‘The Last Emperor’ famously retired from MMA earlier this year after his rematch with Ryan Bader. Four years after ‘Darth’ scored a first-round stoppage win over the Russian, he did it again. In the main event of Bellator 290 in February, Fedor Emelianenko suffered a first-round defeat in the final fight of his career.
Following the defeat, the Russian retired from MMA but has since shown an interest in boxing. On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Fedor Emelianenko discussed his interest in a boxing match with Mike Tyson. ‘Iron Mike’ is retired himself, but did return for a November 2020 exhibition with Roy Jones Jr.
In the interview, Fedor Emelianenko admitted that Mike Tyson is his dream boxing opponent. While there have been no discussions between the two, he would love to face him on the undercard of Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury in October. ‘The Predator’ is famously being trained by the boxing legend.
“We were able to watch on TV the fight between Roy Jones with Mike Tyson,” Fedor Emelianenko stated through a translator on The MMA Hour. “Mike Tyson would be good, Mike Tyson [is] probably an interesting fight. He has a big name, he’s a legend. Yes of course [he’s my dream opponent], I do [want to fight him in boxing].”
He continued, “Yeah it would be interesting because you can see a lot of videos on YouTube all over the place, that he’s in good shape.
He still works out with pads, he still has that speed and power. That would be awesome if it’s possible [to fight on the undercard of Fury vs. Ngannou], I would definitely do it.”