Fedor Emelianenko is back.
Back in training, anyway. I don’t want to get too hot and bothered about this, but it does appear that Emelianenko has a desire to return to active MMA competition.
The initial report came from Russian website Union MMA and was subsequently translated and confirmed by Karim Zidan and Anton Tabuena of Bloody Elbow:
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.
So many fans and analysts consider Emelianenko (34-4-1) one of the two or three best fighters ever, and he’s a bona fide folk hero to a lot of those whose MMA allegiances trace back to the days of Pride.
Now 38 years old and out of competition for more than three years, what does The Last Emperor have left? Probably not a title run, but there are some interesting opponents out there for him in his return to action. Here are five of them. They are listed in no particular order.