Bellator MMA President Scott Coker woke up Saturday Morning thinking that his heavyweight main event for Bellator 172 between Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione was a go.
A short time before the event was scheduled to begin, Mitrione was pulled from the card because he was dealing with kidney stones.
Fans who are disappointed they didn’t get to see the heavyweight division clash need not to worry, as it is being rescheduled.
“We’re going to reschedule it,” Coker said to MMA Junkie. “We’re going to try and work something out with the building here to reschedule it and have it here in San Jose sometime in the next couple of months. That’s not guaranteed, … (but) when we reschedule it, whether he fights Matt or not depending on Matt’s health, it will be special because anytime Fedor fights, it’s a big, big, big thing.”
Fedor did speak to the crowd during the main card broadcast on Spike TV, but that’s the only action we got from the Russian that night.
Interestingly enough, there were a few fighters who were lighting up Coker’s phone and they were willing to take the fight against Fedor on hours notice.
“I got calls from Chael,” Coker said. “‘Put me in coach.’ Tito Ortiz texted me. ‘Hey, put me in.’ I’m like, ‘We can’t just do that. It’s not that simple of a process.’ And then we just ran out of time. Doors were opening at 3 o’clock. We had to decide, ‘Are we going to pull it? Or are we just going to continue to try and wait another half-hour, which means all the fans are standing outside?’ We just ran out of time, and we said, ‘Look, we’d rather just pull it. The fight’s off.'”
Emelianenko hasn’t competed since Eurasia Fight Nights 50 in 2016, where he defeated UFC veteran Fabio Maldonado by decision.
