Fedor Emelianenko: Is the 'Last Emperor' the greatest heavyweight of all time?

Fedor Emelianenko is back in action at Bellator Moscow on Saturday in what is expected to be his penultimate fight.

Some 21 years after his pro debut in Russia, the 'Last Emperor' is still going at 45.

Emelianenko was fourth on the bill that night in 2000, but will go down alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov as the greatest fighter in Russia's history.

But where does he stand in the overall picture of MMA?

Emelianenko has 46 bouts to his name, six losses and a no contest.

His first defeat came in his fifth fight against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in 2000, but was considered by many as a wrongly-ruled TKO and should have been a no contest due to an illegal elbow from Kohsaka. The next loss came 10 years later as Emelianenko won 27 of 28 fights with a no contest against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2004.

John McCarthy, who refereed Emelianenko on numerous occasions before becoming a broadcaster, discusses his quality and whether he is the greatest MMA heavyweight?

Modern fight fans will argue former UFC champions Cain Velasquez or Stipe Miocic deserve the title. There are also Pride legends Mirko Cro Cop and Nogueira to consider.

McCarthy, however, thinks Miocic and Velasquez are the two closest to Emelianenko.

"I think you've got to put Stipe Miocic in there. He's been a good champion and long-standing champion at times," he told BBC Sport.

"Cain Velasquez was special in so far as he could weaponise the cardiovascular. He could push you at a pace that breaks you. He would be up there, Randy Couture is another one up there."

Emelianenko was unstoppable for a decade, beating legends Cro Cop, Nogueira, Mark Coleman and Andrei Arlovski along the way. Smaller than most heavyweights, but with explosive hands.

"He will go out on his shield or he will put you out on yours," McCarthy added.

"What makes him unique is how fast he was - heavyweights are a different breed.

"Anyone at any time, if they touch the right spot you're out. But to maintain a pace, it's like an RPM on your car, he pushes that RPM on a heavyweight to a point where they start to break down over how fast they have to move to try to stay with him.

"When he explodes, he unleashes. That's one of the great things about the way he fights. Then you look at the longevity, he's phenomenal. He's been incredible for the sport in the fact he's not a talker, he doesn't put down his opponents - he's a class act."

It's easy to see why Emelianenko is a fan favourite. Of his 39 wins, only nine have gone to the scorecards.

At his peak, he was as likely to knock an opponent out as to submit them. He was Pride's heavyweight champion and Rings' Openweight champion before he dipped his toes in the US scene with Strikeforce and Bellator.

"There is no doubt Fedor is the greatest heavyweight of all time," McCarthy said.

"Fedor was basically 32-0 when he finally lost to Fabricio Werdum. You're going to lose somewhere along the way, you make mistakes in this sport. But it was the lineage of everyone he fought in Pride and everything he did, how long he did, consecutively getting wins all time.

"You look at what he's done, there's no heavyweight that has been as long lasting as far as consecutive wins in a row. He's fought for a long time too.

"There's a couple of guys who have done that, but not in the winning fashion as Fedor. There are some great heavyweights out there.

"Velasquez is a great heavyweight, Miocic is a great heavyweight, but they couldn't do it and maintain wins the way Fedor did. If we're talking about heavyweights, there's no doubt."

There are plenty of incredible fighters who have never fought in the UFC, such as European destroyer Mamed Khalidov, Japanese star Shinya Aoki, Bellator's own Douglas Lima and Brazilian jiu jitsu legend Rickson Gracie.

Dana White has spoken at length how the UFC failed in multiple attempts to lure Emelianenko to the Octagon.

An agreement could never be reached, says Emelianenko, and McCarthy thinks he is the best fighter to never sign with the UFC.

"He would be the one because he's the one they really wanted," McCarthy said.

"The UFC did everything they could to sign him. They did not match up together. It never happened and it's a shame because they wanted to put him in against Brock Lesnar right away.

"If they had put Fedor against Brock, that would not have been a good fight for Brock. He wouldn't have been able to take him down.

"If you look at the history of Fedor against wrestlers, he did very well."

Emelianenko's run in Strikeforce was a gut punch to his legion of fans as three successive defeats ended his 10-year unbeaten run.

Fabricio Werdum was the first to stop that streak and he was then beaten by Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson.

It was not the Emelianenko takeover of America his supporters expected - and McCarthy thinks his best version was in the mid-2000's when he was ruling Pride in Japan as a 28-year-old.

"I think it's the Pride days - and when he fought Mirko Cro Cop [in 2005]," McCarthy said.

"Mirko was just in a zone of destroying people. When they put Fedor against him, Mirko was at an all-time high in his career. Fedor came up with a blueprint on how to beat Cro Cop. People used that same blueprint on Cro Cop again and again.

"Fedor walked him down and showed how to beat him. It was a great fight and one of the greatest performances in heavyweight history."

While McCarthy believes Emelianenko is the heavyweight GOAT, he expects the Russian to be in the conversation of the greatest MMA fighter too.

"If you're looking at today's fighters as a whole, the GOAT fighters are Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Georges St-Pierre and then Fedor would be right up there," he added.

"Especially in his prime, he was every bit what Jon Jones was in his prime, Anderson Silva being another one. Fedor is in the top five."