Report: Fedor vs. Fabio Maldonado in the works for June 17 in Russia

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Fedor’s next opponent will not be a fighter plucked out of obscurity.

It appears that UFC veteran Fabio Maldonado is in the running to be Fedor Emelianenko’s next opponent, according to globo.

Fight Nights promoter Kamil Gadzhiev revealed that Maldonado is one of three possible opponents for Fedor’s return to Russia on June 17. He would not even confirm the date, and instead informed the media to watch the press conference on Tuesday.

“We are negotiating with Maldonado, but his contract is not signed yet. He is seen by us as one of the possible contenders. Apart from him we still have two potential options. And the certainty that the opponent will be Maldonado is not clear because the situation changed with kaleidoscopic rapidity. Also, we are now negotiating with fighters from Australia and the United States.”

Though the date and location are not set in stone, Fight Nights has already released a press release that confirmed Fedor’s participation in one of their upcoming shows. They plan to host a press conference on April 19 to announce Fedor’s next opponent to the public.

Fedor’s apparent cooperation with Fight Nights will likely mean that fans will have the opportunity to watch the legendary fighter live on UFC Fight Pass because of the deal with EFN.

While it remains unclear what Rizin Fighting Federation’s role is in Fedor’s upcoming fight, the promotion informed BloodyElbow that Fedor is not under exclusive contract and is free to take fights in Russia.

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About the author

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.