Fedor Emelianenko’s Win Breathes Life into Bellator Grand Prix

Eight-and-a-half years ago, Fedor Emelianenko flattened Brett Rogers at the Sears Center just outside of Chicago, Illinois. Viewed by 5.46 million people on CBS, the fight was an excellent start to Emelianenko’s relationship with Strikeforce, which had signed him in August 2009 and promoted him as its top fighter. But that would be the highest point in the Emelianenko-Strikeforce relationship.

A hand injury and contract renegotiations pushed Emelianenko’s next fight off the large CBS platform and onto the smaller Showtime, where Emelianenko lost his first fight in almost a decade. Then he lost again on Showtime in a fight that drew Strikeforce’s highest viewership ever on that platform. When he lost once more in his next fight, new Strikeforce owners Zuffa cut Emelianenko from their roster.

Emelianenko mostly dominated lower level competition to win his next five fights in Russia and Japan (the lone exception being when he fought Fabio Maldonado, a lower level fighter that destroyed Emelianenko but fell victim to judges carrying an enormous conflict of interest). Although Emelianenko resembled nothing like the mesmerizing heavyweight GOAT he became years before and was clearly finished as a top fighter, his mystique still had the UFC and Bellator at his door.

Bellator, headed by former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, won the stakes. Coker booked Emelianenko as one of the key players on Bellator’s most ambitious show to date, a pay-per-view card from the prestigious (and prohibitively expensive) Madison Square Garden in New York City. Judging by the reaction of the live crowd that paid a promotional record $1.6 million total to attend, Emelianenko was the biggest star of the show. Fighting a solid heavyweight in Matt Mitrione, Emelianenko fell in one minute. The fight began and ended with a rare double knockdown, with the fight-worn Emelianenko losing the race to recover.

Predictably, that was not the last of Emelianenko in Bellator. He became a key piece of the promotion’s heavyweight grand prix, a concept copied from Strikeforce. For Strikeforce, the tournament was an initial success, but when Emelianenko lost in the first round, delays plagued half the opening round, and tournament favorite Alistair Overeem withdrew to sign with UFC, most interest was lost.

With Bellator’s tournament, the main issue was credibility. Half of the eight competitors were light heavyweights. Of the other half of the field, the youngest was Frank Mir, who will turn 39 on May 24. Aside from Matt Mitrione, who had won three consecutive fights prior to the tournament, and Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, nobody in the field had any momentum entering the tournament.

Ratings for the first tournament fight, Chael Sonnen vs. Quinton Jackson, were lower than they should have been given the name value of those fighters. Viewership for the second fight, Matt Mitrione vs. Roy Nelson, fell below 500,000 people, another disappointing number. Saturday night, Fedor Emelianeko and Frank Mir entered the cage for what would have been a huge fight in 2009. In 2018? Expectations couldn’t have been big going in, but it was the fight that pumped some much-needed life into the tournament.

Eight-and-a-half years after defeating Brett Rogers, Emelianenko fought Frank Mir in a cage at the Allstate Arena just outside of Chicago. In a few brief moments of a 48 second fight, he was Fedor again. Fedor recovered quickly from a Mir punch that had staggered him. Fedor threw Mir to the mat. Back on their feet, Fedor flattened Mir with a left hand and beat up on him until the referee stepped in.

For the past several years, an overlying shadow of sadness had been cast over Emelianenko’s fights. He was a fighter that was no longer great competing against opponents that were beneath his status. He took punishment in bouts that never could have done favors to his legacy. Still he soldiered on, because that’s what most fighters do, and had this one more great moment. Perhaps it was the last great moment of his career, but perhaps it was not.

The thought that Saturday night may not have been the last great moment of Fedor’s career has taken the entire tournament up a notch or two. The semi-final combination of Fedor and Chael Sonnen may result in the highest rated non-Kimbo Bellator event in Bellator history. Sonnen is a capable fighter and may win, but he is not dangerous in the sense that he is probably not going to knock out or submit Fedor. Given Sonnen’s wrestling style, it may be the first time in more than a decade that we see Fedor the grappler rather than the headhunter. Fedor should be favored to beat Sonnen and make the finals. Could he win the whole tournament?

The nostalgia train typically doesn’t travel very far, but since Bellator built an entire half of the tournament bracket based on nostalgia (Sonnen, Jackson, Fedor, and Mir), this train was always bound for the finals. Emelianenko reaching the finals never seemed like the most likely outcome, but now there is a good chance of it. He wouldn’t be favored against Mitrione, Bader, or Mo Lawal, but he wouldn’t be hopeless against them either.

The cliché goes that everyone loves a good comeback story. Fedor is not back for long, but his visit is a welcome one for Bellator. The longer it can be extended, the better.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.