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LOS ANGELES – Fedor Emelianenko is focused Saturday’s heavyweight grand prix final with Ryan Bader at Bellator 214. However, retirement is a subject he can’t avoid.

When the 42-year-old Emelianenko (38-5 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) was initially asked about walking away from the sport at Wednesday’s Bellator 214 open workouts, brushed off the notion and said it’s a topic that could be revisited post-fight.

Then he was pushed on the issue a little more, and his honesty crept out.

“To tell the truth, at the age of my age right now, it’s more and more that I’m thinking about retiring,” Emelianenko told reporters, including MMAjunkie, through an interpreter. “It is not because I don’t want to fight. It’s definitely because of the age, that speaks. And also injuries and all the wars that I had.”

Emelianenko, a former PRIDE champion, would not commit to marking his matchup with Bader (26-5 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) as the last of his prestigious MMA career. Nor would he clarify whether his fighting future is dependent on the result of his next fight.

Bellator 214 takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMAjunkie.

With 44 fights dating back to his professional debut in May 2000, it would be difficult to argue against Emelianenko walking away from the sport at any time. He already retired once, and is 4-1 since making his return to competition.

Emelianenko said he “didn’t anticipate” the success he would have in his comeback. He’s scored first-round finishes of Chael Sonnen and Frank Mir to reach the finals of the heavyweight tournament, and could have one more championship moment on the horizon.

“The Last Emperor” said he knows what is at stake at Bellator 214, and he also knows Bader won’t allow him to get it easily.

“Every fight in my career was a very important fight, but this particularly fight is the most important as it’s the final of the grand prix tournament, and only two of us stayed in this tournament,” Emelianenko said. “Ryan Bader is one of the top fighters and a great fighter. He’s different from the fighters I met before. From what I’ve watched he’s one of the very great fighters. His style is very different and he is the fighter who is thinking. He’s very smart.”

For more on Bellator 214, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.