On Saturday, MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko was scheduled to make his Bellator MMA debut in the main event of Bellator 172.
Emelianenko was scheduled to Matt Mitrione. However, Mitrione was forced to withdraw from the fight just hours before it would have taken place due to being hospitalized with a kidney stone.
Despite the cancellation, Emelianenko still wants to fight Mitrione at a later date. During the Bellator 172 post-fight press conference, Emelianenko said he wants to fight in a few months.
Fedor: I think maybe May or June to fight. We’ll be discussing that with Scott.
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) February 19, 2017
Emelianenko said he would like to fight possibly in May or June, but he would first need to talk to Bellator President Scott Coker.
Bellator 172 took place at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. This would have been Emelianenko’s first fight in the U.S since he last fought in Strikeforce in 2011 against Dan Henderson.
With the scheduled main event canceled, Josh Thomson fought Patricky “Pitbull” Freire in the main event of Bellator 172. Freire picked up a major victory when he knocked out Thomson in the second round with an uppercut.
