MMA legend Fedor Emilianenko at age 46 still has one eye on Bellator glory. As Emilianenko approaches the end of his career, with one fight left before he hangs up the gloves for good, Bellator CEO Scott Coker says he has one opponent in mind. Coker discussed Emilianenko’s options in a recent episode of The MMA Hour.
“Fedor hit me up, ‘Am I going to fight Anderson Silva?’ I said, ‘No, no. Everybody just calm down.’ Listen, I would personally love to see that fight, but Fedor, he’s got his bullseye on Ryan Bader. He wants to fight Ryan Bader. So Ryan is resting and he wants to fight at the beginning of next year. So we’re going to have a conversation.”
Bellator CEO Scott Coker Says Fedor Vs Silva “Would Be Amazing”
Emilianenko faced Bader at the Heavyweight Grand Prix in 2019. Bader earned a knockout win in the final, claiming the Bellator title. Although Emilianenko has put together two consecutive knockout wins since, attempting to earn himself a rematch, many fans, including Scott Coker want to see him fight fellow legend Anderson Silva before it’s all over.
Unfortunately, with Anderson Silva long gone from the UFC, and seemingly focused on his boxing career – including an upcoming bout with Jake Paul – that might never come to fruition.
“I think Anderson enjoys boxing. I haven’t talked to him but I think he enjoys boxing and he’s going to continue boxing. He’s going to fight Jake Paul on the Showtime pay-per-view coming up. But if there was an opportunity, of course I would love to do it. That would be amazing. The two GOATs, that would be amazing.”
The hypothetical matchup also has another issue. Anderson Silva fought most of his career as a middleweight. Fedor Emilianenko is still a heavyweight. It’s not likely that the Spider would concede a huge weight disadvantage, nor does Emilianenko seem the type to shed so much mass for a single fight. Scott Coker conceded that finding a way to convince the pair to meet somewhere in the middle might be much easier said than done.
“The other problem is, I think the weight. Even if you wanted to put that fight together, I think Anderson would probably want it to be under a certain weight, and Fedor’s like, ‘I’m a heavyweight. Why would I want to lose weight?’ Listen, we’re going down a path that’s hypothetical, but as a fan, I would love it. It would be unbelievable.”
Do you think we’ll get to see Fedor vs Silva one day? Let us know in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXcfOAYQV8
