Yahoo Sports Fedor vs. Matt Mitrione Bellator Bout Canceled
Saturday night's Bellator 172 main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione has been canceled.
Bellator president Scott Coker announced the bout's cancellation just prior to the start of the event, revealing that Mitrione fell ill and had to withdraw from the fight. He named the co-main event bout between Josh Thomson and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire as the new Bellator 172 headliner.
The main card will move forward with four bouts instead of the initial five.
Bellator officials will look to reschedule the fight at a later date. Refunds will be offered at the patron’s original point of purchase.
Fedor retired from fighting in 2012, but returned in 2015 with a win over Singh Jaideep. He then scored a highly controversial win over Fabio Maldonado in June of 2016.
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The fight with Mitrione was to be Fedor's first under a multi-fight deal with Bellator. In the lead-up to Saturday's event, Fedor said he intended to retire under the Bellator banner. For now, the beginning of the end will have to wait a little bit longer.