Let’s see that in slow-mo!
Fedor
Emelianenko remains undefeated at home.#Bellator269
pic.twitter.com/vOaZOSuMCS— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
October 23, 2021
If it truly is goodbye, then Fedor
Emelianenko gave the Russian fans a memorable farewell.
“The Last Emperor” made short work of recent interim title
challenger Timothy
Johnson in the
Bellator 269 headliner, winning via knockout 1:40 into Round 1
of their heavyweight clash at VTB Arena in Moscow on Saturday. It
was the California-based promotion’s first-ever event in Russia and
Emelianenko’s first fight in his home country since a controversial
majority decision win against Fabio
Maldonado at a Fight Nights Global event on June 17, 2016.
The 45-year-old former Pride Fighting Championships title holder
demonstrated why he remains dangerous even in the twilight of his
professional MMA career. In a bout that was fraught with tension,
both heavyweights ventured into the pocket to trade punches, and at
least early, Johnson (15-8, 3-3 Bellator) was able exchange without
taking any serious damage. That changed when Emelianenko caught the
UFC veteran wading forward and floored him with a rapid-fire
three-punch combation that included a straight right hand and a
pair of heavy hooks. Emelianenko (40-6, 1 NC, 4-2 Bellator)
recognized that his work was done immediately, and the bout was
waved off as soon as Johnson crashed to the canvas.
Elsewhere, Said Sowma
earned an anticlimactic victory over former Bellator heavyweight
champion Vitaly
Minakov in the co-main event. The bout was halted 3:08 into the
third period when Minakov was unable to pop an apparent dislocated
finger back into place during the fight. Once the injury caught the
attention of referee Bryan Miner, the bout was waved off.
Sowma (8-2, 2-1 Bellator) was gradually gaining momentum before the
stoppage. After an opening round in which Minakov (22-2, 6-2
Bellator) picked his spots with punching combinations and grounded
his opponent with an inside trip takedown, the former Titan
Fighting Championship ruler began to assert himself. Sowma stuck to
his deliberate gameplan, which consisted of circling on the outside
of the cage while compromising his foe’s movement with a steady
diet of low calf kicks. The Russian’s leg was wearing the damage at
the start of Round 3, and Sowma had begun to have success putting
punching combinations behind his low kicks before Minakov’s
unfortunate injury.
Minakov, who was fighting for the first time since August 2019, has
lost two of his last three Bellator appearances.
Earlier, Usman
Nurmagomedov rolled to a first-round submission triumph against
Patrik
Pietila in a 160-pound catchweight affair. The cousin of
retired UFC lightweight champion Khabib
Nurmagomedov ended the bout by locking in a rear-naked choke at
the 4:06 mark of Round 1 to keep his undefeated record intact.
Pietila (11-9, 0-2 Bellator) never had a chance to get going.
Nurmagomedov (14-0, 3-0 Bellator) executed a perfectly-timed level
change within the first minute and then spent the majority of the
period working to advance position on the canvas. When the American
Kickboxing Academy product achieved full mount, Pietila quickly
rolled and gave up his back, which allowed Nurmagomedov to secure a
body triangle. The Dagestani prospect quickly began to hunt for the
fight-ending choke, which he secured after adjusting his grip.
In the evening’s opening main card bout, Anatoly
Tokov returned from a two-year hiatus to capture a
split-decision triumph against Sharaf
Davlatmurodov in a middleweight matchup. Michael Bell and Ben
Cartlidge submitted 29-28 tallies in favor of the FedorTeam
representative, while Jacob Montalvo saw it 29-28 for Davlatmurodov
(18-4-1, 0-1 Bellator). Tokov (30-2, 6-0 Bellator) has won six
straight fights within the California-based promotion.
Tokov had to work hard for his victory in a grueling bout.
Davaltmurodov enjoyed some success striking at range, where he
connected with several hard kicks to the body and knocked Tokov off
balance early with a straight right hand. Tokov was eventually able
to close the distance and force the clinch, where he dragged his
adversary to the canvas at least once in each frame — including a
powerful slam in Round 3. Tokov also found the range on his right
hand in the last stanza, as he countered Davlatmurodov effectively
for much of the final five minutes.
Davlatmurodov sees a six-bout winning streak come to an end in his
Bellator debut.
In preliminary action: Kirill
Sidelnikov (13-6, 2-1 Bellator) put away Rab
Truesdale (8-8-1, 0-1 Bellator) with a barrage of
ground-and-pound 2:01 into Round 1 at heavyweight; Katarzyna
Sadura (5-4, 1-0 Bellator) earned a technical knockout victory
against Darina
Mazdyuk (3-2, 0-1 Bellator) 3:17 into the second frame at
flyweight; Irina
Alekseeva (4-1, 1-0 Bellator) outpointed (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Stephanie
Ielo Page (5-3, 0-1 Bellator) in a flyweight affair; )Nikita
Mikhailov (7-1, 1-0 Bellator) took a unanimous verdict (29-28,
29-28, 29-28) over Brian Moore
(14-8, 5-4 Bellator) at bantamweight; Alexey
Shurkevich (13-4, 1-0 Bellator) rendered Grachik
Bozinyan (11-5, 1-2 Bellator) unconscious with heavy
ground-and-pound at the 2:25 mark of Round 1 in a welterweight
encounter and Aiden Lee
(10-5, 3-2 Bellator) submitted Alexander
Osetrov (8-3-1, 0-1 Bellator) with a rear-naked choke 3:31 into
the opening round at featherweight.