The legendary Fedor Emelianenko repeatedly stopped and resumed performances in mixed martial arts. But now, at 45, the Russian is closer than ever to the final end of his career.

Unfortunately, the popular American promotion Bellator, which owns the contract for Fedor’s last fight, does not make any attempts to organize a farewell fight. Fortunately for Emelianenko, Khabib Nurmagomedov is determined to correct the situation.

But the UFC champion has already had difficulties with the organization of the fight.

Khabib saves the last fight of Emelianenko’s career

The last time Fedor pleased fans of mixed martial arts with his performances was in October last year, when he performed in Moscow at the Bellator 269 tournament. In the main fight of the evening, the Russian defeated American Timothy Johnson. He proved to the skeptics that he was still capable of something by knocking out his opponent in the second minute of the fight.

Immediately after the fight at a press conference, the Russian spoke about his immediate plans.

“We have one more fight under the contract, in theory, but we will talk with Scott,” Emelianenko said about his contractual obligations to Bellator.

He also clarified that it would be nice to perform in Russia again. He named the summer of 2022 as a tentative return date.

Time passed, a few days remained before the onset of summer, but representatives of the promotion did not announce any plans for Emelianenko’s next fight. The fighter himself did not speak about this either. Complicating the situation is the anti-Russian stance of the organization, which is extremely reluctant to hold fights with the participation of Russians, and also applies other sanctions, including a ban on broadcasting its tournaments in Russia.

The general silence was broken by Khabib Nurmagomedov, who decided to organize a farewell fight for Emelianenko, but as part of his Eagles FC promotion. As an opponent, Oryol picked Fedor a very serious fighter.

Fedor found a worthy opponent for a farewell fight

An athlete from Brazil, Junior dos Santos, can boast of high-profile victories in the octagon. So, on his account there are victories over the legendary Fabricio Werdum and Mirko Filipovic. He also held the UFC championship belt for over a year.

– If Junior dos Santos wins against Yorgan De Castro, I really want to organize his fight against Fedor Emelianenko. I want to talk to my friend Scott Cocker because Fedor is under contract with Bellator. I don’t know what they will do with it next. But we can definitely talk and create some history. Why not?! These guys have been the face of MMA for a long time. In my opinion, Fedor is the greatest fighter of all time. Junior has been a UFC champion for several years. I think that both the fighters and the fans deserve such a fight, ”Khabib suggested at a press conference.

The Brazilian himself was not against the duel with Fedor. Dos Santos said that he had always dreamed of meeting with Emelianenko, and now the Russian is his number one goal.

It seemed that Bellator could become the main problem for organizing the fight. But the executive director of the promotion, Scott Cocker, quickly responded to Nurmagomedov’s proposal, unexpectedly inviting him to negotiate the contract of the Last Emperor.

– Thank you for the challenge. I look forward to our meeting next week. Dinner is yours,” Cocker wrote on his social networks.

Potential rival Emelianenko lost due to an accident

Before the fight with Emelianenko, Junior dos Santos was supposed to fight against Yorgan De Castro from Cape Verde. The confrontation with the African from the very beginning was in favor of the Brazilian fighter. He unequivocally took two starting rounds and performed well in the third.

But then the judge intervened in the course of the fight. During one of the attacks, Junior dislocated his shoulder, which could not be corrected even with the help of doctors. Because of this, the referee had to end the fight and assign the victory by technical knockout to De Castro.

In a normal situation, the likelihood of a fight between dos Santos and Emelianenko would have decreased to almost zero. But after the end of the fight between the Brazilian and De Castro, Khabib supported the losing athlete.

“I think this fight is still real because Junior looked amazing despite the loss. Today everyone saw that he became much better, dos Santos looked amazing. I think this fight is still interesting, – said Nurmagomedov about the possibility of a fight between Fedor and Junior.

Khabib also suggested that dos Santos would be able to fully recover from his shoulder injury within three to four months. If everything goes well, then by the end of the year, according to Nurmagomedov’s plans, Fedor and Junior may meet in the Eagle FC octagon.

Junior is also positive.

“My shoulder is back in place and I don’t feel any pain. I already spoke to the doctor. In the near future, we will conduct a survey and find out what needs to be done to fix this as quickly as possible, ”dos Santos shared with subscribers.

The only one who remains silent is Fedor Emelianenko, but it is very interesting to know what the Last Emperor thinks about this option for ending his fighting career. Frankly speaking, for Fedor this is a luxurious gift at the end of his career from an equally great compatriot. And it will be very strange and illogical if Emelianenko refuses him. Perhaps Fedor simply will not have another chance to leave beautifully.