Still interested in Junior dos Santos vs Fedor Emelianenko?
Junior dos Santos may have officially lost his fifth straight bout on Friday night, but Eagle FC promoter Khabib Nurmagomedov still wants to push through with booking him against Fedor Emelianenko next.
The former UFC heavyweight champion looked good early on, but suffered a freak shoulder injury after throwing a punch and resulted in a loss to Yorgan De Castro. Khabib previously stated that Dos Santos needed a win, but it looks like the injury loss won’t be changing his plans to try and co-promote with Bellator.
“I think it’s still viable,” Nurmagomedov told The UG (transcript via MMA Fighting) after Eagle FC 47. “Because even if he lost, Junior looked amazing. Everybody see tonight, he’s improved a lot and he was looking amazing. And I think it’s still interesting.
“I think for his shoulder, [as an] athlete — because I know when you have an injury, what you need, how many months you need to recover, everything — I think if he makes this next week, surgery, I think definitely he needs surgery,” he said. “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.”
Apart from looking to book Fedor vs Dos Santos, Khabib also noted that with the win, De Castro could go on to face Eagle FC heavyweight champ Rizvan Kuniev next.