Last year, Fedor Emelianenko confirmed that the end is near.
For 20 years, the heavyweight has fought professionally inside the octagon for PRIDE Fighting Championships, BoDogFight, M-1 Global, and of course, Bellator MMA. Following his first-round knockout win over former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson, the 43-year-old confirmed that he was on a three-fight retirement tour.
“I’m doing my tour and this is my final fights, and I want to do a fight in Japan, I want to do a fight in U.S., and I want to do Russia.”
However, those plans have come to a screeching halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many have wondered whether Fedor’s plans to retire have accelerated; however, Bellator president Scott Coker reassures that Emelianenko’s retirement tour is still intact, though plans have changed a bit:
“I definitely think (the pandemic) effected his timeline and the timeline we wanted to do for him,” Coker said in a recent interview with MMA Junkie. “We wanted him to fight some time in the fall. That might be tough now. The idea of Fedor was not to bring him into the States anymore. It was to fight in the Middle East or in Europe. In Japan, we already did that as our first one.
Now I think everything gets pushed back four of five months,” Coker said. “Something that we’re trying to do maybe at the beginning of the year might not go until May of next year. We’re going to do right. We’re going to do it in a way that’s health and safety first. Then, we’re going to put on some great fights. It’s going to be a matter of time.”
While the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion’s next two opponents have yet to be confirmed, Coker appears to have set Emelianenko’s location for his last match-up, which will be in his home country of Russia:
“The final one would be in Russia in Moscow,” Coker said. “We’d throw a fight in his home country where he lives now and put on a great show and bring Bellator there for the first time. I mean, look at how many great Russian fighters we have. It’s unbelievable. The list goes on and on. There’s some great talent there, and we’re scouting all the time. We’re going to be in the Russian fight business for a long time. We wanted to go there with Fedor. We wanted to do the first Bellator event there.”