Dana White reacts after Fedor Emelianenko suffers first-round TKO loss in retirement fight: “He probably should’ve hung it up a few years ago”

Dana White is reacting after Fedor Emelianenko suffered a first-found TKO loss in his retirement fight.

The Bellator 290 main event took place this past Saturday, February 4th at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

It was Fedor Emelianenko (40-7 MMA) who took on Ryan Bader (31-7 MMA) in the heavyweight bout. Bader scored a first round TKO of ‘The Last Emperor’ to retain his heavyweight championship. The two had met previously, but the outcome was the same, Bader beat Emalianenko back in 2019 at Bellator 214.

UFC President, Dana White, spoke about the Russian’s loss and subsequent retirement at the UFC Fight Night 218 post-event interview (h/t MMAJunkie):

“What is the guy, like 46? Yeah – he shouldn’t be fighting. But he’s a grown-ass man and he can do whatever he wants to do. But he probably should’ve hung it up a few years ago.”

Continuing Dana White said:

“I don’t dislike Fedor or anything like that.  It didn’t happen. We gave it a shot. You can’t say we didn’t try. We gave it a shot, and it is what it is.”

Concluding White finished with:

“I don’t want to sh*t on the guy – he’s retiring (Saturday) and all that stuff. But you guys know the old interviews with me – I never thought Fedor was that (good). I mean, he got knocked out by middleweight Dan Henderson. I think some of the guys in the business, people liked them, so they praised them. He never got to test himself over here. I never was one of the guys that thought he was one of the greatest of all time.”

It was over the course of almost a decade that Emelianenko won 27 straight fights primarily under the PRIDE banner.

Emelianenko will now put his focus on coaching and training fighters who are part of his team in Russia.

Are you in agreement with Dana White that Fedor Emelianenko isn’t the heavyweight GOAT?

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