What's the story? Fedor 'The Last Emperor' Emelianenko secured a first round TKO victory over Chael Sonnen in the main event of Bellator 208. Fedor finished Sonnen with ground and pound strikes with just 4 seconds left in the first round to advance to the Bellator Heavyweight Grand-Prix Final. Fedor will fight Ryan Bader for the Bellator Heavyweight title. In case you didn't know.. Enter caption In the second semi-final of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand-Prix, Fedor Emelianenko battled 'The American Gangster' Chael Sonnen for a spot in the tournament's final against Ryan 'Darth' Bader who secured his spot in the final with his dominant win over Matt Mitrione yesterday at Bellator 207. There was real hype surrounding this heavyweight clash as one of Russia's biggest combat sports stars of all time and arguably the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, Fedor Emelianenko,with a pro record of 37-5 was set to face the brash American Wrestler and former UFC middleweight and light-heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen. Fedor vs Sonnen was built up to be one of the marquee fights on Bellator's schedule this year with the match-up being a classic clash of styles as Fedor's legendary striking was pit against Chael Sonnen's All-American calibre wrestling prowess. The heart of the matter The heavyweight match-up delivered as promised as Chael Sonnen put the pressure on Fedor from the starting bell of the fight. As promised by Chael and predicted by most, Sonnen charged forward looking to impose his wrestling and pressure based game on the crafty striker. Sonnen was hit early in the fight but survived and continued to press for takedowns. Sonnen secured a couple takedowns including an explosive slam off the fence. Fedor always got the better of him in the scrambles and was able to escape without taking substantial damage. Sonnen established control at times but was unable to land any decisive shots. Sonnen attempted a rear naked choke on Fedor, but was shrugged off by the Russian giant. Finally in the closing moments of the first round, Fedor caught Sonnen with a looping right hand as he was getting up off the canvas to drop Sonnen. Chael was badly hurt and tried to survive and cover up but Emelianenko continued to land big shots on the canvas. With just 4 seconds left in the round, referee Dan Miragliotta called a stop to the fight and gave the win to Fedor via TKO. With the victory and his 14th career knockout, Fedor Emelianenko moved one step closer to getting his hands on the Bellator Heavyweight title. What's next? Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko face off after Fedor's Bellator 208 win Fedor Emelianenko will meet the Bellator Light-Heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader in the final of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand-Prix with the Bellator Heavyweight title on the line. Fedor has a chance to add another title in his long storied and decorated MMA career with a win over Bader. On the other hand, Ryan Bader will be looking to become the first Bellator two-weight champion and also defeat the consensus greatest heavyweight of all time. Both Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko have put on remarkable performances in the tournament. Fedor finished Frank Mir earlier in the quarterfinals via first round KO and now he finished Chael Sonnen via another first round KO. Ryan Bader has looked equally if not more impressive in his recent run at heavyweight. Bader knocked out Muhammad 'King Mo' Lawal earlier in the quarterfinals in just 15 seconds on the first round and yesterday put on another dominant performance against one of the favourites to win the the title, Matt Mitrione. Fedor Emelianenko faces another strong American wrestler in Ryan Bader. Much like Chael Sonnen, Bader also employs a wrestling and high pressure oriented game plan but unlike Sonnen, Bader is young and in his athletic prime. With his recent dominant wins in both UFC and Bellator, Ryan Bader has established himself as one of the top Light Heavyweights and Heavyweights in the world. Fedor has his work cut out for him and it would be a very interesting match-up for the fans to see whether the Russian legend can handle the pressure and grit of the American wrestler to become the Bellator Champion or will Ryan Bader cement himself as the king of two weight divisions.<doc-sep>A heavyweight bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Chael Sonnen took place at tonight’s Bellator 208 event, with the winner advancing to the promotions Heavyweight Grand Prix Finals to fight Ryan Bader. “Darth” Bader was able to score a dominant decision victory over Matt Mitrione in the main event of yesterday’s Bellator 207 fight card. Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen has won two fights in a row, his latest being a unanimous decision victory over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at January’s Bellator 192 event. Meanwhile, former PRIDE champion and MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko got tonight’s semi-final round by defeating Frank Mir via first-round TKO at Bellator 198. Round one begins and Sonnen comes out quickly. Fedor catches him with a punch that sends Chael crashing to the floor. Sonnen gets right back up and once again comes forward with a takedown attempt. Fedor avoids and signals Sonnen to get back up. Chael does just that. He leaps forward with a combination and then shoots in for a takedown. Fedor scores a judo toss and winds up on top. Sonnen is able to scramble up to his feet. He circles and then shoots in for another takedown. This time he gets it but Fedor explodes and winds up in top position. He begins raining down punches and Chael Sonnen gives up his back. Fedor with more shots but Chael scrambles and gets back up to his feet. “The American Gangster” is still in this fight. He shoots in on “The Last Emperor” and scores a big takedown. He immediately moves to half guard and begins working in some short shots to the body of Fedor Emelianenko. The former PRIDE champion scrambles and winds up in top position. He opts to stand up and then begins unloading shots on Chael once Sonnen does the same. Fedor Emelianenko cracks Sonnen with a punch and Chael hits the floor. Ground and pound now from Fedor. This is close to being stopped and now it is. Fedor Emelianenko wins via first-round TKO. https://twitter.com/GIFsZP/status/1051318483588472832 This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM<doc-sep>Less than two days removed the the actual fight, Chael Sonnen is still feeling the effects from his heavyweight tilt against mixed martial arts icon Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 208. Appearing on The MMA Hour, “The American Gangster” pulled back the curtain to reveal the fallout, both physically and mentally, that came with his skull-rattling first-round TKO loss. “Physically, everything hurts,” said Sonnen. “[Emelianenko] hit me with a missile about five-seconds in. That one still hurts a little bit. But other than that, I am doing well…My teeth are okay. If I had one wish going into a fight, aside from serious injury, it’s that I won’t lose a tooth. I had that same wish since I started this when I was 19 years old. But, yes they are all intact. “Emotionally, I get heartbroken about these things. From a competitive standpoint, I have dedicated my whole life to this since I was nine years old and I would have started earlier if my dad would have let me. He wouldn’t let me start until I was nine. It hurts. It hurts really bad that you don’t get those moments back.” For Sonnen, this is just the latest setback in his career against a man many consider one of the all-time greats. In the past, the former UFC title challenger was put away by champions Anderson Silva and Jon Jones in their title fights inside the octagon. He also came up short against former champions Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz. Never one to shy away from a challenge, the outspoken Sonnen broke down what it was like to face the music that came with losing on the grandest stage. “I’ve had these feelings before,” said Sonnen. “I am convinced, in my interpretation, this is what it means to be a fighter. Somewhere over time that word became corrupted. It became about the punches and the kicks. But I’ve always believed it’s feeling like I’m feeling right now and getting out of bed anyway and facing the media and getting back on it. So now I have to be a fighter. I prefer to be a winner, I prefer to be on top of the world and looking down on everybody els. But today I’ve got to fight.” During the fight, outside of being starched in the opening seconds, Sonnen relentlessly worked to secure a takedown. A multiple-time Sambo champion, Emelianenko continuously negated Sonnen’s s wrestling-based attack to keep the fight standing. From here, “The Last Emperor” battered Sonnen with a barrage of punches en route to securing the victory. “I’ve fought 49 guys, well I guess 50 counting Fedor, and I’ve never been out-struck,” said Sonnen. “Not one single time have I lost the stand up part of a fight. I can’t say that anymore. This is first stand up I’ve ever lost. I didn’t think he was fast enough to catch me. I thought I’d be too quick. So I was going across and distract him with some punches and get into a clinch or get into a double leg and make it a wrestling match. I wanted to have my hands on him at all times. I was ready for some of those Sambo throws, I was ready for them to go against me, I was ready for him to succeed with those throws and have to scramble on the mat. “It wasn’t like a real sophisticated game plan as much as it was just pressure-based. I just wanted to fight him. I wanted to be on him and wanted him to have to respond. But I also thought I could take his shots. I still didn’t see those punches. They were so fast and I was so impressed. In spite of hanging my head here today, I have to give him his credit. He earned it. I’ve got to credit his speed and his power, they were very difficult for me.” For fans who have followed Emelianenko’s career, this display of violence was nothing new. During his reign of terror through promotions such as Pride, Affliction and Strikeforce, the Russian routinely put away larger heavyweights such as Brett Rogers, Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. Sonnen, a natural light heavyweight, actually thought the size difference would open more avenues for victory compared to Emelianenko’s past opponents. Too bad he didn’t have more time test this theory. “(Emelianenko) is hitting these guys but these guys are heavy bags,” said Sonnen. “These guys aren’t bouncing, these guys aren’t moving, these guys aren’t offering a threat of a takedown or an accuracy of a takedown. I just thought ‘I am going to be able to deal with this. It doesn’t matter that it’s at heavyweight. I am smart enough and I’m athletic enough to be able to deal with this.’ “I just wish I had more minutes. Anytime you get stopped, that’s my usually biggest wish. Even in front of getting my hand raised, just more opportunity to try and more minutes to see if I could explore some things or find some success. But yeah, he hit like a heavyweight.” As for what’s next in his career, Sonnen claims he’s willing to take on anyone but is just hoping it comes at light heavyweight. “When I get a phone call and they have an idea, I say yes,” said Sonnen. “But ideally, I liked to go back to light heavyweight. I had a really hard time in both of my heavyweights getting to some of the positions I wanted to be in. So I think physically, it’s a little better for me at light heavyweight.”<doc-sep>
Fedor Emelianeko, the Last Emperor, earned himself what could be one last chance at glory at Bellator 208. How do you introduce what could very well be one of the most bizarre heavyweight match-ups of all time? A fight in which a noted middleweight was set to take on a heavyweight legend, arguably the greatest of all time, yet one on the downside of his career? On Saturday, Chael Sonnen faced Fedor Emelianenko in the second semi-final of Bellator’s World Heavyweight Grand Prix. It was not a pairing that anyone would have expected, if you’d asked a year ago. In fact, it was doubtful that the two men would ever cross paths. Sonnen, whatever you think of his trash truth talking, has never been one to turn down a fight. Thus seeing him join the heavyweight grand prix wasn’t as surprising as it should have been. That he advanced, defeating Rampage Jackson in the opening round, was a surprise. Almost as much as seeing Fedor return to form, however briefly, when he knocked out Frank Mir at Bellator 198 in April. The surprises continued on Saturday. The biggest? The fight was actually wildly entertaining. Chael was dropped almost immediately, giving him a taste of what was to come. Fedor had the clear power advantage, and was able to throw Sonnen off when he shot in for takedowns. Another shot, and Chael seemed to have the takedown locked up, only for Fedor to come out on top. Fedor would get back up, while Sonnen would lunge for a leg, and even briefly take Fedor’s back before giving up position. However, Sonnen would survive some nasty ground and pound, and back on the feet, Fedor had tired. That allowed Sonnen to score his first really significant takedown, a big double leg he landed with emphasis. Fedor, ever dangerous, would then reverse, winding up on top of Sonnen, then backing off, standing up, and engaging in a bit of a wild brawl after throwing Sonnen down. Sonnen finally covered up while Fedor rained down punch after punch, and with the ref urging him to fight back, Sonnen simply couldn’t. Fedor had the power advantage, and it showed. With that, ‘The Last Emperor’ had won last chance at heavyweight gold, as he punched his ticket, quite literally, to a fight with Ryan Bader in the heavyweight grand prix finale. The pair faced off in the cage afterward, and Bader, who told reporters yesterday following Bellator 207 that he hoped to face the Russian legend in the finale, will get his wish. Fedor Emelianenko def. Chael Sonnen by TKO, Round 1, 4:46