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The 42-year-old former Pride, world combat sambo champion and black belt in judo Fedor Emelianenko entered this fight with a professional mma record of 38-5-0 (76% finishing rate) and he is ranked as the No.19 heavyweight in the world (currently the #1 in this division is Daniel Cormier). ‘The Last Emperor’ lost to Matt Mitrione in 2017 (Fedor Emelianenko vs Matt Mitrione) but he came back to win in 2018 against Frank Mir (Fedor Emelianenko vs Frank Mir) and Chael Sonnen (Fedor Emelianenko vs Chael Sonnen).
His opponent, the Bellator light-Hw champion and Tuf 8 tournament winner Ryan Bader (seven years younger than Fedor), has an official record of 26-5-0 (54% finishing rate) and he entered as the No.5 in the same weight class. He suffered his last loss when he faced Anthony Johnson in 2016 (Johnson vs Bader) since then he has won six fights defeating Muhammed King Mo Lawal (Ryan Bader vs Muhammed King Mo Lawal) and Matt Mitrione in 2018 (Ryan Bader vs Matt Mitrione). Fedor vs Bader, main event of Bellator 214, is the final of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament and it is valid for the Bellator heavyweight title; they also fight each other a second time on February 4th, 2023 (Ryan Bader vs Fedor Emelianenko 2). Watch the video and rate this fight!