For a fighting promotion that managed to drum up a $4 billion dollar price tag, you’d imagine they’d be able to snap up any pugilist they like. Still, the mighty Russian heavyweight asskicking machine known as Fedor Emelianenko has never come into the fold to beat people up inside an Octagon. In a rather informative chat with The MMA Hour, The Last Emperor explained why he’ll be walking out to fight in Bellator on Saturday instead.
“We had made great relations with (Bellator president) Scott Coker,” Emelianenko said via interpreter. “I received a very good offer from Bellator. In addition, Bellator invited my entire team. So all of the guys will be performing as well.”
Fedor, who turns 41 in September, has lost a bit of his earlier mystique in the 2010s. Three consecutive losses in Strikeforce are certainly blemishes on his record, although the current trend towards superfights and marquee names is accommodating to those sorts of hiccups. According to the Russian MMA luminary, appearing in the UFC was among the options, but both parties couldn’t reach a compromise to make such a sight happen.
“Depending on the point of view, a lot of times you can be very close and sort of go around and around and never get to it,” he explained. “There were some things that were not satisfactory for UFC and there were some things that were not satisfactory for me and we never came to an agreement.”
Veteran Matt Mitrione has the honor of co-starring with Fedor on Saturday at Bellator 172. Oddsmakers have Mitrione (currently 2-0 since arriving in the promotion) as a slight favorite. Bellator’s new toy shared that he’s prepared to wrap up his fighting career working for them.
“Relations with people is of great importance with me,” offered Emelianenko. “I value highly the relations with myself and Scott. So I do want to end my career with Bellator.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bymj2LNBeK8
(Via MMA Fighting)
