It’s not clear just yet, whether Fedor Emelianenko will in fact, hang up the gloves after his current deal with Bellator is done. But, recently Bellator President Scott Coker discussed a possible timeline and location for the final fight of the legend’s storied career.

Coker is looking at Moscow for Fedor’s last bout

Emelianenko is booked to fight “Rampage” Jackson today at Bellator 237, which will go down in Saitama, Japan. The fight is the first of three on a contract extension Fedor signed earlier this year. When that deal was announced by Coker, he said the deal would close out the fighting career of “The Last Emperor.”

Well, while talking to the media this week, Coker had this to say about Fedor and their plans for him in 2020 (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“The second fight hopefully, if he is ok, doesn’t get hurt then maybe he can fight towards late fall or early fall,” Coker said. “Location, I don’t know but in my mind, the second fight will be some place in Europe or the Middle East and then the third fight will be in Moscow, maybe sometime next year. That’s the game plan because I would love to do a fight in Moscow with Bellator, with Fedor’s retirement fight.”

“How I feel about Fedor is, he’s a very special fighter…I feel like he should be honored and treasured on his way out and he should go out on his own terms and that’s really what this is all really about.”

“…I got to give him that respect that deserves and we signed him to a three-fight retirement tour and this is the first stop. This will be the last time he fights in Japan, so if they want to see him live, they have to come down and check him out against a legendary fighter like ‘Rampage’ who got his start here.”

Fedor’s recent comments

Now, it should be noted that recently Emelianenko left the door open to more bouts, after this current deal is done. Fedor said he’ll likely retire after three more bouts, but that he won’t make his decision on retirement until the fights are over.

All that said, it certainly makes sense to have Fedor’s final fight go down in Moscow, Russia. When the now 43-year-old fighter retired initially in 2012, that bout took place in St. Petersburg. It will be interesting to see how Fedor does against Jackson tonight. If he loses, and loses badly, then you know talk about the star retiring will surely spike.

Emelianenko (38-6) will be fighting for the first time since January today, when he was quickly stopped by Ryan Bader in the finals of Bellator’s heavyweight grand-prix.

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