Fedor Emelianenko No Longer Interested In Fighting Junior Dos Santos

Fedor Emelianenko said it isn’t going to happen.

Emelianenko has ruled out the possibility of a cross-promotional bout with Junior dos Santos.

Khabib Nurmagomedov, the owner of Eagle FC and a former UFC lightweight champion, reportedly indicated an interest in a battle between the two heavyweights ahead of dos Santos’ Eagle FC debut in May. The main event match between Yorgan De Castro and dos Santos was stopped in the third round when the former UFC heavyweight champion hurt his shoulder.

In an interview with Russia’s Okko, Emelianenko stated that the bout’s outcome took away the chances.

“A meeting was planned with Scott Coker. But, as I understand it, Scott and I are not interested in this fight with Junior dos Santos. First of all, because of the defeat of the latter.”

At Eagle FC 47, “Cigano” was leading on the scorecards coming into the third round until dislocating his shoulder a little over 30 seconds into the last game. De Castro was declared the winner, while dos Santos, 38, experienced his first loss after leaving the UFC.

It was also his fifth loss in a row.

Emelianenko has been in Bellator since 2017 and has a 4-2 record in the promotion. After knocking out Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tim Johnson in the first round, the 45-year-old is on a two-fight winning run.

When he challenged Ryan Bader for the Bellator heavyweight belt in 2019, Emelianenko lost.

But he still has one fight left on his Bellator contract, and he’s shown interest in challenging Bader for the championship in what may be his final fight.

Dos Santos, widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all time, has named Emelianenko his GOAT of heavyweight MMA.