A number of mixed martial arts luminaries will be in attendance for
Fedor
Emelianenko’s swan song at
Bellator 290.
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During an appearance on
”The MMA Hour,” Bellator president Scott Coker revealed a
star-studded guest list that includes former opponents such as
Mark
Coleman, Dan
Henderson, Quinton
Jackson and Chael
Sonnen. Other notables expected to be in attendance include
Randy
Couture, Renzo Gracie,
Royce
Gracie, Matt Hughes,
Chuck
Liddell and Frank
Shamrock.
According to Coker, many of the aforementioned legends reached out
to him about attending Bellator 290 on their own.
“It’s something that’s really special and means a lot to me because
I look at this from a martial arts perspective,” Coker said. “These
are the greatest martial artists of their time and their era and
they really built what MMA is today and they really built the
evolution of what mixed martial arts is today. They deserve to be
in the cage with Fedor. It’s going to be a magic moment and I’m
really looking forward to it and saying hello to all these
gentlemen.
“These gentlemen were all so very nice and really respectful and
they’re like, ‘I would love to be there.’ I told them, ‘We’d love
to have you in the cage after.’ They said, ‘We would love to do
that.’ They’re there to pay tribute to Fedor
Emelianenko.”
Emelianenko will face Ryan Bader
for the heavyweight title in the Bellator 290 main event on
Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The evening’s main
card will air on CBS beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Coker
confirmed that if Emelianenko captures heavyweight gold in his
final fight, the belt will be vacated in his retirement.
“We have other fighters that we could put in there for a title
fight in the future, but when he fights this fight, win or lose or
even a draw, he is going to retire,” Coker said. “So that title, if
he wins, will be vacant.”