Getty Khabib Nurmagomedov
If former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos wins at Eagle FC 47, then the organization’s promoter Khabib Nurmagomedov will look to set up a fight with “Cigano” and Fedor Emelianenko.
During Wednesday’s Eagle FC 47 post-fight press conference, Nurmagomedov expressed his interest in a cross-promotional fight between the two mixed martial arts legends. Emelianenko is currently under contract with Bellator MMA, so president Scott Coker must be willing to play ball with Nurmagomedov.
Before all of that, Dos Santos must step into the cage and defeat Yorgan de Castro on Friday night. Cigano and de Castro, who is also a former UFC heavyweight, will compete in the night’s main event.
And if Dos Santos gets his hand raised, expect “The Eagle” to pursue Dos Santos versus “The Last Emperor.”
“If Dos Santos win, I really want to make Dos Santos vs. Fedor fight,” Nurmagomedov said via MMA Junkie. “But he has to focus on Yorgan for next, because this fighter here is tough opponent. I want to talk with my friend, Scott Coker, because Fedor is under Bellator contract. I don’t know what they’re gonna do next with him, but definitely we can talk, and we can do something. We can create some story.
“Why not? These two guys was long time the face of MMA. Fedor was the greatest fighter of all time in my opinion, and Dos Santos was heavyweight champion a couple years in UFC. These two guys, I think they deserve and fans deserve. For me, it’s a very interesting matchup, too.”
Dos Santos Said It Would Be ‘Amazing’ to Fight Emelianenko
Cigano isn’t just interested in fighting The Last Emperor, he said it would be “kind of a dream” to do so. Emelianenko is regarded by many as the greatest heavyweight combatant of all time despite never fighting for the UFC.
He has a professional record of 40-6, which includes notable wins over several former UFC heavyweight champions like Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia.
“I’m a big, big, BIG fan of Fedor, and I really believe – like Khabib said – that he is the greatest,” Dos Santos said. “That was a magical time in the MMA world when he did those amazing fights with ‘Big Nog.’ I wasn’t even fighting at that time, but I was such a big fan of them. For me, because I trained with ‘Big Nog,’ as well, it was always kind of a dream, the biggest thing I would like to achieve in my career would be to fight Fedor. So to hear that may be possible now, it’s just amazing.”
Dos Santos Is Eyeing His First Win Since 2019
It’s been a while since Dos Santos has earned a victory inside an MMA cage. His last win came at UFC Fight Night 146 in March 2019 when he finished Derrick Lewis via second-round TKO.
The former UFC heavyweight champion dropped his next four fights in a row, leading to his departure from the promotion. Cigano was finished by TKO at the hands of Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and most recently, Ciryl Gane in December 2020.
Dos Santos has a professional MMA record of 21-9, boasting wins over the likes of Cain Velasquez, Stipe Miocic and Shane Carwin.