Bellator president Scott Coker says Fedor Emelianenko’s retirement tour will go on.
Emelianenko began the tour back in Dec. 2019. He took on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson inside the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Super Arena in Japan. Emelianenko scored the first-round TKO victory.
Fedor’s Retirement Tour Will Continue On Different Timeline
Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Coker said that Emelianenko’s retirement tour will push on with new dates due to the COVID-19 crisis.
“I definitely think (the pandemic) effected his timeline and the timeline we wanted to do for him,” Coker said in a recent interview with MMA Junkie. “We wanted him to fight some time in the fall. That might be tough now. The idea of Fedor was not to bring him into the States anymore. It was to fight in the Middle East or in Europe. In Japan, we already did that as our first one.”
Coker is still aiming for Fedor’s final bout on the tour to be in Moscow, Russia. Emelianenko hasn’t committed to retiring after this tour. “The Last Emperor” has said it all depends on how he’s feeling by the end of it all.
“The final one would be in Russia in Moscow,” Coker said. “We’d throw a fight in his home country where he lives now and put on a great show and bring Bellator there for the first time. I mean, look at how many great Russian fighters we have. It’s unbelievable. The list goes on and on. There’s some great talent there, and we’re scouting all the time. We’re going to be in the Russian fight business for a long time. We wanted to go there with Fedor. We wanted to do the first Bellator event there.”
Emelianenko has gone 3-2 under the Bellator banner. The two losses were to Ryan Bader and Matt Mitrione. He scored victories over “Rampage” Jackson, Chael Sonnen, and Frank Mir.
