at M-1 Challenge 35: Emelianenko vs. Monson at the Ice Palace in Saint Petersburg on 15 November 2012. He announced his retirement from MMA competition through an open letter to his fans on 18 December 2012, citing a chronic injury and a lack of time for his family as contributing factors in his decision. About three months after announcing his retirement, Emelianenko announced that he is making a comeback into MMA with ProFC. His first match since retirement however was at the Legend Fighting Show against American MMA superstar Bob Sapp on 25 May 2013, in Moscow. Alexander defeated Bob Sapp by TKO in Round 1. Alexander was expected to fight Darrill Schoonover on 25 August at the ProFC 50 event in Rostov-on-Don in Russia, but withdrew due to a knee injury. In a video released on the ProFC website, Emelianenko said that he hoped to go ahead with the much-anticipated rematch with Mirko Cro Cop scheduled for November under the Legend Fighting Show banner. MMA return On November 24, 2016, Emelianenko was released from prison. After his release, he signed a contract with the Akhmat Fighting Club for several fights. Alexander had his first fight on September 27, 2017 as part of the WFCA 42 tournament against Brazilian Geronimo dos Santos. Alexander knocked out his opponent as early as 36 seconds of the first round. Two more victories followed: in December over American Virgil Zwicker at "WFCA 44" and in March 2018 over Pole Szymon Bayor at "Battle of the Volga". Both fights, as well as with the Brazilian, ended with a technical knockout in the first round. Afterwards, Emelianenko signed a contract with the "RCC", in which he fought in parallel with the "WFCA". Under the auspices of the Ural promotion he held 2 fights in Yekaterinburg, which became the main fights of the evening. On May 5, 2018 at RCC 2 he defeated Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga.n July 9, 2018, at the next tournament, RCC 3, he was stronger than Czech Viktor Pešta. In both fights, Emelianenko managed to knock out his opponents in the second round. On August 18, during the WFCA 50th Akhmat League jubilee tournament in Moscow, Emelianenko faced American Tony Johnson in the main event. The fight ended in a draw (29:28 (Johnson), 29:29, 29:29) by split decision of the judges. On December 15, 2018, Emelianenko was scheduled to fight Brazilian Francimar Barroso at