Khabib Nurmagomedov Still Confident In Booking Junior dos Santos vs. Fedor Emelianenko Despite JDS Shoulder Injury
Despite Junior dos Santos’ loss to Yorgan De Castro at Eagle FC 47: Redemption, Khabib Nurmagomedov has stated he is still interested in booking a cross-promotional fight between ‘Cigano’ and MMA legend, Fedor Emelianenko.
JDS initially had great success against De Castro in their main event fight. However, in round three, dos Santos dislocated his arm after throwing a punch, resulting in a doctor’s stoppage TKO victory for ‘The Mad Titan.’
Prior to the fight, Khabib Nurmagomedov had stated that if dos Santos won, he would be booked in a cross-promotional fight with Fedor Emelianenko, who is currently signed with Bellator MMA. If De Castro won, he would be granted a shot at the Eagle FC heavyweight title, currently held by Rizvan Kuniev.
However, it now seems that both men will receive the fight they were initially promised. In the aftermath of the fight, Khabib had the following to say on the topic of Junior dos Santos’ next fight for Eagle FC:
“I’m not a doctor, but I see a lot of injuries inside the gym like this with shoulders, with knees. I think after three or four months, he can come back to sparring, and at the end of the year we can make this fight. Next week I’m going to sit with Scott Coker and we’re going to discuss about this fight.”
He went on to state that:
“Junior was looking amazing. [For a] long time, I didn’t see [him look like] how he looked like tonight. He was looking very good. I think it was maybe his best shape in the last couple years, maybe five, six years. But it is what it is, you know? This is a very tough sport. You can’t even blink in this sport when you’re inside the cage, because I know how it is being inside the cage, standing with someone [who’s] a professional athlete in front of you. It’s very dangerous and you have to stay focused every single second.” (H/T MMA Fighting).
Khabib Nurmagomedov on the future of Yorgan De Castro at Eagle FC
Khabib Nurmagomedov also reiterated his comments in the buildup to the fight that if Yorgan De Castro would be victorious, he would be granted a shot at the title.
“He was looking good too,” Nurmagomedov said. “De Castro showed his heart. He’s mentally a very strong fighter today, and he won. It’s a question of how, but he won. And I think maybe it’s going to be a good matchup, De Castro vs. Rizvan Kuniev, fight for the title, and we work on this Junior vs. Fedor [for the] end of this year.”
