Former PRIDE Heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko, has sensationally called out Mike Tyson for a crossover boxing clash, following on from his retirement from mixed martial arts.
Emelianenko has been present in the world of MMA for over two decades, debuting in May 2000 and challenging Ryan Bader for the Bellator Heavyweight World Title back in February.
The Russian fell short in his attempt, losing my first-round TKO to Bader for the second time in four years and subsequently making the decision to finally hang up the gloves after a long career.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Emelianenko announced his decision and confirmed that he wishes to face Mike Tyson in an exhibition bout, after seeing the success of the fight between Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.
“MMA is done 100%, I’m not going back to MMA. I want to try myself in boxing.”
“Mike Tyson would probably be an interesting fight, he’s a big name, he is a legend.”
Emelianenko is open to the idea of fighting on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s upcoming showdown with former UFC champion, Francis Ngannou.
“That would be awesome if it’s possible, I definitely would do it, I will be ready.”
Although the idea is an intriguing one, Mike Tyson is training Ngannou for his fight with Fury, and would therefore be expected to be focusing on preparing the Cameroonian, rather than for a fight himself.
Fury-Ngannou takes place on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with an undercard yet to be announced.