Fedor Emelianenko Says He Wants Two More Fights After Bellator 237
Fedor Emelianenko appeared to announce his retirement in the cage after Bellator 237. The 43-year-old Russian knocked out Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in the nights main event. Speaking post fight the heavyweight appeared to confirm his retirement via a translator, he said. “Unfortunately, and regretfully, I want to say that perhaps my career stops here on my win in Japan and thank you very much. That’s the end of my tour.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
‘The Last Emporer’ had taken people by surprise as all the talk during fight week was about potentially fighting on after his Bellator retirement tour. During the post-fight media scrum Fedor confirmed he had in fact not retired and this was simply a translation error. Speaking to MMA Junkie, he said this was his last fight in Japan but he would like two more elsewhere.
“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 went to do Russia. So, Japan, it was my retirement fight in Japan. So, I’m not retiring.”
The heavyweight legend also took some time to talk about his fight with ‘Rampage’. Despite being past his peak Jackson had not been knocked out in 14 years prior to last night. According to Fedor it was all to do with being faster than his opponent on the night.
“I thought the fight would end up on the ground, but as soon as I got into the cage, I started to feel that I was faster than ‘Rampage’ and I started to feel that edge. It would make no sense to go to the ground, so that’s why I kept it up.”
Emelianenko landed a picture-perfect shot to end the fight and send ‘Rampage’ face first into the canvas. The former UFC light-heavyweight champion took some issue with the stoppage but Fedor was confident the job was done.
“It was a good stoppage because I felt like I would just get on top of him and start to deliver very heavy punches. Right after my punch he just collapsed and went face down. There was no necessity to do more.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
Who would you like to see Fedor Emelianenko face in his final two fights?
