Fedor Emelianenko should finally retire from MMA, according to former UFC champion Dan Cormier

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Fedor Emelianenko should finally retire from MMA, according to former UFC champion Dan Cormier
Fedor Emelianenko won his most recent match during a homecoming event in Russia. Photo by Bellator MMA
  • Fedor Emelianenko should retire from fighting and finish his career on a high.
  • That's according to Dan Cormier, who is impressed the heavyweight is still winning at 45 years old.
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ABU DHABI - Fedor Emelianenko should retire from mixed martial arts because he would end his career on a high.

That's according to the former two-weight UFC champion Dan Cormier, who spoke to media at a press conference Insider attended before Saturday's UFC 267 show in Abu Dhabi.

A 45-year-old veteran of 47 pro MMA matches, Emelianenko is renowned for his prowess in combat sports organizations like RINGS, PRIDE, and Bellator MMA.

Over the past two decades, Emelianenko has scored wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir, Chael Sonnen, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and, most recently Timothy Johnson - a homecoming fight in Russia earlier this month.

For Cormier, there is no greater time to hang up the gloves than the present, because if he continues to fight into his late 40s, there might come a time when he ends up in his back, beaten, and unconscious.

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"When I started fighting, Fedor was everything," Cormier said. "He was the man. He was a man who didn't look like a bodybuilder. He was fast. He could knock people out, and I took it as a privilege," to be compared to him, he said.

Fedor is a heavyweight GOAT, Cormier says

Fedor Emelianenko should finally retire from MMA, according to former UFC champion Dan Cormier
Dan Cormier is a UFC commentator and former two-weight UFC champion. Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LL

Cormier continued: "To see this dude doing what he's doing now is crazy. Fedor is 45 years old and knocking people out. Fedor should stop now, though."

He added: "It's like the fairytale to go into Moscow and get a knockout in the way that he did. Just walk away, man, because otherwise, this shit is going to get bad."

Cormier said combat sports history is filled with great champions who don't get the "storybook ending as they end up beaten, humiliated, by much younger men."

On the legacy that Emelianenko leaves, Cormier said: "I think he's the best heavyweight of all time.

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"Some of the wins he had back in PRIDE. When he won like 29 fights in a row how could you question what that man did?"

He finished by remarking that, out of everybody, it is Emelianenko and the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic who have "separated themselves from the rest of the pack at heavyweight."

Cormier will be performing commentary duties for UFC 267, which takes place Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the US, and BT Sport 2 in the UK.

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