Fabio Maldonado never backed down from a challenge, and he’s facing the biggest of his career on June 17: a fight with Fedor Emelianenko in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"My head is not in Russia yet," Maldonado told MMA Fighting, explaining that he will fight in Brazil five weeks before Fight Nights 50. "I had the option to cancel this fight since it wasn’t signed yet, but I gave my word that I would fight so I wouldn’t pull out. I can’t let everybody down. Of course, I wanted to cancel everything, but I can’t let them down.