Junior Dos Santos may have suffered a heartbreaking injury TKO defeat at Eagle FC 47, but he could still land a dream matchup with Russian fighting legend Fedor Emelianenko.
Eagle FC president and soon-to-be UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov chatted with The MMA Underground and revealed that he still hopes to book a co-promoted heavyweight clash between Eagle FC-contracted Dos Santos and Bellator fighter Emelianenko.
The potential matchup formed a strong part of the pre-event narrative in Miami, but a dislocated shoulder halted Dos Santos – who had fought superbly up to the point of his injury – as he fell to an unfortunate TKO loss to Yorgan De Castro.
Despite the former UFC heavyweight champion’s defeat, Nurmagomedov said he’s still very interested in a Dos Santos-Emelianenko bout.
“I think it’s still viable because, even though he lost, Junior looked amazing,” Nurmagomedov explained.
“Everybody said tonight he improved a lot. And he was looking amazing and I think it’s still interesting.”
Dos Santos is going to need some significant time to recover and rehab his injury, and Nurmagomedov recommended “Cigano” goes under the knife to have shoulder surgery to make sure he’s back to his best when he returns to full fitness later in the year.
“I know when what you need you have an injury (and) how many months you need to recover everything,” he said.
“I think he definitely needs surgery. I’m not a doctor, but I see a lot of injuries inside the gym like this – with shoulders, with knees.
“I’m thinking after three, four months, he can come back to sparring, and at the end of the year we can make this fight. Next week, I’m gonna sit with Scott Coker and we’re gonna discuss about this fight.”
