VIDEO | Learn the origins of Fedor Emelianenko’s legendary sweater

On Saturday night, legendary Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will return to the cage. He will do so opposite dangerous UFC veteran Matt Mitrione in the main event of Bellator 172, which will emanate from San Jose, California.

Fedor, of course, is a legend for many reasons: for his tremendous grappling skill, for his incredible power, for his stoicism, for his fearlessness…

One often under appreciated component of Fedor’s legend, however, is his famous striped sweater – a wooly garment held in the same regard as Frodo’s mithril and Ironman’s power armor.

In anticipation of Fedor’s comeback, Bellator has dug deep into the dusty volumes of MMA history to shed some light on the origins of this legendary sweater. The end result is the video below.

In this video, which is narrated by comedian Adam Carolla, we are given some insight as to where Fedor’s sweater came from. Apparently, it was knitted by his Aunt on her lunch break. We’re also treated to some sweater-centric commentary from Bellator President Scott Coker, MMA stars like Randy Couture, Matt Mitrione, Royce Gracie, and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, and other celebrities like Brooke Hogan, Hershel Walker, and comedian Russell Peters. As this video shows, Fedor’s sweater truly is universally revered.

Fedor will enter his fight with Mitrione having scored two wins since returning to the cage in late 2015. The first of these wins came against outmatched kickboxing export Jaideep Singh in the Rizin Fighting Federation ring. The second was an extremely controversial decision defeat of UFC veteran Fabio Maldonado in the Eurasia Fight Nights cage. In the wake of this latter win, several attempts were made to overturn the result, but the Russian MMA Union ultimately decided to stick with the initial decision.

Mitrione, meanwhile, will also enter the fight on a two-fight streak, having KO’d Carl Seumanutafa and Oli Thompson in his first two fights in the Bellator cage.

Do you think Fedor Emelianenko’s legendary sweater will carry him to victory this weekend? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/17/2017.