It has been suggested that fossil groups could be the canibalized remains of compact groups , that lost energy through tidal friction . However , in the nearby universe , compact groups which are close to the merging phase and display a wealth of interacting features ( such as HCG 31 and HCG 79 ) have very low velocity dispersions and poor neighborhoods , unlike the massive , cluster-like fossil groups studied to date . In fact , known z = 0 compact groups are very seldom embedded in massive enough structures which may have resembled the intergalactic medium of fossil groups . In this paper we study the dynamical properties of CG6 , a massive compact group at z = 0.220 that has several properties in common with known fossil groups . We report on new g ^ { \prime } and i ^ { \prime } imaging and multi-slit spectroscopic performed with GMOS on Gemini South . The system has 20 members , within a radius of 1 h _ { 70 } ^ { -1 } Mpc , a velocity dispersion of 700 km s ^ { -1 } and has a mass of 1.8 \times 10 ^ { 14 } h _ { 70 } ^ { -1 } M _ { \odot } , similar to that of the most massive fossil groups known . The merging of the four central galaxies in this group would form a galaxy with magnitude M _ { r ^ { \prime } } \sim - 23.4 , typical for first-ranked galaxies of fossil groups . Although nearby compact groups with similar properties to CG 6 are rare , we speculate that such systems occurred more frequently in the past and they may have been the precursors of fossil groups .