On October 23, Fedor Emelianenko will fight Timothy Johnson at the Bellator 269 tournament, which will be the first promotion event in Russia.
The 45-year-old fighter has not fought since December 2019, and has not fought in front of his fans for more than five years.
The tournament will be held in Moscow at the VTB Arena.
The evening of mixed martial arts will also be notable for the return to the cage of Vitaly Minakov, who has not performed for 26 months, and the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov's cousin Usman, but the main event will still be the fight between Emelianenko and Johnson.
The organizers received permission to admit no more than 10 thousand spectators, and they hope that the fight of the Last Emperor will gather almost full stands of the hockey stadium.
At the same time, Emelianenko cannot be considered an unambiguous favorite.
The legend of Russian MMA is already 45 years old, and this is quite a respectable age to conduct high-level fights.
Emelianenko has not fought for almost two years, so now his form may cause some doubts among the fans.
He himself, until recently, claimed that he felt great and had done good preparation for battle.
However, the parameters of his rival should be recognized as more preferable.
During the time that Emelianenko was absent from the octagon, Johnson managed to spend four fights at Bellator and won three victories in them.
His only defeat in five rounds was against Valentin Moldavsky when they were competing for the interim heavyweight title.
Johnson is now 36 years old and is number two on the Bellator rankings.
According to the results of the official weigh-in procedure, which took place the day before the fight, Emelianenko's fans had another cause for concern.
The last emperor showed a weight of 106.9 kg, while Johnson was almost 13 kg heavier - the weight of an American fighter was 119.7 kg.
Since Emelianenko returned to MMA in 2015, he has not yet met an opponent who was so significantly inferior in weight.
However, the Russian is no stranger to meeting larger rivals.
Matt Mitrion, Frank Mir, and Quinton Jackson did more weight relative to him, but only the first of them managed to knock out Emelianenko, and the other two were defeated.
The famous MMA wrestler Alexander Shlemenko admitted that he still considers Emelianenko to be the favorite of the fight and is ready to put his money on him. He is confident that the Last Emperor will look good against the background of his rival.
“What's wrong with Fedor winning and defeating an opponent who is nine years younger than him? It will come out and be stronger, it will be faster, it will breathe better. Even in figure, Fedor looks more interesting than Timothy Johnson. I would make such a choice for myself. Is Johnson the favorite for betting? So then you have to put money on Fedor. I'm going to put it now. Timothy Johnson is an unstable fighter. He can perform well as well as terrible. It all depends on Fedor's preparation, but judging by his tan and figure, his preparation went well. For me, my favorite is Fedor. If you watch the fight with Moldavsky, Timothy Johnson was not very impressed with me there, ”Shlemenko told Match TV.
Russian athlete Alexander Emelianenko has no doubts about his brother's victory.
In his opinion, the 45-year-old fighter not only has stronger punches, but also an advantage in speed, which Johnson cannot boast.
“I will definitely be rooting for my brother, for Fedor.
He will win this fight, I have no doubt about that.
I wish him good luck and I wish him to finish this fight without injuries.
I think Fedor will knock him out, most likely in the second round.
The first round will be scouting, he will not even try to transfer to the ground.
I know Johnson is a drummer, so there won't be much fight here.
Fedor will constantly work in a stance, put pressure on the American, hit serially, swoop in like a tornado.
It will, like a hurricane, take it down in the ring with its knockout blows, ”said Emelianenko Jr. to Vseprosport.
Former world boxing champion Nikolai Valuev disagrees with him.
The State Duma deputy believes that Emelianenko's form is getting worse, although he does not exclude that the Russian fighter will be able to win at the beginning of the meeting.
“Emelianenko is facing a very difficult test.
He returned more than once after pauses in his career.
However, at the age of 45, it is especially difficult to do this.
Obviously, he lost his former condition.
And Johnson is in his prime by MMA standards.
The American will try to drag out the fight.
If it comes to championship rounds, Fedor has little chance.
This means that the number one task is to solve all the questions in the opening.
If Emelianenko wins, then in the first or second round.
So let's believe in this scenario.
And it is difficult to give an accurate forecast for a battle.
It all depends on whose plan works.
I hope, after all Fedor, "- quotes Valuev" Playmaker ".
Another question that fans will probably worry about concerns the future career of Emelianenko.
Under the contract, he must fight two more fights with Bellator, but if on Saturday he is defeated or seriously injured, then the 47th fight of the Last Emperor may still be the last.
Promotion President Scott Cocker noted that he will discuss Emelianenko's future plans after his fight with Johnson.
“Yes, we were planning a three-fight farewell tour.
But we changed our plan a little because of the coronavirus.
I started talking about the farewell tour back in September 2019, but the coronavirus intervened.
I appreciate that Fedor showed such patience.
And now we are here.
After the fight with Johnson, we will discuss with Fedor what we will do next, "Cocker told the Championship.