Bellator MMA will break out some of its biggest guns when it kicks off its 2023 campaign with Bellator 290 on Saturday (CBS, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The 14-fight lineup features the swan song for a true all-time great, a compelling showdown for the undisputed middleweight title and a onetime NCAA wrestling champion trying to hold off Father Time and get back on track in what appears to be the twilight of his career.
1. One Last Imperial March
Fedor Emelianenko plans to call it a career after he challenges Ryan Bader for the heavyweight crown in the five-round main event. The 46-year-old former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder enters his rematch with Bader on the strength of back-to-back victories. Emelianenko last fought on Oct. 23, 2021, when he brought down Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Timothy Johnson with punches 1:40 into the first round of their Bellator 269 headliner. He has delivered 31 of his 40 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, a staggering 28 of them inside one round. Bader, who turns 40 in June, defeated “The Last Emperor” in January 2019, when he needed just 35 seconds to put him away with punches. He, too, finds himself on a two-fight winning streak. Bader last competed at Bellator 280, where he took a unanimous decision from Cheick Kongo in their May 6 encounter. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner holds an 8-2-1 record across his 11 appearances in Bellator, having lost only to Corey Anderson and current light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov.
2. Middle Men
The Bellator middleweight championship has been something of a hot potato since its inception in 2009. None of the six men who have held it have managed to make any more than three successful title defenses, with two of them—Brandon Halsey and Rafael Lovato Jr.—lasting less than a year atop the division. Johnny Eblen takes his first turn as champion in the co-main event, where he puts his undefeated record on the line against Anatoly Tokov. Eblen owns an 8-0 mark in Bellator, with six of those wins having resulted in decisions. The American Top Team export captured the 185-pound title on June 24, when he was awarded a unanimous verdict over Gegard Mousasi. Tokov steps into the cage with the wind of a seven-fight winning streak at his back and a 31-2 record in tow. The 32-year-old Emelianenko stablemate last fought at Bellator 282, where he punched out Muhammad Abdullah in a shade under half a round. It was his 11th first-round finish as a pro.
3. Hungry Like a ‘Wolf’
Darrion Caldwell was once one of the toasts of the Bellator organization, but his situation has grown surprisingly bleak. The former bantamweight champion will seek to snap a career-worst three-fight losing streak when he confronts Russian prospect Nikita Mikhailov as part of the beefed-up undercard. Caldwell, now 35, has not competed in more than a year, having last appeared in a third-round technical knockout loss to “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” Season 2 winner Enrique Barzola at Bellator 273 on Jan. 29, 2022. A onetime NCAA wrestling champion, “The Wolf” started his career on a 13-1 tear that included victories over Joe Warren, Eduardo Dantas and Leandro Higo. Caldwell held the Bellator bantamweight title from Oct. 6, 2017 to June 14, 2019. Mikhailov remains best known for his work in the Fight Nights Global promotion. He made his Bellator debut in October 2021 and holds a 2-1 mark in the company, his wins over Brian Moore and Blaine Shutt offset by a decision defeat to the aforementioned Barzola a little less than a year ago.