Fedor Emelianenko will make his return to MMA against Indian kickboxer, Jaideep Singh who has only had one MMA fight in his career.
Whilst many names had been thrown into the mix ranging from England’s Oli Thompson to American Kimbo Slice it is Jaideep Singh who will step up and face Fedor in his return to MMA on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo.
Singh fought in June 2013 at Super Fight League 19 were he stopped Alireza Tavak in the first round by TKO. Singh also has more than 50 kickboxing fights on his record but even for the hardcore MMA fans was not a name who anyone expected to face Fedor.
The fight will take place on New Year’s Eve for former PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara’s promotion which was revealed at Bellator 142 in September. Spike will have exclusive U.S rights to the event, which is expected to air via tape delay.
Tony’s Thoughts;
Well I for one am very disappointing and really thought that the relationship Sakakibara has with Bellator would have helped in bringing in a big name to welcome back Fedor to the cage.
But in my opinion Fedor has been ducking top level talent all of his career which is why he never signed with the UFC. Does this Singh fight offer anything to him? No absolutely nothing and the prospect of losing to a 1-0 fighter would just really damage his legacy.
I genuinely did not expect them to announce an opponent boasting a 1-0 record and its clearly a mismatch to get Fedor back to winning ways.