The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Champ Bader retires Emelianenko via TKO
INGLEWOOD >> Ryan Bader knew his role was to be the bad guy ... again.
The Bellator heavyweight champion sent the legendary Fedor Emelianenko into retirement with a first-round TKO victory in the Bellator 290 main event Saturday at The Forum.
“It’s not even the wins, it’s being able to compete against that man,” said Bader (31-7, 1 NC) postfight.
Emelianenko, 46, had announced this would be his last fight after a glorious 22year career in which he is regarded as the great heavyweight of all time. And the Russian superstar was hoping to go out a champion with some revenge on the side.
Nearly four years ago in the same building, Bader extinguished Emelianenko’s run through the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix by knocking him out in 35 seconds at Bellator 214 on Jan. 26, 2019.
Going into this swansong fight, Emelianenko (40-7, 1 NC) was coming off two first-round victories, but Bader proved to again be the tougher man.
After some back and forth, with the champion looking quicker and popping the challenger with a stiff jab that opened a cut on the bridge of his nose, Bader, 39, sent Emelianenko to the canvas with a clubbing blow near the back of the head. The champ pounced and unleashed a flurry of punches and hammerfists before Emelianenko moved to his right side.
From there, Bader cranked several lefts to Emelianenko’s head and face, leading to the inevitable as referee Herb Dean jumped in to stop it after just 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
Bader, the former light heavyweight champion who became a double champion with his first win over Emelianenko, is now 6-0 with 1 no contest as a heavyweight and has made three successful title defenses. What’s more, he is the only man to defeat Emelianenko twice.
But the night — which Bader clearly understood — belonged to Emelianenko, whose right eye appeared to take significant damage.
On one side, Emelianenko said through an interpreter, he was sad to lose. On the other side, he was happy for all the fans and legends that came to cheer him on.
Former greats Rampage Jackson, Mark Coleman, Chael Sonnen, Josh Barnett, Randy Couture, Royce and Renzo Gracie, Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and Frank Shamrock all were in the ring after the fight to honor “The Last Emperor,” who laid his gloves down in the middle of the ring to a standing ovation.
“I’m gonna dedicate my time to ... my coaching, to my team,” Emelianenko said before referring to his peers in the cage. “You know all of these guys understand me. You know we’re almost the same age. We’ve all been through the highs and so I’m happy that they’re here to support me.”
Also on the main card:
• Middleweight champion Johnny Eblen recorded a unanimous-decision victory over Anatoly Tokov (313) in the co-main event.
His right eye nearly swollen shut, Eblen (13-0) put an exclamation point on his victory with a stunning backto-belly suplex in the final minute of the fifth round.
The judges scored it 5045, 49-46, 49-46 for the 185-pound titleholder.
• In a welterweight battle, Brennan Ward (17-6) needed less than seven minutes to shake off an unsteady opening round to pound Sabah Homasi (17-11) in what proved to be a bloodbath in a TKO victory at 1:34 of the second round.