Fedor Emelianenko is 50 years old, nearly four years past his last fight, and he already knows who he’d want across the ring if he ever pulls on boxing gloves. It’s Francis Ngannou.
The Russian told Ushatayka that a boxing match with the former UFC heavyweight champion is his dream fight. Then, in the same breath, he hit the brakes before anyone could start printing posters.
“If we’re talking about being a downright dream, I’d be interested in fighting Francis Ngannou under boxing rules,” Emelianenko said. “I couldn’t manage MMA now because I have too many injuries, but I’d have a go at him in boxing. That’s just me thinking out loud. I never said we were in negotiations.”
View post on X
I’ll give him credit for that last sentence. Most fighters float a dream matchup and let the internet decide it’s signed. Fedor told you exactly what it was. MMA Mania picked up the interview Monday.
The boxing angle has a reason behind it. Emelianenko says boxing is much easier on his body than MMA, which makes sense for a guy who says he’s carrying too many injuries to fight with four-ounce gloves again.
For a stretch in the 2000s, he was the best heavyweight on the planet, and plenty of people still rank him as the greatest heavyweight ever. The ending was rougher. He went 4-3 in Bellator, and his final fight came at Bellator 290 on Feb. 4, 2023, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, where Ryan Bader stopped him by TKO in the first round of their heavyweight title rematch.
Ngannou’s recent résumé runs in two directions. He went 0-2 in boxing against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua after leaving the UFC. Back in MMA, he’s won twice since his UFC exit, most recently at MVP MMA 1, where he ran through Phillipe Lins in the first round. MMA Mania described Lins as a puffed-up light heavyweight, and the fight looked like it. Ngannou hasn’t competed since.
His dance card is thin. Ngannou is aligned with MVP and Jake Paul, but his name isn’t showing up in the chatter around Paul’s Christmas Eve boxing match in Dubai. He also doesn’t appear to figure into the plans of Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi boxing power broker who partnered with Dana White. MMA Mania called White Ngannou’s nemesis, and anyone who watched that UFC divorce play out won’t argue.
So you’ve got a Cameroonian heavyweight with few doors open and a retired Russian legend thinking out loud. My take: as a pure piece of history, I’d watch it, and so would you. As an actual fight, it’s a problem. Fedor told us himself his body can’t handle MMA anymore, and the last image we have of him is Bader finishing him in one round. Ngannou in a ring is a different sport, but he’s still Francis Ngannou, and the gloves don’t get smaller with age. If MVP wants a nostalgia card, fine. Just put the doctors on retainer. The next real date on this calendar is Paul’s fight in Dubai on Christmas Eve, and right now Ngannou isn’t part of it.
