Friday afternoon, Fabio Maldonado and Fedor Emelianenko squared off in the main event of EFN 50. Maldonado survived an early onslaught from Emelianenko, before firing back with some heavy offense of his own. Maldonado dropped, and nearly finished The Last Emperor, who managed to survive the 1st round, and win the next 2 en route to a majority decision win.
The decision was an incredibly controversial one, with many believing that Maldonado should have won the fight given that he dominated Emelianenko in the first round. Following the fight he reflected on the bout to MMAFighting:
“I have the utmost respect for Fedor, he’s the most humble fighter I’ve ever met in my life, and I’m happy that I fought here. But I think I won the fight, right? I didn’t lose that third round. In the worst-case scenario, give him the third round and it’s a draw. He didn’t win that fight. Judges saw what nobody else did. He was better in the second round, but that was not a 10-8. And I have no doubt the first round was a 10-8.
“For the love of God, he almost fell several times. Everybody knows (the first round) was at least 10-8, or even a 10-7. He punched me close to the fence, but I was there because I really wanted him to attack.”
Maldonado did have high praise for the MMA legend however:
“He went back up and down several times yesterday. But even when he was dizzy, it was hard to catch him, he kept dodging my punches. Holy sh-t, that’s a tough man. His jab tasted like blood. Any slap he threw got me off balance.”
Video | Carlos Condit
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