Fedor Emelianenko could face Frank Mir in comeback bout

IT’S a fight more than 10 years in the making. The greatest MMA heavyweight and the most awarded heavyweight might finally be about to square off.

‘Scary dude’ has UFC buzzing

THE greatest MMA heavyweight of all time and the heavyweight with the greatest number of victories could be about to agree to one of the most desired fights of all time.

Fresh from a knockout win over Todd Duffee in UFC fight night 71, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has admitted he is intrigued about the prospect of fighting the ‘scary dude’ widely considered to be the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time.

Russian knockout artist Fedor Emelianenko has always been elusive to the UFC, having previously held deep grudges with the fighting promotion, but he is suddenly open to making a comeback.

While Mir, from the United States, earned the reputation of one of the greatest heavyweight mixed-martial artists of all time through his longevity in sport’s most unforgiving arenas with a career stretching more than 15 years, Emelianenko earned his reputation for being simply unstoppable.

Many consider his absence from UFC one of the sport’s biggest failures, but Emelianenko is reportedly strongly considering making a comeback.

The 38-year-old was considered untouchable in his prime and the most feared fighter in Mixed Martial Arts because of his incredible power punches.

He may not look like much by Fedor Emelianenko is a man to be feared.

Having previously retired, Emelianenko would be a massive signing for UFC and one that president Dana White admits to being interested in pursuing.

“We’ll see what happens,” White said when asked about Emelianenko’s potential debut.

“We’ll see how this thing plays out.”

Mir, who yesterday continued a career renaissance with a brutal knockout victory over rising star Todd Dufee, is a little more excited about the possible fight fans have waited 10 years to see.

“An opportunity to face him would be a huge honour,” Mir told Fox Sports.

“I might, just on the selfish side, want him to face somebody first so he could showcase to everybody that he’s still a monster and a scary dude and kind of remind fans of who Fedor is, but after that yeah.

“I’ve faced a lot of the greats from over there in PRIDE. (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira being one of them, (Mirko) Cro Cop, another phenomenal fighter who’s also making a rejuvenation of his career, so going out there and facing someone like Fedor, absolutely.”

Injuries saw Emelianenko retire recently following a string of losses before signing with second-tier rebel MMA competitions.

Frank Mir is still one of the top ranked heavyweight UFC fighters.

His greatest victories came in the now defunct PRIDE fighting series and Strikeforce mixed martial arts — which were both purchased by UFC.

“I have a lot of respect for Fedor,” Mir said.

“I think he just had a couple of bad fights there because the guy had 30 fights where he just ran through everybody. I think maybe he questioned himself and had some doubt and kind of basically did what I did. He’s taking some time off and probably found himself.

“That guy is a martial artist, if he wasn’t at the gym I’m sure he was still training Sambo or rolling around. The guy’s a very powerful, explosive, very savvy fighter.”

Originally published as Fedor Emelianenko could face Frank Mir in comeback bout