PFL heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov is confident that his mentor Fedor Emelianenko still has enough left in the tank to give former PFL star Francis Ngannou a go in the boxing ring.
Emelianenko hasn’t fought in nearly four years, when he lost to Ryan Bader for the Bellator championship. The PRIDE legend is now 50 years of age, and five years removed from his most recent MMA victory, a quick knockout over Tim Johnson. He still puts the gloves on in the gym to help Nemkov prepare for his upcoming
PFL title defense, battling Sergey Bilostennyi on Saturday in Dubai.
In a recent interview, Emelianenko ruled out coming back to MMA but said it would be a “real dream” to box Ngannou, a former UFC champion who stopped Philipe Lins with ease on the first MVP MMA card this past May after a pair of boxing matches versus Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
“If MVP wants to offer [Emelianenko] a boxing fight, I think that’d be good for the fans, too. He’s ready,” Nemkov told MMA Fighting through a translator. “Believe it or not, he’s still very fast on his feet, very explosive, heavy punch. It’s not easy to hit Fedor, he moves a lot, he has a really good ring movement, so I think he has really good chances against Francis if they box. I think Fedor will win.”
Nemkov was very dominant as a heavyweight in Bellator and now PFL, riding an 14-fight unbeaten streak against the likes of Renan Ferreira, Yoel Romero, Corey Anderson, Phil Davis and Ryan Bader. Emelianenko was the greatest heavyweight all-time in PRIDE, and Nemkov feels blessed to have him as a mentor and coach.
“It’s a big honor really to be able to train with him, to be able to be coached by him, to get his knowledge and his experience,” Nemkov said. “If you think about it, he’s such an accomplished fighter, such a legend. There’s people out there that are just excited to shake his hand or take a picture with him, you know, and I get to train with him and learn from him and get his wisdom, so it’s a huge honor.”
Nemkov defends his PFL throne No. 14 against Bilostennyi, his final title defense before the company continues under the MVP MMA brand in 2027. Bilostennyi won four of five fights since moving on from Bellator to PFL, and Nemkov was present when he was last beaten.
“I cornered [Valentin Moldavsky] for that fight so I kind of have a game plan, I was already kind of game planning how I would fight Sergey when I was cornering Moldavsky,” Nemkov said. “Me and Moldavsky have a different style so not necessarily the things he did might work for me and vice versa, but I have a plan.”
Nemkov said Bilostennyi is “very worthy of a title shot” after finishing Karl Williams and Renan Ferreira since that night in May 2025, but the goal is to stop him inside the distance.
“I always train for five rounds because you never know how the fight’s going to go,” Nemkov said. “But I’m also always looking for a finish. If I get a finish, I’m ready to go for it whether it’s on the ground, submission, knockout. Whatever it is, I’m always looking for a finish.”
