Two of the sport’s all-time greats took time to exchange
pleasantries backstage at
Road to Dubai on Saturday.
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In a video posted on the Bellator
MMA Instagram account, Fedor
Emelianenko and Khabib
Nurmagomedov are seen exchanging pleasantries and posing for a
photo in the locker room at the Coca-Cola Arena. Emelianenko was on
hand to corner Vadim
Nemkov in the co-main event, while Nurmagomedov was coaching a
number of Dagestani fighters — most notably lightweight champion
Usman
Nurmagomedov.
Emelianenko is a former
Pride Fighting Championships standout who is widely regarded as
perhaps the best heavyweight in MMA history. He famously went
unbeaten in 28 consecutive fights from 2001 to 2009.
Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, retired from the sport in 2020 as the
reigning
UFC lightweight champion. “The Eagle” went 29-0 over the course
of a career that began in 2008. Like Emelianenko, the Dagestani
star is considered to be one of the top pound-for-pound talents of
all-time.