Fedor Emelianenko and Mike Tyson may end up fighting one another if some recent bout offers are accepted. A Kazakh-based promotion known as Alash Pride League has indicated that they have plans to book a fight between the two heavyweight titans of combat sports. APL president Alimzhan Bektaev indicated as such while addressing media in Astana when Bektaev said [via talkSPORT],
“We are planning a bout between Mike Tyson and Fedor Emelianenko. Work in this direction is already underway… The tournament, where we want to invite Mike Tyson, is scheduled for December.”
Following his massive matchup against Jake Paul last November, it did not seem like Tyson was completely closing the door on his comptetive endeavours. That Paul bout saw him fight in only his second contest in the last twenty some odd years, his first official bout other than his exhibition contest against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020, but ‘Iron’ Mike still seems to have a greater desire to fight following his decision loss to ‘The Problem Child’ on Netflix.
While it was not specified what ruleset this potential prizefight woud take place under, it would almost certainly be under Queensberry Rules. This inference can be made considering Tyson’s base skillset obviously but also based on comments Emelianenko made on The MMA Hour in Summer 2023 regarding wanting to pursue more boxing bouts since retiring from MMA after his rematch with Ryan Bader.
Mike Tyson and Fedor Emelianenko’s interactions through the years
Mike Tyson fighting Fedor Emelianeko is something that has been quasi on the table for the last twenty plus years if you can believe it. In a translation of a story called PRIDE: Secret Files from MMA-Japan.com, there were plans for Mike Tyson to fight for Pride FC against Emelianenko as well as Mirko Cro Cop. The idea was to heavily promote a world tour featuring the combat sports icon that Tyson was said to have been very interested in. An amalgamation of Tyson’s suspended license, dealings amongs shady characters that did not get off the ground, and a host of factors outlined in the translated story lead to this dream not becoming a reality.
Tyson and Emelianenko have interfaced several times throughout the years with a pronounced level of mutual respect clearly being there. The respect exists to such a scale that Tyson has called Emelianenko his favorite fighter.
