“I am interested in Francis Ngannou – I would like to fight with him purely on boxing, because in MMA I am no longer pulling,” – said Emelianenko in an interview with the channel “Ushataika”. “I saw his fight with Fury and it made me want to fight him. Not that it’s an inflated self-esteem, but I’d be interested in doing a fight with him. If a fighter gets in the ring and his legs are still shaking, he’s still a raw, unfulfilled fighter. And I’m a fighter, and I’m still in the ring.”
Last October, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou made his professional boxing debut with a ten round split decision loss to current WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, knocking out the Brit in the third round.
The 37-year-old Cameroonian heavyweight will return to the ring on March 9 in Riyadh, and his opponent will be former WBA, WBO and IBF world champion Anthony Joshua of Britain.
Last February, 47-year-old Fedor Emelianenko made an unsuccessful attempt to take the Bellator heavyweight championship belt from Ryan Bader, losing to the American by technical knockout in the first round, after which he announced the end of his professional career.