Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko has signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator.
The promotion announced the news on their show this past weekend, while also confirming that his first fight would be against former UFC fighter Matt Mitrione at Bellator 172 on February 18th.
This is now the second time that Bellator CEO Scott coker has beaten the UFC’s to the punch when it comes to Emelianenko as he also signed the star to a deal in the Strikeforce promotion several years ago at a time when Dana White was known to be also vying for his signature.
Fedor was a hotter property back then though as he was still riding a long unbeaten run, while he’d go on to lose three fights in a row in the Strikeforce promotion.
He’s racked up five wins in a row in the five year period since then, although he was actually retired for three of them and the standard of opposition was considerably lower than in his prime back in the PRIDE era.
Now 40 years old, Fedor last fought another ex-UFC fighter Fabio Maldonado in Russia at EFN 50 in June. It proved to be a controversial fight, with the journeyman Maldonado actually rocking ‘The Last Emperor’ badly in the opening round, with the fight being in danger of being stopped at any moment.
However, Fedor rallied in the rounds that followed, leading to him winning a dubious majority decision.
That lowered Emelianenko’s stock somewhat and means that a fight with a heavy-handed striker like Mitrione, who’s 2-0 since joining Bellator last year, could be a dangerous proposition for him in his first fight on U.S. soil in over five years.
Nevertheless, people are still interested in seeing Emelianenko fight, so this is undoubtedly a good move for Bellator overall as they continue to assemble a growing collection of well known stars that also includes the likes of Chael Sonnen, Rory MacDonald, Tito Ortiz, Ben Henderson and Phil Davis.
