Khabib Nurmagomedov ready to make heavyweight superfight between Junior dos Santos and Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Emelianenko has been on the lookout for a worthy final opponent for his MMA career, and Khabib Nurmagomedov has just the man in mind: Junior dos Santos.
Nurmagomedov may be retired from competing in the cage, but he's just getting started as an MMA promoter. His promotion Eagle FC is regularly holding events in America, with their next event on May 20 featuring Junior dos Santos vs. Yorgan De Castro.
During a press conference for Eage FC 47, Nurmagomedov teased an exciting potential superfight between dos Santos and Fedor Emelianenko. 'The Eagle' said:
"If dos Santos wins, I really want to make dos Santos vs. Fedor fight ... But I want to talk with my friend Scott Coker because Fedor is under Bellator contract. I don't know what they're going to do next with him but definitely we can talk and we can do something. We can create some good story. Why not, because these two was longtime face of MMA. Fedor was the greatest fighter of all time in my opinion. And dos Santos was heavyweight champion couple of years in UFC. These two guys, they deserve, and fans deserve, and I think for me it's a very interesting match up too."
Watch Khabib Nurmagomedov discuss Emelianenko vs. dos Santos below:
Fedor Emelianenko is a legend of the sport who famously went 31-1 over a nine year period that saw him reign over the PRIDE heavyweight division. After suffering a three fight skid in 2010-2011, 'The Last Emperor returned to form going 9-2 over the past decade. Most recently he defeated Tim Johnson via knockout in the first round at a Bellator event in October 2021.
Fedor Emelianenko knocks out Tim Johnson with a three punch combination!
Still got something left in the tank. #bellator269 https://t.co/h1fE5deh26
As for Junior dos Santos, he earned a reputation in the UFC as a ferocious power puncher, starting his career in the promotion with five knockout wins in a row. After a twelve year run with the UFC, he was released in early 2021 after going 0-4 against Ciryl Gane, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes, and Francis Ngannou.
Junior Dos Santos’ UFC debut 13 years ago in 2008.
https://t.co/srQP7hNrBv
Bellator's Scott Coker is "still trying to figure out" what to do with Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Emelianenko has one fight left before retiring, and Bellator president Scott Coker is looking to make that bout as special as possible. Original plans to have Emelianenko headline a card in Moscow's infamous Red Square were nixed after Russia invaded Ukraine. As of April, Coker sounded unsure of what they'd to to properly send 'The Last Emperor' off.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Coker said:
“We’re trying to figure out what the best course of action is. Honestly, when I look at Fedor, he deserves to have the largest platform and the biggest fight and the biggest event to hold his final fight. That’s just how we feel. And if we have to wait a couple months to do it to figure it out, we’re going to do that.”
Teaming up with another legend of the sport like Khabib Nurmagomedov to have Emelianenko face a worthy opponent like Junior dos Santos sounds like a pretty big event.