and he completely broke his grip and moved his hand from overlook to under on Gardeners shoulder and relocked his grasp .. it was blatantly obvious, but the fact that it was a new rule at the time, and apparently only a temporary one... that better explains their hesitation in calling it, cuz it went to review.

great report. one of the best i have ever seen ......... respect

Uncle Chael with another great video.

Karelin is just one of the scariest athletes of all time

I watched him back in the day when they had done a Cameo on him...he looked like a true beast of a man,definitely a legend and his myth will always follow.

Thank u for this story. Both are legends and GOATs

I recently rewatched Uncle Chael's win over Fedor. Is it just me, or did Chael genuinely attempt an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE on him?

I'd have rather watched Chael talking to Fedor than whatever media crap we actually got to see.

if Fedor and Karelin had even an exhibition match of any kind, it would make so much money in Russia like every household would buy the ppv

A great story. Told brilliantly by the brightest combat sport guy of all time

Chael: ‘I, as a viewing fan, am very astute of the rules.’ Also Chael: “ that triangle choke? I thought that Anderson only won round 5, and I won the rest of the fight.’

your shirt is spelled wrong chael, it’s “mooey tai”

Karelin was only scored on twice in his entire international career. He went his last like, 26 matches without being scored on? In heavyweight international competition! That's fucking nuts!

Thanks, this story was great man!!

Skip to 9:00 for question to fedor

Usman to Colby : “ Say sumthin” Usman to Masvidal: “ Do sumthin”

You’re a great storyteller, funny thing is my father is an amazing storyteller and also a wrestler. All wrestlers I know are really good at telling stories.

It's funny, I randomly found his "mma" match not long ago. Then found your take from a while back on him. I was 12 when he lost the Olympics and my dad was a wrestler so we watched all the wrestling possible. My dad was pumped for Rulon.

Rulon wasn't just big he was fat and sweaty so taking a point for that "loss of grip" was bull$hit.

Fedor would win in an MMA match. Alexander Karelin would make him look like a child in a wrestling match but it is debatable about what would happen in an Abu Dhabi rules grappling match since Karelin's experience with submissions in active competition is suspect. Just by looking at them, however, and pretending to know nothing about who they are, I would assume that there is no universe in which Fedor would ever win.

Fedor in his prime wins because that Fedor found a way to beat everyone. In my eyes he’s the goat. I miss Pride

Being Russian myself I honestly can say that I can't answer that difficult question as well. Karelin and Emelianenko are both super respected and it is well deserved respect. Could it be that in mind of Russian people they are equally great? I think so.

Yes Karelin is a legend, he won all Gold medals possible between the years of 1888-2000 in all world championships in Greco-Roman wrestling, and only lost two out of 889 matches in his carrier and lost only by a point, he is truly the Best of All time in wrestling...