When it was announced that Fedor Emelianenko was returning to mixed martial arts, a plethora of potential fights flashed through the minds of fight fans.
A contract with the UFC could have seen rematches with Bigfoot, Andrei Arlovski or Mark Hunt and there would have been quite a few people OK with Emelianenko walking straight into a heavyweight title fight with Fabricio Werdum, another rematch.
If he had gone to Bellator, there would have been high-profile fights on the table against Cheick Kongo or Kimbo Slice.
But, as it turned out, The Last Emperor signed on with a brand new promotion run by former Pride boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara and while the Japanese organisation will be a partner of Bellator, there is no chance of seeing Emelianenko v Kongo or Slice.
Rather, it’s being reported that the Russian will be taking on relative unknown Jaideep Singh on the New Year’s Eve card.
A press conference is expected on Thursday at which the announcement will be made official and the opponent choice is likely to irritate some fans who were hoping for a bigger name.
Singh, an Indian-Japanese heavyweight kickboxer, has only fought once under mixed martial arts rules so is being given a tough task in his second outing as he meets arguably the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time.
Singh is 40-10 (1 NC) in kickboxing but his grappling credentials will almost certainly fall short against Emelianenko who has finished 16 of his 34 professional wins by submission.
