The Pioneers of MMA! Fans get emotional after PRIDE FC legends assemble for Fedor Emelianenko’s retirement fight

MMA legends pay tribute to Fedor Emelianenko's MMA career after retirement fight at Bellator 290

The Pioneers of MMA! Fans get emotional after PRIDE FC legends assemble for Fedor Emelianenko’s retirement fight

Image Courtesy - Show Time News/ Twitter

The Bellator 290 event marked the retirement fight of MMA legend, Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor was scheduled to fight Ryan Bader in the main event for the Bellator heavyweight championship. As Fedor’s decorated career came to an end, a group of MMA pioneers entered the cage to pay tribute to the legend.

Fedor Emelianenko is often considered the greatest heavyweight in MMA history. In his retirement fight against Ryan Bader, Fedor lost the fight via TKO in the first round. A tired Fedor was then greeted by his fellow pioneers of MMA after recovering from the ground and pound.

The group of OGs included Renzo Gracie, Rampage Jackson, Royce Gracie, Chael Sonnen, Chuck Lidell, Josh Barnett, Matt Hughes, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, and Dan Henderson. The retired fighters came to pay tribute to the biggest star in MMA heavyweight history.

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Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko’s legacy includes the Russian Judo Federation National Championship, PRIDE heavyweight championship, and the FIAS world combat sambo championship. To add to his list of achievements, the legend stayed undefeated for 28 straight fights during his tenure in PRIDE FC.

Fedor has since joined several promotions like Strike Force and Bellator. The Russian politician and MMA legend is the greatest fighter who never entered the UFC octagon.

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UFC boss, Dana White reveals that he never considered Fedor Emelianenko “one of the greatest of all time”

(Image Courtesy – MMA Junkie/ Twitter)

UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Spivac was scheduled on the same day as Bellator 290. In the post-fight presser of UFC Fight Night, Dana White reacted to MMA heavyweight legend, Fedor Emelianenko’s retirement fight. However, the UFC boss did not particularly have the greatest words to say about Fedor.

“He’s like 46, right? He probably should have hung it up two years ago,” Dana White said. Dana White had previously worked on negotiating a contract with Fedor Emelianenko back in 2008-09 to put him up against then UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar. The deal never came to fruition.

“I don’t dislike Fedor or anything like that. We gave it a shot and didn’t happen… I don’t wanna s**t on the guy but you guys know me. Even in my old interview I never thought Fedor was that (GOAT). The guy got knocked out by Dan Henderson, a middleweight,” Dana White answered after he was asked if he had any sadness about not being able to sign Fedor to the UFC.

Fans hilariously reacted to Dana White’s comments. “Sounds like bitter ex vibes,” one of the fans replied. Some fans criticized the promoter for contradicting statements from past interviews.

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