Fedor Emelianenko’s reps claim that Rizin FF tried to book a fight with Randy Couture after initial backlash over the Jaideep Singh announcement.
According to representatives on Fedor Emelianenko’s Facebook fan-page, Japanese MMA promotion Rizin Fighting Federation tried to book Emelianenko against Randy Couture for the New Year’s Eve card.
Rizin sought out Couture after they received heavy backlash from announcing Jaideep Singh as Fedor’s opponent in October.
Singh, who has only two fights in MMA, will take on the heavyweight legend on December 31st at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. Despite his inexperience in mixed martial arts, the Indian-born fighter has won 40 kickboxing bouts and has fought the likes of Gokhan Saki and Sergei Kharitonov. However, despite his resume, fans were largely disappointed with his booking against Emelianenko.
Rizin reportedly reached out to several heavyweights, but contractual obligations prevented a more promising bout from materializing.
Emelianenko vs. Singh will top off an entire weekend of Japanese MMA and K-1 action. From Dec 29-31, Rizin FF will host a World Grand Prix featuring Bellator fighters and combat sports legends. Check out the full lineup below.
Dec. 29 show
Grand Prix Round 1 Mohammad Lawal vs. Brett McDermott Bruno Cappelozza vs. Teodoras Aukstuolis Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochazka Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida (Reserve fight)
Single Matches: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki A.J. Mathhews vs. Anatoly Tokov James Thompson vs. Tsuyoshi Kosaka Hiroyuki Takaya vs. DJ Taiki
Mixed Rules Kirill Sidelnikov vs. Carlos Toyota Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Hinata Watanabe Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain
K-1 Rules Akiyo Nishiura vs. Hiroya Kawabe
Dec. 31 show
Fedor Emelianenko vs.
Grand Prix Tournament Final
Brennan Ward vs. Ken Hasegawa
Tournament Semi-final x 2
K-1 Rules
Yang Ming vs. Takeru
Kaido Höövelson vs. Jerome Le Banner
Shoot Boxing Rules
Bob Sapp vs. Akebono
Kron Gracie vs Asen Yamamoto
Gabi Garcia vs. Lei’d Tapa
RENA vs. Jleana Valentino
Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Andy Souwer