This past Friday night, Eagle FC hosted their 47th event. One of the key observers of the event was Bellator president Scott Coker. In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos (21-10) was taking on Yorgan De Castro (9-3).
Why was Bellator and Scott Coker watching closely? Well, they were tuning in to see how Junior Dos Santos looked. They wanted to see him look good and pick up a win to potentially set up a big time matchup against Fedor Emelianenko (40-6).
The Last Emperor is nearing retirement and Bellator has been trying to figure out who to book him against for his retirement fight. Eagle FC founder and fellow Russian MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomedov floated the idea of a co-promotional fight featuring Fedor and JDS.
The idea was well received by Scott Coker. JDS was looking great on Friday night against De Castro. His speed looked very good and he was doing an excellent job working his kicks in with his tremendous boxing. He looked like he was going to cruise to a decision win.
However, the third round saw everything go up in smoke. Dos Santos was stalking De Castro and threw a right straight. When he landed, he landed on the forearm of De Castro. Immediately, his shoulder popped out of place and the fight was called off. JDS lost by injury TKO.
Is the Eagle FC – Bellator fight dead?
After the event concluded, Khabib Nurmagomedov said that he still thinks JDS – Fedor is the fight to make. He believes that what happened shouldn’t deter Bellator from being interested in making the fight considering how the fight went down.
Dos Santos was looking better than he had in a very long time. Yes, I know the opponent was Yorgan De Castro, but I was impressed. Considering the Bellator roster, I think JDS might be the best fight for Fedor. Roy Nelson has tried to throw his name in there, but come on. Nobody is really clamoring for that fight.
JDS is arguably the biggest name Fedor can fight and with a legend like Fedor, his last fight needs to be big. I think Scott Coker and Bellator are still very interested in the fight. The only other fight that could be made is letting Fedor fight for the title against Ryan Bader which is what Fedor wants more than anything.
I think the next month or two are going to be interesting, but either way, we should know who Fedor is facing at the end of the year soon.