Fedor Emelianenko News

Drake Riggs - March 26, 2018

One of the more underrated light heavyweight competitors of the last decade has been the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 8 and current Bellator 205-pound champion, Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader. Bader has fought practically his entire MMA career in the UFC but has recently ventured over to Bellator where he’s had nothing but success. That’s not to say he didn’t find success in the UFC either though as he amassed a record of 15-5 with the organization before they decided to let him walk as a free agent. Including Bellator and UFC, better has won nine of his last ten fights.

Tom Taylor - February 1, 2018

While Rory MacDonald spent the last few months preparing for his Bellator welterweight title fight with Douglas Lima (which he won via hard-fought decision), he’s also repeatedly expressed interest in serving as an alternate in Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. This Heavyweight Grand Prix is populated by far larger men in Matt Mitrione, Roy Nelson, Chael Sonnen, Ryan Bader, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, Frank Mir, and Fedor Emelianenko. Despite the fact that entering this tournament would force MacDonald to fight men three weight classes heavier than him, his coach Firas Zahabi is all for it. In fact, he believes MacDonald could thrive in this tournament, even KO the likes of the legend Fedor Emelianenko.

Justin Golightly - January 31, 2018

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir finally has a chance to fight one of the very best fighters of all time. Bellator has turned back all the clocks to the ol’ glory days of MMA when the grand prix tournament was still king. They’ve also brought in fighters that have never gotten a chance to face each other in all their years of being in the sport. One fight has already gone by with Chael Sonnen and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and they’ll be another one in between Mir fighting Fedor Emelianenko. While many feel he’s passed his prime, Mir assures everyone that Fedor is still Fedor. “Damn, that’s a tough first fight. No joke, Fedor [Emelianenko] is still a phenomenal fighter. I know a lot of people don’t have the eyes that I have and they look at him and go, ‘Well, look at his results.’ And that’s easy to say in our sport, you know. […] Fedor is extremely good. He’s still very quick. He hasn’t lost his power in his punches. Even when he threw the punch against [Matt] Mitrione, Mitrione fell down. Mitrione’s a big kid, y’know, a big guy. I think the difference I try to explain to everybody, [people will say], ‘Well, he used to be unbeatable.’ Yeah, that’s not because he’s gotten worse. Everybody else has gotten better.”

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Fans have wanted Fedor Emelianenko in the UFC for many, many years and it just never happened. Despite him being one of the greatest of all time, we never got to see him against arguably the best competition in the world’s biggest fighting organization. While we can’t turn back time and do it in Fedor’s prime, Scott Coker and Bellator’s heavyweight grand prix will give us a chance to see such a match-up. Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is taking on the legend in one of the opening rounds and that’s just the type of big game Mir is hunting in his return to MMA. First round match ups announced for @BellatorMMA heavyweight Grand Prix. I’m honored to be fighting #Fedor …A living legend that I’ve wanted to compete against for many years. #Bellator is going to finally make it happen 👊🏻💥#mma pic.twitter.com/2cfs2DxhS5

Justin Golightly - November 11, 2017

Amidst all the chaos happening in the MMA world right now, Bellator dropped a huge bombshell yesterday that they’ll be putting on a heavyweight grand prix to crown their first heavyweight champion in four years. With all the names participating in the bracket, nearly every match-up is an opportunity to see bouts that we were never able to see due to the fighters not being in the UFC. After two long and storied careers, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will meet the legend Fedor Emelianenko in the first round. “I’ll be a part of the eight man tournament that’s been announced by Bellator. I got the word just last night or the night before. I got the call to say, ‘Hey, we need a headshot. We’re putting you in this.’ I obviously agreed. They told me the names that were in there and it looks like I’ll probably be lining up with Fedor [Emelianenko], hopefully in April [2018]. It’s a huge moment. I didn’t even sleep that night thinking about it, running it through my mind, watching videos, already starting to try to pick apart his different traits and gameplans.”

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

The grand prix is the pinnacle of combat sport. It is the most difficult tournament format and has the potential to produce absolutely chaotic results. That chaos is why that, for the most part other than Japan’s RIZIN, the creation of an MMA grand prix is few and far between. However, there is a man who has never strayed from that chaos, but welcomes it to put on exciting fights throughout the years. That man is Scott Coker and he is at it again. Bellator will put on a heavyweight grand prix to crown its first heavyweight champion in four years. “This is going to be something that’s iconic for us. Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen. Now we get to put eight iconic brand names in our sport together over a year, and then whoever wins will be crowned the heavyweight champion. I think there are certain fights that people want to see. Believe me, we’re going to have some amazing match-ups in this tournament. These fights that we’re going to put together are something that the fans want to see. These are iconic names, big brands.” — Scott Coker speaking to MMA Junkie. 

Russell Ess - October 27, 2017

The Emelianenko brothers seem to be quite the opposites and it shows with their current relationship. According to Alexander who spoke with sovsport.ru recently, the two MMA siblings have not spoken to each other in the last 10 years. The tattooed Alexander recently made a return to MMA competition in September following an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted of sexual assault. After a successful return to MMA, Alexander opened up on his relationship with his older brother.

Russell Ess - September 27, 2017

The M-1 Global promotion is celebrating their 20th anniversary and doing it with a bang by highlighting the best KO’s that have taken place at their events. A likely fan favorite of all the fighters who have competed under the promotion is Fedor Emelianenko, who had a few fights with M-1 along with their co-promoted events with Strikeforce. Other big names that have competed in M-1 include Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi, Andrei Arlovski, Melvin Manhoef, and Ben Rothwell.

Russell Ess - June 29, 2017

MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko lost in devastating fashion in his Bellator debut over the weekend at Bellator NYC. “The Last Emporer” is often talked about in the debate of the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time but was knocked out in the first round against Matt Mitrione on Saturday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Chris Taylor - June 25, 2017

Fedor Emelianenko updates his fighting future following KO loss to Matt Mitrione Mixed martial arts legend Fedor Emelianenko (36-5 MMA) suffered a first-round knockout loss to Matt Mitrione in the co-main event of last night’s Bellator NYC fight card in New York.

Chris Taylor - June 24, 2017

Bellator NYC Results: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione A heavyweight scrap between mixed martial arts legend Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione served as the co-main event of tonight’s “Bellator NYC” pay-per-view fight card in New York.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2017

While many MMA fans consider heavyweight MMA icon Fedor Emelianenko to be the greatest fighter of all time for his reign of dominance during the Pride FC era of MMA, ‘The Last Emperor’ doesn’t think of himself as ‘the GOAT’. From 2002-2006, Emelianenko terrorized the Pride FC heavyweight division, going on a spectacular 14 fight win streak that saw him claim, and defend, the Pride FC heavyweight championship as he dispatched of numerous top ranked fighters such as Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Coleman, Mark Hunt, and of course, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Tom Taylor - March 21, 2017

Yesterday afternoon, we learned that Bellator MMA will be heading to New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden on June 24. The ever-growing promotion will do so with Bellator 180, a pay-per-view card that will be headlined by a long-awaited light heavyweight showdown between three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen and Pride legend Wanderlei Silva. Less than 24 hours removed from the announcement of this Bellator 180 main event, the promotion has now announced the card’s co-main event. This co-main event will pit heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko – arguably the greatest fighter of all time – against supremely athletic UFC veteran Matt Mitrione.

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

Earlier this year, heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko was expected to make his first steps into the Bellator MMA cage. His opponent in this Bellator debut was supposed to be dangerous UFC veteran Matt Mitrione. Regrettably, Mitrione was forced out of the fight at the very last minute with a bout of kidney stones. With this disappointing twist of fate, it looked as though Bellator would attempt to rebook a Fedor vs. Mitrione bout for sometime later in the year. Apparently, however, these plans might have been axed.

Russell Ess - February 24, 2017

Now that Fedor Emelianenko is signed to Bellator MMA, there are a quite a few matchups to be had for “The Last Emporer.” With his bout against Matt Mitrione falling out at the last minute with “Meathead” having to be transported to the hospital for issues from kidney stones, it is likely we will see Emelianenko and Mitrione compete on another date. Although nothing has been official for Emelianenko and Mitrione as of yet, current heavyweight TNA professional wrestling champion and Bellator fighter Bobby Lashley says he hopes to get a chance to compete against Fedor.

bjpenndotcom - February 21, 2017

This past weekend, MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko was slated to make his highly anticipated Bellator MMA debut against UFC veteran Matt Mitrione in a highly anticipated showdown that would have seen both Emelianenko and Mitrione put their 2-fight win streaks on the line in a highly anticipated marquee fight. Unfortunately, Mitrione was pulled from the fight just hours before fight night due to a medical illness that landed him in the hospital. Later, it was revealed that the reason for Mitrione’s hospitalization was kidney stones, which he would need to have surgically removed.

Tom Taylor - February 19, 2017

Last night, Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California with Bellator 172. Until yesterday afternoon, we expected this card to be headlined by a heavyweight scrap between UFC veteran Matt Mitrione and heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. Unfortunately, disaster struck on Saturday afternoon, when Mitrione was forced out of the bout with kidney stones. In the wake of this shakeup, a Patricky Freire vs. Josh Thomson lightweight bout was elevated to the main event, and an opponent-less Fedor Emelianenko was removed from the card. Apparently, however, things very nearly turned out differently. According to a report from the ever-reliable Ariel Helwani, Bellator light heavyweight and cage-side commentator Chael Sonnen offered to step up to replace Mitrione on mere hours’ notice. Surprisingly enough, Bellator was apparently interested in pushing forward with this hastily arranged replacement fight, but unfortunately, they couldn’t make it happen in such a short time.

Tom Taylor - February 19, 2017

On Friday night, the MMA community was transfixed on the imminent comeback of heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian great was poised to take on Matt Mitrione in the main event of Saturday’s Bellator 172, and not even the UFC’s Sunday trip to Halifax could distract us from his return to action. Regrettably, things took an unfortunate twist on Saturday afternoon, when it was announced that Mitrione had been forced out of his planned bout with the legend, as he was suffering from kidney stones. With this development, a lightweight bout between Patricky Freire and Josh Thomson was elevated to the main event, and the card proceeded with much less pop than we anticipated.