Fedor Emelianenko met his demise, beaten down on the mat by a much bigger man Saturday night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as Strikeforce began their 8-man heavyweight tournament.
It was not as shocking an outcome as other MMA media would like you to believe. Coming off his first loss in a decade, the 34-year-old Russian legend faced off against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Antonio ‘Big Foot’ Silva—a man that outweighed the great Emelianenko by 55 pounds by the time they stepped into the cage. No, it was not surprising. Strikeforce heavyweight champion and the tournament’s prohibitive favourite, Alistair Overeem, who was in the crowd watching, said afterward that Fedor “fought like a true warrior” and that the “fight could have gone either way, fifty-fifty.”
In the first stanza, Fedor came out slugging, landing, but unable to hurt Silva. Fedor then attempted a guillotine, with Silva powering out of that attempt. From there Fedor moved into a half guard, eventually attempting a kimura, but Silva again drove through that with his excessive size and strength and got back to his feet, managing to take down Fedor with 10 seconds left in the round, which painted a portrait of things to come.
In the second stanza, there were no guillotine attempts, or kimuras, and there were no images of Fedor going to work from the half guard. No, the second stanza began how the first ended, with Silva taking down Fedor again, in continuation, feeding his heavy fists into Fedor’s face from the top position, like we got so used to seeing Brock Lesnar do to Frank Mir.
Silva then moved from side position to a full mount midway through the round, throwing several more painful shots before going for an arm triangle. Escaping that, Fedor almost got caught with a knee bar, and for the final minute, sitting there, you could almost picture ‘The Last Emperor’ making it through and coming back in the third to win, because so many times had you seen Fedor levelled and bleeding from his nose and his eyes only to win in the end, somehow, like nothing we had seen before, over and over again. But it did not happen this time. His constant comebacks from all kinds of dire situations over the years that created high drama and his escapes from sure submissions that provided breathtaking theatre for the MMA world ended on this night.
This time his eye was swollen shut, and this time the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board’s doctor told referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the fight. This time we were not to find out if Fedor could reign once more. And all that we were left with was Fedor’s humble Russian voice, standing in the middle of the cage, being translated into something no one was expecting:
“I want to thank you for your support. Something was wrong from the beginning. I didn’t adjust. Maybe it’s time to leave. Yes, maybe it’s the last time. Maybe it’s high time. I spent a great, beautiful, long sport life. Maybe it’s God’s will.”
Andrei Arlovski may also be facing retirement following his knockout at the hands of Sergei Kharitonov in the other heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal earlier in the night. Kharitonov is now set to fight the winner of Josh Barnett—Brett Rogers, while Silva awaits the results of the Fabricio Werdum—Alistair Overeem fight. Both remaining quarterfinal bouts will take place on April 9. The semifinals for the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament could take place as early as June.
In other results on Saturday’s all-heavyweight televised portion of Strikeforce, undefeated Shane Del Rosario (11-0) submitted, via arm bar, to Lavar Johnson (15-4) at 4:31 in the first round, Chad Griggs (10-1) won his fifth consecutive fight, stopping Gian Villante (7-2) at 2:49 in the opening round and Valentijn Overeem (29-25) won his Strikeforce debut via submission (neck crank) over Ray Sefo (2-1) at 1:37 in the first.
NOTES:
Sergei Kharitonov, a 6-foot-4, 30-year-old native of Moscow, Russia, is best known for being the last fighter to defeat current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem … Gina Carano announced that she is returning to MMA, but no date or opponent has been decided … Fedor’s loss left many MMA fans cramming internet forums over the weekend, calling for a super-heavyweight division … Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said that Fedor could rejoin the heavyweight tournament as an injury replacement … At the end of the Silva—Fedor match, before the official announcement was made in the arena, Antonio Silva walked across the cage, got down on his knees and bowed at the feet of Fedor Emelianenko. “I told him he was No. 1, that he is still No. 1 and that he would always be No. 1,” said Silva. “There will never be a fighter like him.”
