Mixed martial arts are believed to have been around under other names for several hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Professionally, though, it had an inauspicious start when the first iteration of the “no holds barred” UFC arose in 1993.
So if you’re sculpting an MMA Mount Rushmore, based on nearly 30 years of fighters, your first tools of choice might be a hammer and sickle. Few would argue with one name: Fedor.
After Saturday night, the fighter’s legacy will be etched in stone, as retiring Russian heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko looks to lay siege to his final conquest in a title-fight rematch with champion Ryan Bader in the Bellator 290 main event at The Forum.
People love to throw around the name of a certain barnyard animal as an acronym for the greatest of all time. In this case, few would dispute that it applies.
“When you talk about heavyweights, Fedor’s body of work has been amazing. Pound for pound, or in the legacy of what he’s done, I haven’t seen anybody out there who’s done more. That’s just how I feel,” Bellator President Scott Coker, who has worked with Emelianenko since 2009, said during a press conference Wednesday.
“You’re talking about a fighter that’s still explosive, that’s still fast, that’s still dangerous. He’s proven that in his last several fights to get to this point where he deserves this shot. Is there somebody else who has done more in this sport? I’m not sure.”
All eyes are rightfully on Emelianenko (40-6, 1 NC) in his farewell fight. And Bellator’s heavyweight champion, who would be the top dog in the main event no matter who, when or where he was fighting, has no qualms.
The deep respect for one of the sport’s all-time best extends to his opponent.
“He deserves it. He’s a legend in this sport and I respect that man and what he’s done for the sport. He’s a good human being,” Bader (30-7, 1 NC) said. “Don’t get it wrong. I know walking in there that I’d be doing the same watching Fedor’s last fight – I’d be cheering for him.”
On top of it all, Bellator has it all dialed up for its CBS Network and Paramount+ debut, airing live at 6 p.m. PT.
Is Emelianenko past his prime? At 46, of course he is. Nor is Bader, fighting out of Arizona, a spring chicken at 39.
Is the soft-spoken Emelianenko still a dangerous opponent? Timothy Johnson would tell you as much. Fifteen months ago, Emelianenko needed just 106 seconds to dismantle him at Bellator 269 in Moscow. Twenty months earlier, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rampage Jackson lasted about a minute longer.
“I’m surprised myself that I’m still able to fight at this level after all these years. I’ve preserved myself pretty well,” Emelianenko said Wednesday through an interpreter. “And of course, thank you to my team because they support me all the time. I had a pretty good career and a pretty good package of different skills, so I tried to preserve those skills until my later age.”
The legacy
In Russia, he is an icon, having twice carried the Olympic torch for his native country.
In MMA circles, he is a one-named mythical figure despite never having fought in the UFC – a source of frustration for many that boiled down to nothing more than rubles and kopecks. Instead, he built his legendary status in the uber-popular PRIDE Fighting Championships, taking on all comers and never losing in 15 fights before the Japanese promotion’s demise in 2007.
His hit list, over a 22-year career in more than 10 fight organizations, reads like an MMA elite who’s who: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir, Chael Sonnen.
In fact, the retired stars expected in attendance Saturday illustrate the admiration among his peers. Jackson, Coleman and Sonnen will be joined by Josh Barnett, Randy Couture, Royce and Renzo Gracie, Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and Frank Shamrock.
“I’m really thankful that all these legends and all these guys that I’ve known for years are going to come and support me on Saturday night,” Emelianenko said. “I’m really happy about that. I’m going to be very happy to see and talk to my friends who I’ve competed with inside the cage.”
But the seemingly emotionless Emelianenko bleeds just like the rest of us. And as it goes in life, and underscored most cruelly in combat sports, only Father Time is undefeated. After going nearly 10 years without a defeat, Emelianenko lost an unconscionable three in a row in Strikeforce – not that Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Henderson are slouches by any means.
The rematch
That skid, with everyone convinced his star had faded, was more than 11 years ago. Emelianenko has since gone 9-2. A flicker remains.
But for how long on this final night in the cage as Emelianenko seeks to conquer his final opponent in a fight steeped in revenge? “The Last Emperor” had barely stepped foot into the battlefield four years ago when Bader, the light heavyweight champion, moved up in weight and knocked him out in a mere 35 seconds to become a double champion at Bellator 214 and win the Heavyweight World Grand Prix Final at The Forum.
“There are a few things I can take away from our first fight, but it was 35 seconds. There was one punch thrown,” said Bader, a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State. “You can’t take much. This is a whole new fight. Every fight, I go out there thinking I’m fighting 25 minutes and my opponent is the best he’s ever been. That’s the way to approach a fight.”
And here we are again.
Bader, with his own apropos nickname of “Darth,” has committed to the top weight class – 5-0 with a no contest as a heavyweight in Bellator since 2018 – and hasn’t fought at 205 pounds in more than a year.
Coker says Emelianenko kept mentioning Bader as his final foe, wanting to test himself against the best. But win or lose – and if Emelianenko does win, Coker said there would be a contender fight for the vacant belt – it will be his last ride.
A warrior. A throwback. The GOAT.
“I want to be remembered by MMA fans as an athlete who gained his popularity and his fan base based on his skills,” Emelianenko said. “Based on his fighting skills, not based on his trash talking or any of that nasty stuff that’s popular right now. That’s how I want to be remembered.”
Bellator 290
Main event: Heavyweight champion Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Co-main event: Middleweight champion Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov
When: Saturday
Where: The Forum, Inglewood
How to watch: Prelims (3 p.m., Bellator YouTube, Pluto TV); main card (6 p.m., CBS, Paramount+)
