The Last Emperor,the phenom,the icon and the King of MMA Fedor Emelianenko has retired from the sport and is adamant that he won't go back on his decision.
However, the Russian legend still follows the sport, analyzing the fighters still competing. In an interview with WHOA!TV, Emelianenko broke down this weekend's heavyweight title fight between champ Cain Velasquez and challenger Junior dos Santos.
"I think that if Velasquez sticks to his usual game, he's going to become the winner," predicted Emelianenko. "His biggest advantage is that he can transition, he can switch from one to another. He's a thinking fighter."
However, the Russian legend still follows the sport, analyzing the fighters still competing. In an interview with WHOA!TV, Emelianenko broke down this weekend's heavyweight title fight between champ Cain Velasquez and challenger Junior dos Santos.
"I think that if Velasquez sticks to his usual game, he's going to become the winner," predicted Emelianenko. "His biggest advantage is that he can transition, he can switch from one to another. He's a thinking fighter."
Fedor also revealed one of the reasons we never saw him grace the Octagon. Although UFC president Dana White once called his mission to sign the MMA legend an "obsession," Emelianenko now claims he's precisely the reason it never happened.
"In my opinion, everything was in Dana White's hands,' says Emelianenko. "Because at that moment, I just felt like 'this guy, he just hates us.' Like, personally to [me]. There were insults coming from Dana White all the time. There were many very loud things said, but for real nothing happened. It was [all talk]."
As insults go, White slammed Emelianenko in 2009 saying the Russian refused to face top competition and that having him ranked among MMA's pound-for-pound best was 'f***ing insanity.' Emelianenko's manager, Vadim Finkelstein, was also a frequent target of White's, whom he unceremoniously dubbed, 'Vadummy.' Although White years laterhinted at plans to lure both former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and Emelianenko out of retirement to finally meet, it never came to be.
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