Bellator 172: Fedor vs. Mitrione will air on Saturday, February 18, 2017 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The event will air live in prime time on Spike TV.
Official fight card
Fight card (Spike TV)
Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione
Lightweight Josh Thomson vs. Patricky Freire
Heavyweight Cheick Kongo vs. Oli Thompson
Welterweight Josh Koscheck vs. Mauricio Alonso
Preliminary card (Spike.com)
Middleweight Anatoly Tokov vs. Francisco France
Welterweight James Terry vs. David Douglas
Lightweight Nikko Jackson vs. Cesar Gonzalez
Featherweight Juan Cardenas vs. Luis Vargas
Welterweight Danasabe Mohammed vs. Carlos Rocha
Flyweight Anthony Do vs. Bobby Escalante
Flyweight Matt Ramirez vs. Jeremy Murphy
Lightweight J.J. Okanovich vs. Paradise Vaovasa
Featherweight Justin Tenedora vs. Roque Reyes
Background
The event will be headlined by heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko against former UFC veteran Matt Mitrione. Emelianenko is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all-time. The 40-year-old Russian, nicknamed "The Last Emperor," has wins over Mirko Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski, Pedro Rizzo. Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Tim Sylvia, Naoya Ogawa and more. Emelianenko retired in 2012, but ultimately returned to the sport in 2015. This will be Emelianenko's first fight in the U.S. since 2011. Mitrione, a 38-year-old former NFL player, previously fought in the UFC with wins over the late Kimbo Slice, Derrick Lewis, and Gabriel Gonzaga. Since joining Bellator, Mitrione has scored back-to-back knockout victories over Carl Seumanutafa and Oli Thompson.