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At 42, Fedor Emelianenko is about to compete for another heavyweight championship.
On Saturday night in New York, "The Last Emperor" escaped Chael Sonnen with a TKO in the first round to qualify for the Bellator Grand Prix Final.
The former Pride champion was the last real heavyweight in the tournament after Bellator lightweight champion Ryan Bader dominated Matt Mitrione to clinch his ticket to the finals just a day ago.
It was a great performance by Emelianenko who dropped Sonnen in an early exchange with a monstrous left hand that sent the former UFC title contender to the canvas.
At his peak, Emelianenko would probably have jumped to the ground and finished the fight with his powerful punching power, but this time he allowed Sonnen to get up again and again.
Sonnen managed to put Emelinaneko down thanks to his relentless takedown attempts, but he failed to keep the Russian on the ground for a very long time.
As time passed, Emelianenko seemed to be showing signs of a staggering tank of gasoline, but he was still throwing punches like slemhamers falling to Sonnen's head.
Eventually, after a furious run on the carpet, Emelianenko emerged and he started throwing punches at Sonnen. "The American Gangster" could not find any defense to get out of this bad position, apart from covering himself and eating a series of Emelianenko shots.
Finally at 4:46 in the first inning, the referee stopped to stop the fight as Emelianenko took the win and qualified for the Grand Prix tournament final.
Emelianenko has now won two first-round victories against Sonnen and Frank Mir to qualify for the final. He will face Bader on January 26 in Los Angeles. The winner will be crowned heavyweight champion Bellator.
Here are the full results of Bellator 208 Saturday night:
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Benson Henderson def. Saad Awad by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Cheick Kongo def. Timothy Johnson by KO (punches) at 1:08 of R1
Anatoly Tokov def. Alexander Shlemenko by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Henry Corrales def. Andy Main by KO (punches) at 2:08 of the R3
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Jennifer Chieng def. Jessica Ruiz by TKO (punches) at 1:22 of R1
David Meshkhoradze def. Shaquan Moore by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
Tommy Espinosa def. Sukhrob Aydarbekov by submission (armbar) at 1:27 of R1
Nick Fiore def. Jerome Mickle by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jeremy Puglia def. Eric Olsen by TKO (punches) at 3:16 of the R1
Dennis Buzukja def. Ryan Castro by KO (punches) at 2:53 of R1
Andrews Rodriguez def. Mike Diorio by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Zarrukh Adashev def. Christian Medina by TKO (keystroke) at 1h08 on R1
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