Check out the live results and highlights for Bellator 290: Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko 2.
Stay up to date with what’s happening tonight’s Bellator 290 event, which is going down from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
The main event of the evening will be a special one. It is the setting where the most dominant MMA heavyweight to ever do it, Fedor Emelianenko, will finally call it a career by rematching Ryan Bader for his heavyweight belt.
Fedor began his professional MMA journey in Russia 2000, and from there began building his iconic legacy over in Japan. You name ‘em, and he’s beat ‘em. There’s Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice), Kazuyuki Fujita, Gary Goodridge, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman (twice) , Semmy Schilt, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Mirko Filipović (Cro Cop), Mark Hunt, Tim Sylvia, and Andrei Arlovski… and that’s before he ever got to the likes of Frank Mir, Chael Sonnen, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Show me a better résumé. I’ll wait.
Fedor rose to a larger than life mythical status, and did so without talking a lick of smack to anyone. Not a single ill word spoken, yet released utter violence from bell to bell. Possessing that combination for 23-years has earned him the respect of his peers, fans, and promoters alike — and also cemented his face on the Mount Rushmore of MMA.
Nobody is really expecting Fedor to beat Bader, but this isn’t about that. It’s about a proper send off for one of the greatest fighters to ever compete in full contact martial arts. I definitely won’t be crying.
The rest of the card almost seems like an afterthought, but there’s some bangers going on. The Bellator 290 co-main event will be a middleweight title fight between the new champion, Johnny Eblen, and his first challenger, Anatoly Tokov. Before that is the third and final fight on the main card, and will enjoy action fighters Sabah Homasi and Brennan Ward going heads up.
There’s also a bunch of familiar faces on the prelims, like Lorenz Larkin who faces Mukhamed Berkhamov, Neiman Gracie pitted against Dante Schiro, Darrion Caldwell colliding with Nikita Mikhailov, and Karl Albrektsson taking on Grant Neal. Another notable matchup will be in the featherweight division when Henry Corrales meets the undefeated Akhmed Magomedov.
The main card is scheduled to begin at 9:00pm ET, and can be seen on CBS. The preliminary bouts begin at 6:00pm ET and can be streamed on Bellator’s YouTube channel.
Main card:
- Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko: Heavyweight Title
- Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov: Middleweight Title
- Sabah Homasi vs. Brennan Ward: Welterweight
Prelims:
- Neiman Gracie vs. Dante Schiro: Welterweight
- Lorenz Larkin vs. Mukhamed Berkhamov: Welterweight
- Henry Corrales vs. Akhmed Magomedov: Featherweight
- Steve Mowry vs. Ali Isaev: Heavyweight
- Chris Gonzalez vs. Max Rohskopf: Lightweight
- Grant Neal vs. Karl Albrektsson: Light Heavyweight
- Diana Avsaragova vs. Alejandra Lara: (W) Flyweight
- Darrion Caldwell vs. Nikita Mikhailov: Bantamweight
- Jaylon Bates vs. Jornel Lugo: Bantamweight
- Isaiah Hokit vs. Peter Ishiguro: Featherweight
- Ethan Hughes vs. Yusuf Karakaya: Welterweight