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Maldonaldo to Appeal Fedor’s Victory at EFN50

Maldonaldo to Appeal Fedor’s Victory at EFN50

 

 

Eurasia Fight Night 50 was held on Jun 17th in Sibur Arena at St. Petersburg in Russia. The main event was long awaited Fedor Emelianenko fight against former UFC fighter Fabio Maldonaldo.

While Fedor’s record is extremely impresive, his performance was quite questionable because many argue any US arbiter would have stopped the fight during Round 1.

Still the fight went on and ultimately went to Fedor via decision.

This fight was expected to open the door on possible Fedor UFC comeback. While some argue it should still happen, the future is more ambiguous then before the fight.

Now here’s when it gets interesting, ahead of the fight Russian MMA Union assigned the 3 judges: Evgeny Gribkov, Alexey Gorokhov and Maria Makhmutova. It was suggested Fedor had surrendered his position as president of the Union ahead of professional comeback in 2015 but the press release on day of the fight in 2015 clearly defined him as President still.

This foreshadows the possible conflict of interest during EFN 50. The majority decision in Fedor’s favor was eventually revealed as a 29-28, 28-28, 29-28

The only ref to score the fight a draw was later featured on TV where she was probed about her questionable scorecard. She was asked

You worry much. Your excitement due to the fact that the result has not converged with the results of the other two judges?” To which she answered confirming a conflict of interest:

No, it’s not because of the draw. Fedor is very close to me. Firstly, it was very difficult to look at it, almost without showing emotion. Secondly, always hard to make a decision not in favor of a person who you are close to. But the judges have to be judges, it is work. I think Fedor will understand.

(You can read a larger part of that transcript at bloody elbow)

The referee admitting conflict may have influenced Maldonaldo’s team to appeal the referee decision. Some time yesterday the manager of Maldonaldo confirmed they will appeal the “strange” loss to Emelianenko:

We’re very happy with Fabio’s performance, he made everything right inside the cage. One of our main goals was to show the world the fighter he truly is and what he can do when he is 100% focused, and we did that. But we went there focused on winning and we feel like the judges took that away from us. The promoters didn’t agree with the result and most of the fighters who were there also think the result was strange.

Round 1 was clearly a 10-8 for us, Round 2 Fedor got a close 10-9 and round 3 was very close but we think Maldonado got the better shots. It was a least a draw, and we will appeal to Russian MMA Union to review this result.

This affirmed Maldonaldo’s initial statement made several hours after the fight:

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?” Maldonado said. “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.

EFN’s president sent a message of support to Fedor on instagram:

“Friends, this post is not about the past event or the results of the contests, this post is about a person who saved from breaking the hearts of millions of Russians. Fedor Emelianenko, thousands in attendance and millions watching at home were able to see a demonstration of true Russian character and will. You personify the spirit to overcome the heavy challenges of the first round and still continue to fight.”