[DiggityDaggityDo]

Fedor Emelianenko seemed to have closed the book on his storied MMA career when he announced his retirement in 2012. Three years later though, and the legendary PRIDE champion has decided to write a new chapter as he will be coming back to active mixed martial arts competition.

The now 38-year-old fighter from Stary Oskol has began training again and will be returning to the sport.


"For every athlete it is very important to be able to engage in their favorite thing: give all the best in training, performing in competitions, defending the honor of the motherland," said Fedor on a statement released in his native tongue.

"During my time at the Ministry, I was able to work on the development of the sport, work closely with the presidents of sports federations, recognize the problems from within the sport, and as far as possible, try to solve them. But now I feel that it is time to return to the ring."


"I was able to recover and heal old injuries. The last three years I have maintained physical form, but this level is not enough to go into battle, therefore recently I started intensive training. We have assembled a team of versatile coaches and athletes who will help me in the training process" Emelianenko continued. "There is still work to do to prepare to leave the ring. Negotiations are underway with promotions. Once agreements are reached, there will be information on the date of the fight and rival."

Emelianenko has compiled a 34-4 record in his MMA career, with wins on his last three contests.

The Last Emperor is back.

Who will he fight?

[BIGDAY]

Lesnar.

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Lesnar.

[brooks85]

UFC will get him and hopefully make all his fights in brazil so he can juice up if need be. That would be so amazing.

[Dirty Sanchez]

I'll fight him...what's he gonna do...beat me with his walker?

[jjgold]

Never heard of him

Broke I guess

[teaserpleaser]

UFC will get him and hopefully make all his fights in brazil so he can juice up if need be. That would be so amazing.

Japan would be the better option and he can still juice he's a mega star in japan.

[brooks85]

good call, hope it happens!

Viacom might dig into their pockets for him

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Never heard of him

Broke I guess

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Never heard of him

Broke I guess

Fedor Emelianenko net worth:
$15 Million

[teaserpleaser]

I bet he has more than that he was making a killing in pride with endorsements not to mention his purse dana calls his management vadummy but all in all they negotiated some crazy demands in deals that got fedor paid I know for a fact he made a killing with his affliction deals...fedor don't fight cheap

[teaserpleaser]

He's rickson like in that regard ...

[King Mayan]

Best fighter of all times suhn!

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Best fighter of all times suhn!

[MUHerd37]

Fedor was always overrated.

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Fedor was always overrated.

How so?

[El Nino]

How so?

He got his ass beat by a guy flippin' tires at Sam's Club. He would get destroyed by half the UFC heavyweight division right now which isn't sayin' much as it's the worst division. He was coddled in Japan and it's no secret the fights were fixed. A fight with Lesnar or Couture would have been enormous back in the day. There's a reason why it never happened. Fedor's management wanted so much money due to the fact that him likely losing would have hurt his future chances to earn mega bucks.

[THE_LOCKSMITH]

the crazy part is the main 04-05 era PRIDE heavyweights are currently under contract with the UFC

Nogueira, CroCop, Barnett, Overeem, Werdum. Not to mention the 04-05 era UFC guys Arlovski and Mir are actually winning fights in 2015. All they need now is to sign Fedor and bring back Tim Sylvia and they can have the most epic heavyweight oldman tournament ever

[Ralphie Halves]

Kimbo

[Ted Sheckler]

Kimbo

Probably would have a better shot against Kimo!

[mirinquads]

Fedor was always overrated.

Not as overrated as your mother's vagina, and it's been rated by most of the state. There's always the imbeciles that want to sound educated by saying these dumb ass things. "Anderson ovverrated, almost beat by shaeel". "Jones overrated, Gussy beat the piss out of him." "Roy jones lol overrated he gets KOed all the time." Always some casual cacksucker too.


I want to see some training footage to see if he's lost speed and reflexes. If he's gotten physical threapy on his knees so he can actually use his ground game. He still looked excellent in his last fight. If not, he could still be a force anywhere, even at an advanced age. Heavyweights seem to get in their prime later. Dat ol' man strength.

[Unwritten Law]

If he does return I think he'll go Bellator. A quality opponent that is known and also similar to his age is Chieck Kongo.

If he goes UFC, he should get Arlovski or Mitrione.

[Ted Sheckler]

If he does return I think he'll go Bellator. A quality opponent that is known and also similar to his age is Chieck Kongo.

If he goes UFC, he should get Arlovski or Mitrione.

He probably Submits Kongo. I would like to see that fights as his "welcome back"

Would be nice to have him fight Arlovski and see if Arlovski decides to toss another flying knee.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Fedor=living legend

[Kermit]

Arlovski wants to fight him again.

[nanderson1134]

OMG that would be the greatest thing ever. it is a huge robbery to the fans that we never were able to see the fedor in the Octagon. would be amazing if they did a four man tourney in Japan

[JIBBBY]

Will fade Fedor if he fights anyone decent, his chin and reflex's are shot if he does decide to come back....

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Skip to 1:45

[nanderson1134]

Make it happen! Fedor vs bigfoot

[DiggityDaggityDo]

The UFC and Bellator are not the only United States MMA promotions making a run atFedor Emelianenko. World Series of Fighting has thrown its hat in the ring as well.

WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com that WSOF believes it has the resources to afford and lure the Russian legend.

"We're just making moves," Abdel-Aziz said. "We can afford Fedor. We can afford Brock Lesnar. We can afford whatever we want to afford. But somebody has to move the needle, and I think Fedor definitely moves the needle."

WSOF will certainly be a heavy underdog. The UFC is a billion-dollar company and Bellator is backed by media conglomerate Viacom. There's also a chance Emelianenko just stays in Russia and fights for M-1. What WSOF does have is a broadcast partner in NBC willing to put big fights on network television. And Abdel-Aziz said in the coming weeks that WSOF will be shaking things up. There is more many in the coffers than people think, he said.

[the xx]

Who penetrating cares. Jared Rosholt could TKO this guy atm

[gauchojake]

At this point Fedor is better off at WSOF and taking the money fighting tomato cans.

[Reload]

Any chance of Fedor vs Brock for UFC 200?

[Sledge187]

Fedor vs GSP?? The no longer care match.

[imadegen]

Don't think he would ever come to the UFC at this point.