Okay, now it's time to (officially) get excited.
Lest you thought the mixed martial arts (MMA) community was being trolled by some dastardly do-badder in the outskirts of Russia, longtime manager Vadim Finkelchtein has confirmed that Fedor Emelianenko is, in fact, planning a return to the cage (or ring).
From his conversation with Bloody Elbow:
"I was trying to convince Fedor to come back for about year or two, but then gave up this idea. And about a week or two ago he told me he is thinking about coming back to sport. I am happy about that. I am ready to help him anyway I can. I see that he is mentally ready. All he needs is to train hard. He remained in good shape all those years but it will still take some time to be ready to fight."
Fink expects Fedor to be paired off against a top-10 opponent upon re-joining the world of combat sports.
That could be difficult in Bellator MMA, where the heavyweight division is being held together with popsicle sticks and masking tape. The real action is under the UFC banner, where the world's top 265-pounders do work several times a month.
Including a few of his old PRIDE adversaries (like this one).
While it's a little early to play matchmaker, this writer is hoping "The Last Emperor" can leave stateside fight fans with better memories than the ones created in Strikeforce, which may require him to unload some of those "yes men" and get some tough-love training partners.