On June 24, Bellator MMA will take over New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden with the aptly titled Bellator NYC card. This event will mark the rising promotion’s second effort on pay-per-view.
To commemorate this debut in New York City and return to pay-per-view, Bellator has stacked the Bellator NYC lineup with big names. The pay-per-view card will begin with a lightweight clash between Aaron Pico and Zach Freeman. Next up will be a welterweight title fight between champ Douglas Lima and challenger Lorenz Larkin – a recent UFC outcast. Then, we’ll see a lightweight title fight between champ Michael Chandler and unheralded challenger Brent Primus. And finally, the card will be topped by a heavyweight fight between UFC veteran Matt Mitrione and MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko, and a light heavyweight scrap between legendary trash talker Chael Sonnen and Pride legend Wanderlei Silva.
As this card draws ever closer, Bellator has released a short but awesome promo for it’s Matt Mitrione vs. Fedor Emelianenko main event. This video, which shines the spotlight on these two dangerous competitors, can be viewed at the top of this post.
This Fedor vs. Mitrione battle was originally expected to occur back in January. Unfortunately, this planned meeting was scrapped at the last minute when Mitrione was forced out of the fight with a case of kidney stones.
Emelianenko was last seen in the cage almost a year ago, when he battled former UFC light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado to a controversial decision win. Prior to this fight, he made his anticipated return to the ring under the Rizin banner, trashing an outmatched Jaideep Singh to a first round stoppage.
Mitrione, meanwhile, has gone 2-0 since joining the Bellator heavyweight roster. These wins have occurred against Carl Seumanutafa and Oli Thompson.
Who do you think wins this Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione fight at Bellator NYC?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/16/2017.