Fedor Emelianenko hospitalized in Russia due to COVID-19
Fedor Emelianenko, regarded as one of the greatest fighters in MMA history, has been hospitalized due to COVID-19.
Emelianenko on Thursday posted on Instagram to thank people concerned about his health.
“I feel fine,” the 44-year-old posted, according to a translation by RT Sport. “I am going into recovery. I’m grateful to the doctors and medical staff for their care and hard work.”
According to the RT Sport report, Emelianenko is in a Moscow hospital that specializes in COVID-19 treatment.
Emelianenko (39-6 MMA, 3-2 BMMA), a former PRIDE heavyweight champion, has not fought since December 2019, when he knocked out Quinton Jackson in the first round at Bellator 237. Prior to that, he was in Bellator’s heavyweight grand prix and had first-round knockouts of Frank Mir and Chael Sonnen to reach the final. But in January 2019, he was knocked out by Ryan Bader in 35 seconds.
Although Emelianenko retired for a period of about three and a half years, he returned in December 2015 with a win for RIZIN, then won at Fight Nights Global before signing with Bellator.
Bellator president Scott Coker said this past December that Emelianenko has two fights left on his contract, and he was at one point envisioning a “farewell tour” for him before the pandemic hit.
“I really wanted Fedor to fight his retirement fight not in front of just the officials and have the staff and be on a closed environment in a bubble,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “I really want Fedor to finish his career in front of 30,000 people in Moscow, to be honest – Bellator MMA’s first fight in Russia … do a fight in Moscow. For him, the prodigal son has returned. Fedor is the greatest fighter of all-time, and he’s now coming home to retire and put his gloves up and hang it up to retire.”
The irony now is that Coker was hopeful for a COVID-19 vaccine to help open the door for the promotion to fight in front of crowds again, and Emelianenko is hospitalized with the very virus that has killed millions around the world, and more than 400,000 alone in the U.S., where Bellator is based.
“I feel we’ve waited so long for Fedor to fight, hoping that the pandemic would thin out,” Coker said. “And now that it’s getting close and I can see light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic to go away, I really want to wait and to do these fights in a proper stadium, especially the one we do in Moscow. I want to do something very big for him, because to me, it’s like he’s the king, and the king is returning from the battlefield.”