For Sergei Kharitonov, the Bellator 265 performance was largely seen as defining. The situation in the heavyweight division of the promotion was so confusing that even one victory could not only return him to the top 10 of the heavyweight division, but even allow him to break into the top three of the strongest representatives of the division. After all, it was her opponent, the former contender for the Cheik Congo title, who closed it. However, the defeat made us think seriously about the Russian’s ability to compete at a high level, at which he had not fought for two years.

On paper, the Frenchman remained a dangerous rival, but he could not be called impassable. Everyone knows that the age of heavyweights in MMA is much longer than that of representatives of light categories, but only a few managed to continue to perform successfully at 46 years old. At this age, it is almost impossible to avoid the loss of stamina, speed and reflexes, which cannot but affect the results. However, over the past two and a half years, Congo took over the former Bellator champion Vitaly Minakov and went to fight Ryan Bader, and then lost to Timothy Johnson in a very close fight.

And in this regard, 41-year-old Kharitonov was even more alarming. Largely because the last time he fought strong opponents was in November 2019, and it was difficult to call that performance encouraging. The Russian outright lost to Linton Wassell, being unable to resist his wrestling skills, and allowed him to interrupt a streak of three defeats in a row. And subsequently, Sergey's career took an unexpected route. The famous fighter fought with frankly weak opponents either according to the rules of mixed martial arts or boxing.

Even if we omit the fact that battles with opponents of the level of Fernando Rodriguez (12 wins and six losses) and Oli Thompson (21-12) could hardly allow Kharitonov to keep himself in good shape and remain competitive at the elite level, constant throwing between the two disciplines also could not be good. Everyone knows the example of the same Conor McGregor, who took a long time to rebuild his technique for one sport, and then return to another. It is possible that Kharitonov, who only in June wore boxing gloves in a fight with Osborne Machimana (23-15-2), could have faced similar problems.

And the starting minutes largely confirmed these fears. Kharitonov acted in a boxing manner and, with the exception of numerous single jabs, threw out only rare low-kicks. But the decision to put constant pressure on the Congo seemed right. The Frenchman was forced to constantly step back and often found himself pinned to the net. In this position, it was very difficult for him to defend himself against the constant attacks of the Russian. At one time, Anderson Silva was famous for this, but Cheyk did not come close to possessing such reflexes and speed, in order to both parry the attacks of the enemy and answer himself.

Over time, Kongo adapted a little and due to the colossal advantage in arm length (213 centimeters versus 191 centimeters), it became a little better to keep Kharitonov at a distance. But he added in the pressure and took the ending of the round. After one of the jabs, Cheyk's legs gave way, which was a stretch, but could be considered a knockdown. And then one might get the impression that referee Mike Beltran could stop the fight altogether. Sergei unleashed a flurry of blows on the head and body of the enemy, forcing him to literally flee. The right high-kick in the eye area also contributed to this. He passed in passing and for some time made it difficult for the Frenchman to see, allowing the Russian to carry out another series.

It seemed that after such a second round would turn into a formality. And for some time everything really went under the dictation of Kharitonov. However, at a certain moment, he ran out of strength. The PRIDE veteran was not famous for endurance before, and in recent years he has noticeably regressed in this aspect. And the matter here may be not only age. In the last year and a half, he did not have to use these reserves - four fights at once fit in 22 minutes 24 seconds. In Congo, only two fights lasted a total of half an hour, and this is not counting the duel with Ryan Bader, which ended in the first round due to a poke in the eye.

Already by the middle of the second segment, Kharitonov began to stagnate, and a minute and a half before the end, he could not at all resist the pressure of the Congo. He suddenly perked up and began to literally beat his opponent. In the standing position, Sergei missed several unpleasant punches and knees to the head, and then allowed Cheyk to make a two-legged pass and make his way to half a guard, and then to a full mount. The Frenchman was filled with a desire to end the fight ahead of schedule, but the Russian continued to fight.

It all ended unexpectedly. In an attempt to roll over, Kharitonov gave up his back and gave Kongo the opportunity to conduct a choke hold. There were 19 seconds left before the end of the round - more than enough to win an early victory. However, the Frenchman did not succeed in immediately closing his hands on the opponent's neck and had to spend a little more time. As a result, he began to do a kind of variation of the rear-choke and neck-crank only five seconds before the end. It seemed that Sergei would be able to hold out, but he knocked exactly along with the ringing of the gong.

As the athlete's team later said, during the fight, he broke his arm. Perhaps it was this in many ways that provoked both the unsuccessful ending of the second round and the defeat in the last seconds. Perhaps Kharitonov already understood that with such problems he would not be able to compete on equal terms with Congo in the third round. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the end of the duel. His corners could hardly fail to tell him how much time was left to hold out. Unless their prompts were drowned out by the noise of the crowd. One way or another, the Russian suffered a second consecutive defeat at Bellator and failed to return to the title race.