A heavyweight bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione was canceled Saturday, just hours before the Bellator MMA event it was scheduled to headline.
Officials announced that Mitrione had fallen ill and could not compete.
Multiple sources told ESPN that Bellator explored several options to replace Mitrione and keep Emelianenko in the main event. Chael Sonnen, who suffered a first-round submission loss to Tito Ortiz at Bellator 170 on Jan. 21, also confirmed to ESPN that he had offered to fight Emelianenko on several hours’ notice.
Those options ultimately fell short, however, and Emelianenko, who was supposed to fight in the U.S. for the first time since 2011, was pulled from the card entirely.
“We just ran out of time,” Coker told ESPN in a text message. “No one could have predicted Matt would get sick.”
Bellator did have two potential heavyweight replacements for Mitrione in Cheick Kongo and Oli Thompson, who are scheduled to fight each another on the main card. That bout will continue as planned, however.
A lightweight fight featuring Josh Thomson (22-8) and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (16-8) will now headline Bellator 172, which takes place at SAP Center in San Jose.
According to Bellator officials, the Emelianenko-Mitrione contest will be rebooked at a later date. The bout would have marked Emelianenko’s (36-4) Bellator debut.
Emelianenko, 40, is widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all time. He retired in 2012, but returned to active competition in 2015. He is 2-0 since coming out of retirement.
A former UFC veteran, Mitrione (11-5) specifically asked the promotion to fight Emelianenko. He appeared fine during interviews this week and successfully made weight on Friday, at 257.5 pounds.
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