Mark Hunt was hoping for Fedor rematch in Melbourne stadium show

It appears every heavyweight fighter on the UFC's roster has shown some form of interest in welcoming Fedor Emelianenko to the Octagon, even though…

By: Karim Zidan | 8 years ago
Mark Hunt was hoping for Fedor rematch in Melbourne stadium show
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

It appears every heavyweight fighter on the UFC’s roster has shown some form of interest in welcoming Fedor Emelianenko to the Octagon, even though the Russian heavyweight legend is yet to sign a contract officially signaling his arrival. The latest such heavyweight was Mark Hunt, who expressed some slight disappointment as to nto getting a chance to rematch the legend at the UFC 193 stadium show.

“I don’t know why he retired,” Hunt told Submission Radio. “I mean everyone has their reasons, but that’s a long time coming. He’s one of the greatest fighters of all time. I was hopefully looking forward to welcoming him back as a rematch. I was hoping it’d be with me in Melbourne somewhere, but I guess not. We’ll see what happens. It’s good that Fedor’s back in the fighting circles, and especially with the UFC. I mean that’s where the best players are right now and that’s where the party’s at (laughs).

“UFC is where the party’s at.”

While Hunt admits he did not specifically ask the UFC brass for a rematch against Fedor, he hoped against hope that he would be the one to draw the ‘Last Emperor. ‘

“Well I never ask [for specific opponents] unless it’s some freakin’ guy talking rubbish, but I never ask for that person. But it was just a thought. When I heard he was coming back, I was like ‘oh maybe I can welcome him to the UFC in Melbourne’. Who knows?”

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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