On Friday night, the MMA community was transfixed on the imminent comeback of heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian great was poised to take on Matt Mitrione in the main event of Saturday’s Bellator 172, and not even the UFC’s Sunday trip to Halifax could distract us from his return to action.

Regrettably, things took an unfortunate twist on Saturday afternoon, when it was announced that Mitrione had been forced out of his planned bout with the legend, as he was suffering from kidney stones. With this development, a lightweight bout between Patricky Freire and Josh Thomson was elevated to the main event, and the card proceeded with much less pop than we anticipated.

In the wake of his withdrawal from this anticipated heavyweight showdown, Mitrione apparently received some comments insinuating that he was scared to fight Fedor. Late on Sunday night, the UFC veteran took to Twitter to address these claims, and offer a suggestion to the people making them.

“Thank you for understanding the misery I’ve been in trying to pass this big ass stone without so much as an aspirin,” he said. “And for y’all fools that have the nerve to claim that I’m scared or faking, come hold these nuts while I try to finally pee this stone out.” 

In the wake of the Bellator 172 broadcast, Bellator President Scott Coker assured that, despite this last-minute disaster, Fedor Emelianenko is still eager to fight in the Bellator cage. Apparently, the heavyweight great will be rebooked in the next few months, though it is not known for sure whether Matt Mitrione will serve as his opponent, or if the honor will be passed on to somebody else.

What did you think of Matt Mitrione’s withdrawal from this planned bout with Fedor Emelianenko? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/19/2017.