"I can't do MMA anymore": Emelianenko, 47, challenges Ngannou, who is preparing to fight Joshua

The legendary mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Fedor Emelianenko suddenly decided to challenge Francis Ngannou (0-1, 0 KOs). The 47-year-old Russian wanted to fight against the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion under the rules of boxing, where the Cameroonian made his debut last October with a sensational fight against Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs).

Emelianenko said this in an interview with the propaganda publication Sport-Express. According to the four-time MMA world champion, who fought 47 fights in the octagon and won 40 of them, he would be interested in fighting Ngannou in boxing, as he is too old for mixed martial arts.

"Francis Ngannou is interesting to me. I'm done with MMA - I can't do it anymore. But it would be interesting to fight him in boxing. I would like to fight him. It's not that I have high self-esteem, but I would be interested in fighting him. I am a fighter, yes. Probably still in the ranks. I realize that I'm not ready for MMA. I have injuries. I've excluded wrestling from my training now," Emelianenko said.

It should be noted that the Russian fighter had his last fight in February last year, when he lost by technical knockout to American Ryan Bader in a fight for the Bellator championship. Ngannou, after losing to Fury, whom he managed to knock out, will fight Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) on March 8.