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Posted 02/14/2011 at 01:51 AM
Have we seen the last of the great Fedor Emelianenko? Fedor implied as much after getting destroyed by Antonio 'Big Foot' Silva on Saturday night at The Izod Center in New Jersey.
Silva hooked up his backers with a monster payout in the plus-300 range (risk $100 to win $300). He now advances to the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament.
Silva and Emelianenko spent most of an exciting Round 1 exchanging on their feet. Silva landed a big right about four minutes into the round, sending Fedor backpedaling. It was a confidence-building shot, as Silva motioned at Fedor to come back at him.
In the final minute of Round 1, Fedor started bleeding from his nose. With 11 seconds remaining, Silva scored a takedown and then landed a few blows from the top position.
I thought Silva won the round, 10-9, and two of the three judges agreed.
Just a few ticks into Round 2, Silva scored a double-leg takedown. A minute later, he passed Fedor's half guard into side control. Then at the 3:35 mark, Silva mounted Fedor and it was on from there.
Silva immediately began to batter Fedor with a barrage of punches and hammer fists. Fedor gave up his back several times to escape the blows, but the onslaught was inevitable. Silva nearly finished Fedor with a triangle choke, but the MMA legend got out with his face turning purple.
As the round ended, Fedor was trying to lock on a heel hook, but it wasn't to be. As Fedor went back to his corner, his face was a grotesque mess. He literally looked like Antonio Margarito when Manny Pacquiao got done with him in Dallas.
Moments later, the ref called the fight because Fedor's right eye was swollen completely shut. His backers at the books felt as bad as Fedor after losing a 'chalky' wager around minus-400 (risk $400 to win $100).
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