Huge Name Returning To MMA

Former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko has announced his intent to return to mixed martial arts. Fedor retired in 2012 after a KO victory over Pedro Rizzo. Fedor made an announcement on M-1 Global's Facebook page.

"It's extremely important for any athlete to do what you love, to work out on training sessions, to prove yourself on the competitions, representing your Motherland, – told Fedor in his statement to the Union MMA of Russia, – For the time that I've been working for the Ministry of Sport I managed to give my contribution into development of martial arts, I cooperated with the sports federations, learnt the problems of our sport and tried to solve them as good as I could. Now I feel that it's a high time to get back in action".

"I managed to recover and heal the old injuries. For the last 3 years I was maintaining my physical shape, but that's still not enough to compete at proper level. Therefore I started to do more intensive trainings recently. We got a team of versatile professionals and athletes, who will help me to prepare myself well enough. I will also try to help other fighters to grow as professionals. I have to do a great job to prepare myself to return in fighting. Now we are in the middle of negotiations between the promotion companies. Once agreements are reached, there will be information on the date of the fight and my opponent".

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed on Sunday that Fedor was being shopped around. We'll continue to update you with any breaking information.