Fedor Emelianenko will not retire from MMA
Posted on August 8, 2011, 01:40 PM by Joey Santosus
It appears "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko will not be retiring from mixed martial arts following his recent loss to Dan Henderson.
Emelianenko suffered a first-round TKO loss to Henderson on July 30th, his third consecutive defeat in just over a year's time. Previous losses against Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva led to the Russian making a premature retirement speech before eventually signing the bout agreement to face Henderson. With the possibility that he'd hang up the gloves already looming, the defeat seemed likely to be his final outing.
According to an announcement by M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelstein, however, this will not be the case:
Still possessing a champion’s heart and desire to compete, Fedor Emelianenko (31-4, 1 NC) has elected not to retire; his next opponent and date are to be determined with the bout likely slated to take place in Russia.
M-1 Global President and co-founder Vadim Finkelstein confirmed 'The Last Emperor’s' decision and shared his immediate plans for Europe’s leading mixed martial arts promotion.
“We consulted with Fedor and it was decided that he should not leave the sport in this way. His friends and past opponents support Fedor in continuing his career and he agreed,” said Finkelstein. “We want to organize a fight for Fedor in Russia and have already begun working in this direction. If everything goes as planned, we will produce a card in Moscow or St. Petersburg sometime in the fall with Fedor as the main event.” The opponent is yet to be determined.
More plans are also in the mix according to Finkelstein, “In addition to the fight in Russia, we’re also working with our Japanese contacts to organize a New Year’s Eve event in Japan that Fedor would participate in as well.”
When asked about 2012 Finkelstein spoke optimistically; “If all is successful, in 2012 we’ll be back in the U.S. All these ideas are being developed right now and we want to work exactly according to this plan.”
For additional information, go to the official M-1 website, www.M-1Global.com and M-1 Global facebook fan page.
Further Reading: Fedor Emelianenko returns to Russia, says Dan Henderson asked him not to retire
Photo: Fedor Emelianenko before his fight against Tim Sylvia at Affliction's "Banned", a mixed martial arts fight at the Honda Center on July 19, 2008 in Anaheim, California. Francis Specker
Comments
Ugh I don't want to see him fighting even more cans - he needs to keep fighting good competition such as in his last 3 fights - perhaps a rematch with Werdum. Brett Rogers is a can that lost 3 in a row and fluke-won a flash ko against Arlovski, and most of Fedor's fights in the U.S. were against cans or has-beens (Arlovski, Sylvia, Lindland, Rogers). His relevance is going to go down even more if he flees to Russia to fight some no-name opponent. Though it could be a good thing to get a win under his belt before he gets back in with the big dogs.
Fedor can have as many fights as he wants, as many KOs against unrelevant opponents, he will come back to the US the same way. If he doesn't change his camp, learn new things, gets rid of all the yes men around him, lazy trainers (according to Fedor's bro), he will not get past Daniel Cormier or Roy Nelson.
But it seems fedor doesn't really care about it, he likes to train where he wants with people he probably considers family. M1 says fight, he goes and gets another check and enjoy life in Russia. Legacy, champion doesnt mean much to him anymore. Let's feed him some cans ! I'll be watching anyway.
Best WISHES, Fedor!!! We look forward to seeing u fighting again...
He's the greatest HW to ever live, and unless he is getting put to sleep consistently, he should be able to fight on his own terms. If his plan is to return to the US, then a fight in Russia may not be so bad.
Rogers was not a can. The only guys to beat him are Fedor, Barnett and Overeem. Arlovski and Silvia were still top ten guys according to the rankings. I don't think Silvia was but Fedor can't be faulted for that. Where else is he supposed to fight right now? The UFC isn't going to give him a fight and he is cut from SF.
Thats good to hear but honestly now that he has been cut from SF, any win wouldnt matter as much n won't bring him back to the top seeing that like the top 20 HW's r in SF or UFC
All true but I hate it when people say Arlovski and Sylvia weren't legitimate opponents. Sure they're on the downward spiral nowadays but back then they were both top 5 if not top 3 HWs and had only recently held the UFC belt. Ya gotta look at the fights in the context of the MMA landscape at that time. I do however agree that Fedor should either keep fighting top opponents or retire. I think his management just want to see him go out with a win.
Let's be honest about Arlovski and Sylvia - they only ruled the UFC HW division due to the very weak roster at the time. A farm pig is king when surrounded by hamsters. Tim Sylvia is on more than a 'downward spiral' - he was never any good. This is displayed by Sylvia's RIDICULOUS 9 second KO loss to Ray Mercer, his recent 32 second KO loss to Abe Wagner (who made it absolutely NOWHERE in TUF 10), etc. I give Arlovski more credit - he has 4 losses in a row, 3 of which are by KO, but he has beaten a few good guys (Roy Nelson, Werdum).
@ Ichokepeople Don't tell me Rogers isn't a can. He beat absolute NOBODY worth anything except for his flash KO of Arlovski. He is terribly 1-dimensional and has basically lost 3 in a row.
Moots, it's not Fedors fault Arlovski and Sylvia went to shit after he fought them (well, maybe he damaged them psychologically). You have to give Fedor credit because at the time he fought them, they were legitimate top 10 opponents, Arlovski was a top 5 opponent. It makes no sense to discredit Fedor because Arlovski and Sylvia went downhill afterward. Nog and Cro cop went downhill too, but that doens't change the fact Fedor demolished them in their prime, and nobody questions whether or not Nog and Cro Cop were ever that good in the first place. I wonder why? Maybe because they are still in the UFC and we've never heard Dana run his mouth about them.
The facts are that Fedor always fought top competition. Sure he fought a few cans along the way, but if you take a look at all of the curretn top HW's, they have very few top 10 wins on their resume. This idea of "UFC fighters fight the best 3 times a year" is quite inaccurate.
I have absolutely nothing against Fedor - and I completely agree that like most of the Pride-era fighters Fedor has not evolved sufficiently to remain at the top. Fedor WAS the greatest HW of all time but unfortunately with 3 losses in a row we can't realistically say that anymore. I refuse to concede that (at least) Sylvia was any good at any point in his career.
Lol about Sylvia. Good think Fedor put him away so fast.
I like Fedor and I'm glad he's not retiring but this almost seems like charity. Maybe fighting in Russia well get him back to his winning ways, I sure do hope so.
Again Fedor's stupid mgmt meddling in all of this,he should TALK himself! STFU Vadummy~! Im glad he's not retiring,hopefully it will a top level guy,a decent fighter,not a bum or a can,I agree that he shouldn't retire after losing 3 in a row.
A fight at the end of the year in Japan? Maybe we'll get to see Overeem vs Fedor after all. Overeem is the Dream HW champ.
Overeem isn't just a Dream champ, actually i think he still might be only interim heavey weight champ, but i dont' know. Overeem is the linear champ of UFC & Pride. This fight makes a lot of sense to me. If Fedor loses he should and will most likely retire. Due to Fedor's loses this could be the fight that brings him back up, i mean, this could be a very important HW Fight.
a few beers and my vocabulary is on the same level as New York Times reporter. Booyah!
I'm glad to hear he will continue fighting but fighting nobodies at the arse end of nowhere won't strengthen his legacy, i hope that what they say here is true, that he will fight a few (easier) fights in Russia and maybe fight in Japan for Dream, get a few wins, build his confidence back up and then go back to the US. But he will also need to refine his striking skills if he wants to have more success in the US. We'll just have to see how it plays out......
yep go to another weak ass promotion so you can dominate a bunch of nobodies at least you won't get beat up anymore
He needs to start really thinking about his diet and maybe fight at middle weight
just retire already. Your not the best and u never were. i dont know why ppl pump up this guy. He has never been impressive. You're not the best if you dont go fight top competition or organization in the world. If your the best ever that would be in the world and the man has only had 4 fights here. He won 1 by luck on brett Rogers who almost beat him lol. I've never been impressed with Fedor and ppl will say he was undefeated for 10yrs with a 31-1-1 record. Who cares if it was against a bunch of ok fighter but not top calibur. The only few worth mention are Coleman,Cro-Crop,and Nog.
Foolish. He fought the top competition in the top organization in the world when it was called Pride...and Fedor's "luck" did not knock Rogers to the canvas and cause him to turtle up and get smashed.
I do not think his heart is in fighting anymore. He is a religious man now, and a family man - and his priorities have changed. It is also very difficult to train and fight hungry when you are a super star and everybody tells you everyday you are the greatest. Maybe we are asking too much of him.
With M1 his career is over...Argue about his relevance if you will but to tell the truth theres nobody worth fighting outside the UFC for him.So with every new win over a nobody opponent is one step closer to prove he dont care about his legacy and when he was put up against quality opponents he was beaten.Lose M1 drop to 205 join a new fight team and prove himself sgainst top comp.