Maldonado: Fighting Fedor Will Be Like Playing 1-on-1 Against Michael Jordan

Fabio Maldonado was released by the UFC in December after losing three of his last four bouts, but the Brazilian fighter has no reason to be upset. Scheduled to face all-time great Fedor Emelianenko on June 17 in Russia, Maldonado recently spoke with Sherdog.com about his return to the heavyweight division. “I’ve always competed in boxing at 105 kilos [231 pounds]. It was hard for me to reach the limit of the light heavyweight division,” said Maldonado, who spent most of his UFC tenure at 205 pounds. “I’ll feel much more comfortable facing Fedor at my natural weight.” Maldonado was slated to meet Felipe Diego Dantas de Oliveira at this weekend’s 1st Round Combat event in Natal, Brazil, but an injury forced “Caipira de Aco” to withdraw from the bout. “Actually, I’ve had this cervical spine injury since 2007. I already left a fight against Aaron Rosa in 2011 due to protrusions on the C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae. But, last week, I had an emergency and, after doing an MRI, the doctor said I should do 10 days of physical therapy,” explained Maldonado. “If that fight was two weeks later, I would fight, because I believe it would be great to fight five rounds as preparation for the most important fight of my life.” Maldonado expects to be back in training within one week, though he admits it has been difficult to source partners to mimic Emelianenko’s …

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