With two fights left in his legendary career, Fedor Emelianenko is still only interested in facing the best competition available.
As he prepared for his return to action at Bellator 269, which will take place in his native Russia, the former PRIDE heavyweight champion had a list of potential opponents presented to him and was allowed to essentially pick and choose who he wanted to face.
“Tim Johnson had quite a winning streak going on, which obviously shows he’s quite a good fighter,” Emelianenko said about his decision for the fight when speaking during Bellator 269 media day. “Fighting someone who is spearheading the [division] is always a great opportunity.”
Emelianenko felt Johnson was a more suitable choice based on his recent resume when compared to the other fighters vying for the opportunity.
“Aside from Tim Johnson, dos Santos for example had a serious streak of losses alongside [his record] and he was also fired from the UFC as well,” Emelianenko said.
“That is why I don’t think it would be very much suitable to fight him compared to Tim Johnson. Not to mention Bellator came up with a bunch of options and Tim was quite an obvious choice.”
With his fight against Johnson scheduled for Saturday in Russia, Emelianenko will then have one more bout left on his Bellator contract, which is expected to serve as the final appearance of his career.
“The plans for the next fight will depend on actually the plans of Bellator and whatever Bellator decides,” Emelianenko explained. “If Bellator decides to go a particular place, I’ll be for it.”
“Sport is sport and the results of this fight will not change my opinion and not influence my opinion in any way. Because the sport is the sport and my life plans are my life plans, which are unchanged.”
