FBI visit fails to faze out MMA star Emelianenko

Asurprise visit by the FBI didn’t distract Fedor Emelianenko. Emelianenko won by technical knockout over Frank Mir in the opening minute of the first round of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix on Saturday night.

The victory capped a whirlwind week for the Russian fighter, who was questioned by the FBI in his Chicago hotel room on Tuesday. Emelianenko has had business and other dealings with President Donald Trump, Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Emelianenko (37-5) connected with a left hand to Mir’s face, bringing him to the ground, and then pounded Mir with a series of lefts until the fight was stopped.

Emelianenko, who also had to deal with travel issues, said he leaned on his faith to get through the week.

“With God’s help,” Emelianenko said.

He wouldn’t detail his conversation with the FBI.

“Everything was great. Everything was OK,” he said.

Crowd favourite

Emelianenko was the crowd favourite at Allstate Arena, with fans chanting his name. “He has this presence, this aura, the ‘It’ factor. It doesn’t matter if he wins or loses, honestly, he is still going to be Fedor. He is the greatest fighter to fight in the heavyweight division,” Bellator president Scott Coker said.

Mir made his Bellator debut and was the aggressor from the start by taking down Emelianenko, but Emelianenko quickly got up and threw Mir to the ground and controlled the fight the rest of the way.

The 41-year-old Emelianenko advanced to face Chael Sonnen in the second round of the Grand Prix.

Emelianenko dominated MMA in the heavyweight division from 2000 to 2010. He lost to Matt Mitrione by TKO last June in his Bellator debut, but he previously won five straight fights after three consecutive losses.