Bellator president Scott Coker wants Fedor Emelianenko to get the farewell tour that he deserves.
Emelianenko hasn’t competed since a first-round TKO victory over Rampage Jackson back in December last year. One reason for that — other than the COVID-19 pandemic — is the fact that Coker would like to have the Russian’s final two fights be on a grand stage rather than with no fans in attendance.
What did he have in mind exactly? 30,000 fans in Moscow.
“I really wanted Fedor to fight his retirement fight not in front of just the officials and have the staff and be on a closed environment in a bubble,” Coker recently told MMA Junkie. “I really want Fedor to finish his career in front of 30,000 people in Moscow, to be honest, Bellator MMA’s first fight in Russia.
“Do a fight in Moscow. For him, the prodigal son has returned. Fedor is the greatest fighter of all-time, and he’s now coming home to retire and put his gloves up and hang it up to retire.”
With vaccines now being rolled out across the world, there is even cause for optimism that “The Last Emperor” will be able to compete in a stadium.
“I’m hoping that the vaccine will start fixing the situation and we can start bringing in crowds,” Coker said. “But to me, I feel we’ve waited so long for Fedor to fight, hoping that the pandemic would thin out, and now that it’s getting close and I can see light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic to go away, I really want to wait and to do these fights in a proper stadium, especially the one we do in Moscow.
“I want to do something very big for him, because to me, it’s like he’s the king, and the king is returning from the battlefield.”
It wouldn’t be an event just for Emelianenko either, but the rest of the Russian talent on the Bellator roster including light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov.
“Not only would he fight, but all the guys that we have, like Nemkov and like (Anatoly) Tokov and all those great fighters from Moscow that are fighting for Bellator, they will also fight on the card, and we’ll do maybe a ‘Russia vs. the world’ match there and you’ll see some fighters from Europe,” Coker added. “We’ll have a great event.”
What do you think of Coker’s plans?