In the footsteps of Emelianenko: how Kharitonov knocked out British strongman Thompson at a tournament in Dubai

On paper, the duel between Sergei Kharitonov and Oli Thompson, which took place as part of the PaRus Fight Championship 2020, was hardly of great interest from the point of view of intrigue and sports.

Despite the experience of performing in the largest MMA promotions, the British athlete had practically no achievements and was not considered a serious test for the Russian.

However, Thompson's career in strength athletics increased the excitement around this fight and gave rise to parallels with one of the most high-profile confrontations of 2019 in Russian martial arts.

We are talking about a duel between Alexander Emelianenko and Mikhail Koklyaev.

Then the boxing match between an MMA fighter and a powerlifter attracted huge attention from both fans and the media and for a long time remained one of the main topics for discussion in the sports world.

This was not prevented even by the fact that the fight itself did not last even three minutes, ending in a crushing defeat of the weightlifter.

It's no secret that Kharitonov and Emelianenko have been in tense relations for a long time.

Back in 2006, athletes fought each other in PRIDE, and over the past years, they regularly exchange insults on social networks and the press.

Moreover, over the past year, there has been more and more talk about a possible revenge, but so far it has not been possible to organize it.

As the head of the ACA Alexei Yatsenko told RT, the league was negotiating with both fighters, but it was not possible to reach an agreement.

In light of this, Kharitonov's decision to fight Thompson could be regarded as an attempt to bring the rematch with Emelianenko closer and attract his attention.

After all, the Briton is known not only as a strongman, but also as a veteran of mixed martial arts.

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Publication from PaRus Fight Championship MMA (@parus_mma) 7 Nov 2020 at 11:00 PST

Before the reporting fight, Thompson was not only significantly inferior to the Russian in height (185 cm versus 193), but also weighed 15 kg less (105 - 120).

All this seriously lowered his chances of success, which were already difficult to call high.

During his MMA career, Oli had 33 fights, but only in 21 of them he took over.

And he lost all the main battles.

In the UFC, he lost to Sean Jordan and Phil De Fries, and in Bellator to Cheyk Congo and Matt Mitrion.

As for Kharitonov, this battle was important for him for another reason.

The victory in it could confirm that the failure in the duel with Linton Vassell was an offensive accident.

At the end of 2019, the Russian had a decent unbeaten run and, in the event of another success, could well have become one of the main contenders for the Bellator championship title, but unexpectedly lost.

In February 2020, he partially rehabilitated himself for that fiasco in the battle with Fernando Rodriguez, and a bright performance at a show in Dubai was supposed to cement the success.

Nevertheless, already in the first seconds of the fight, Thompson showed that he did not intend to give up without a fight.

Kharitonov did not act very nicely and struck immediately after touching the gloves, for which he was instantly punished.

Oli dodged, after which he felt his opponent's jaw with a powerful right straight.

The hit turned out to be serious, but the Russian kept his balance.

The Briton clearly felt confident and looked pretty good for a minute.

Yes, he was forced to retreat under the pressure of the opponent, but he tried to respond to his every attack.

If Kharitonov focused on blows to the head, then Thompson hit the opponent's body and legs.

But already in the course of the first round, the difference in class between the fighters began to affect.

Kharitonov felt the distance better, and his jabs found the target over and over again.

Thompson, on the other hand, began to fail too often and give the opponent a chance to deliver a smashing blow.

One of these passed at the end of the third minute of the battle.

The Briton let the Russian get too close and allowed him to hit the right straight.

He hit right in the jaw and sent the former strongman to a deaf knockout.

Finishing off was unnecessary.