Bellator MMA announces that on Saturday, Oct. 23rd they will put on their first-ever event in Moscow, Russia. The fistic fireworks go down at the VTB Arena. The history-making event will be bolstered by the greatest heavyweight mixed martial artist of all-time, Fedor Emelianenko. Emelianenko’s opponent for this main event and additional matchups for the card will be announced in the coming weeks.
Fedor Emelianenko returns to the Bellator cage for the first time since his emphatic first-round TKO victory over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in December 2019. Specifically, under the Bellator umbrella, Fedor has also garnered wins over Frank Mir and Chael Sonnen.
He has a storied history in combat with 30 stoppages across 39 victories over a who’s who of the game. The former PRIDE FC World Heavyweight Champion fights in his home country of Russia for the first time in half a decade.
Fedor Emelianenko
A multi-time combat sambo world champion, The Last Emperor piled up a stack of bodies over an eight-year unbeaten streak. Emelianenko continues to grow Team Fedor, which features several top Russian fighters. Bellator’s Light Heavyweight World Champion Vadim Nemkov and Valentin Moldavsky are a couple of combatants who can count themselves as Fedor proteges.
I spoke with Fedor earlier about headlining a Bellator card in Russia and inspiring a multitude of combative compatriots •
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•#Bellator #MMA #Fedor #BellatorMMA pic.twitter.com/Cp1wcg3272— Micro Cro Cop (@DylanBowker) June 25, 2021
Bellator Moscow
LM2’s Dylan Bowker spoke with Fedor at the Bellator Moscow announcement. The excerpt from our interaction can be found below.
John McCarthy was mentioning a lot of great Bellator Russian fighters off the top there and I imagine there’s a lot of excitement headlining into this event.
But how important is it to be providing this platform for other Russian fighters to showcase their skills, many of which you inspired?
Fedor stated, “Back in my career I had a lot of responsibility, I feel like. Because there was a lot of youth looking up to me and I feel like I had to pave the way for everybody who was fighting. And just for sport in general in Russia. I wanted the youth to follow me but with the age, you know, now I have older guys coming up to me. Always shaking my hand, showing me respect, and thanking me for what I did for the sport.”
Bellator MMA returns to action later this evening as Team Fedor’s Valentin Moldavsky seeks out the Interim Heavyweight Championship against the number one ranked contender Tim Johnson at Bellator 261: Johnson vs. Moldavsky. Tonight’s event broadcasts live on Showtime at 9 PM EST in America and on OKKO Sport in Russia.
Current Bellator: Moscow Card:
Heavyweight Main Event: Fedor Emelianenko (39-6, 1 NC) vs. TBA