Face value

Mix the intimidation of Mike Tyson with the foreign intrigue of the cold-hearted Russian Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV,” and you have Fedor Emelianenko, the man generally regarded as the world’s most talented mixed martial arts fighter.

Emelianenko’s training compound in southern Russia is remote, a 15-hour train and bus ride from Moscow. The flexible, fast-moving heavyweight routinely emerges from the mysterious solitude of conditioning sessions there for major fights, like Saturday’s Affliction show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, and says little before producing awe-inspiring demonstrations of submission skills, as he did there in July by beating former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight belt-holder Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds.

“He does his talking in the ring,” said Tom Atencio, Affliction chief executive. “He’s got that stoic Russian face. Walking into the arena and leaving the ring, he looks the same.”

Emelianenko, 32, is 29-1, counting triumphs over ex-interim UFC champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and other respected UFC veterans as he prepares for Saturday’s showdown with another former UFC champ, Andrei Arlovski.

Arlovski, who has designs on a pro boxing career and trains under 2008 boxing trainer of the year Freddie Roach, obviously wants to keep the fight standing up to avoid becoming Emelianenko’s 10th submission victim in his last 12 fights.

Roach stirred the Emelianenko camp by saying Arlovski is a more skilled striker.

“I like people that talk less and perform more,” Fedor’s MMA trainer Vladimir Voronov said coldly of Roach. “With us, our women are the ones that talk a lot. And the men are the ones that get into a ring and perform.”

At 6 feet, 235 pounds, Emelianenko is devoted to judo, sambo, wrestling and muay thai. His calm before a fight sprouts stories of legend, such as the recent one that he merely stood up from a game of cards at his last Anaheim fight, walked directly to the ring without warming up and destroyed Sylvia. Emelianenko said that depiction was “a little bit off,” as is the “myth” that he trains in Siberia with minimal human contact.

“It’s just what I’m used to. It’s my hometown, my gym,” Emelianenko said. “I gain strength out of familiar surroundings.”

That strength includes the most potent intimidation factor in combat sports since Tyson. Twelve of his last 15 fights have ended before the second round started.

“He’s the top guy in the world, and he’s proved it time and time again,” said ex-UFC fighter Matt Lindland, whom Emelianenko defeated by armbar submission less than three minutes into their 2007 fight. “The UFC has the most fighters, but they can’t say they have the best.”

They tried. UFC President Dana White told The Times last year that Emelianenko’s camp spoiled negotiations by demanding perks beyond guaranteed money, but Atencio said UFC insisted on “deal killers” such as refusing his interest to participate in Russian sambo competitions and other MMA events, also forcing him to agree to a contract that would bind him to the organization indefinitely if he continued to win as he did in defending his Japan-based PRIDE Fighting Championships belt.

As the UFC’s heavyweight division improves with new champion and former World Wrestling Entertainment star Brock Lesnar and a current roster of interim champ Frank Mir and veterans Nogueira and Randy Couture, the addition of Emelianenko would be a boon.

He has one fight left beyond Arlovski in his Affliction deal, and says, “If [UFC] allows me to fight sambo and doesn’t make me fight for them indefinitely, then I will [fight for them]. If not, then maybe I won’t. . . . If UFC doesn’t make enough concessions, my motivation to fight for my country is motivation enough.”

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lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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MMA Affliction

Saturday at the Honda Center

4 p.m., HDNet; 6 p.m., pay-per-view.