47-year-old MMA legend reportedly in talks for comeback fight with 45-year-old rival as pair look towards rematch 15 years in the making

09/03/2024 07:39 AM

MMA icons Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski are reportedly in discussions for a rematch, 15 years after their first meeting.

The 47-year-old Russian is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time, particularly when you factor in competitors who never took their talents to the UFC. Meanwhile, his rival Arlovski is a former UFC heavyweight champion.

The pair previously shared a ring under the short-lived ‘Affliction’ promotion in 2009. Fedor got the win on that occasion, landing a first round knockout that sent reverberations around the sport at the time.

Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski in talks for rematch

According to a report from Red Corner MMA, Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski are reportedly in talks for a rematch on an as-yet unspecified date. The fight would take place on the RCC Boxing promotion, and would see the men return to a ring, as opposed to a cage, for a boxing bout.

Fedor last fought under the Bellator banner in February of last year when he was knocked out by Ryan Bader in a rematch of their 2019 meeting for the heavyweight title. Both of their fights ended in a first round stoppage for the American.

Meanwhile, Arlovski stuck with the UFC for a decade to finish out his career after an impressive run outside of the promotion following his initial stint. Re-joining in 2014 when he took a controvrersial decision against Brendan Schaub, he stayed until June when he finished his octagon career.

Fedor Emelianenko was reportedly in talks for Mike Tyson fight

At the start of this year, there were reports circulating that Fedor Emelianenko would be making a move to boxing to face the iconic Mike Tyson in Saudi Arabia. However, that was quickly shut down by reps who told The Sun that the fight was never likely to happen.

“This is false,” a spokesperson for Tyson told Chisanga Malata back in January after a few days of speculation. “Mr. Tyson has not spoken to anyone in his camp. He is not interested in doing a fight with him now or in the future.”

Instead, ‘Iron Mike’ signed up for an historic Netflix showdown with Jake Paul, which has been rescheduled for November 15. The pair were initially supposed to fight in July, but it was moved when Tyson suffered a medical emergency.

Andrei Arlovski left UFC earlier this year

For Arlovski, he has been competing at the top table for the past ten years. As recently as 2021 he was competing with Tom Aspinall, who is now the UFC interim heavyweight champion, and after that loss he went on a four-fight winning run.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t extend that winning streak and the next four didn’t go his way. He was not given an emotional send-off after losing his fourth consecutive fight at UFC 303, nor any send off at all, but he appears happy with what happened.

He teased in his first Instagram post after the fact that he had “more stories to tell”, and noted that it was simply his “chapter with the UFC’ which had closed. Now, he could be set for an exciting new comeback fight.

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