Mirko Cro Cop throws down the gauntlet and demands Fedor Emelianenko for his farewell fight

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic has been teasing his retirement from mixed martial arts for years, and now it sounds like he's decided on the perfect way to end his long and decorated career. The Croatian kickboxer turned cage fighter is calling for a second fight against Fedor Emelianenko, his rival from the golden age of Pride Fighting Championships.

Mirko made the call out on his Facebook page, declaring "Who wants to see my farewell fight against Fedor? If Fedor dares..."

Of course, Fedor has some more pressing business to attend to: his rescheduled bout with Matt Mitrione that will now take place at Bellator's PPV event at Madison Square Garden on June 24th. The fight was originally set for February, but Mitrione had to pull out at the last second with kidney stones.

Then there's Mirko's dubious legal standing in the sport. He's currently serving a two year USADA suspension for admitting to using human growth hormone while rehabbing an injury. That will last until November 2017, and it's unclear on whether North American commissions would allow him to compete with that hanging over his head.

It didn't stop Japan from booking him, allowing Cro Cop to knock out three people in one weekend to win the 2016 Rizin Open-Weight Grand Prix tournament at the end of 2016. With Fedor having already fought for Rizin in 2015, that's a possibility. And with Bellator's Scott Coker seemingly happy to put together many aging legends, we'd imagine he might be interested as well.

As iffy as I've been about the quality of those fights, I'd watch the hell out of Fedor Emelianenko versus Mirko CroCop 2. Who's with me, Maniacs?