Former heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko made quick work out of Tim Johnson Saturday.
And maybe, just maybe, positioned himself for another run at the title.
Emelianenko knocked Johnson out in the main event of Bellator 269 live from Moscow, Russia. The event aired on Showtime.
Having not competed in two years, “The Last Emperor” showed no signs of rust, improving to 40-6 with the win inside of two minutes in the first round.
“I feel very great. I feel good. Two years passed. I’m happy that everything worked out the way we were thinking,” he said. “I’m very happy for the fact that we made the audience happy and we delivered such great joy to our fans. To those who follow our career and Bellator events.
“Its much easier for me to perform in America. I don’t have such huge attention, or maybe I do get the attention, but all the events are strictly planned. Here at home all our camp and our preparation for the fight took place under the supervision of media, journalists and so forth and so on.
“Its difficult to say, I think this is one of the most important wins of my career taking into consideration the location, the country (Russia), the age. Taking into consideration the force of Tim Johnson, who is a strong opponent.
In the co-main event, Said Sowman scored a third round knockout over Vitaly Minakov.
Bellator 269 Results
Fedor Emelianenko (40-6, 1 NC) def. No. 2 Tim Johnson (15-8) via KO at 1:46 of round one
No. 8 Said Sowma (8-2) def. Vitaly Minakov (22-2) via TKO at 3:08 of round three
No. 6 Usman Nurmagomedov (14-0) def. Patrik Pietila (11-9) via submission (RNC) at 4:06 of round one
Anatoly Tokov (30-2) def. Sharaf Davlatmurodov (18-4-1) via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Kirill Sidelnikov (13-6) def. Rab Truesdale (10-8-1) via TKO at 2:01 of round one
Katarzyna Sadura (5-4) def. Darina Mazdyuk (4-2) via TKO at 3:17 of round two
Irina Alekseeva (4-1) def. Stephanie Page (5-3) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Nikita Mikhailov (8-1) def. Brian Moore (14-8) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Alexey Shurkevich (13-4) def. Grachik Bozinyan (11-5) via KO at 2:25 of round one
Aiden Lee (10-5) def. Alexander Osetrov (8-3-1) via submission (RNC) at 3:41 of round one
