Vitaly Minakov again proved he is one of the hottest heavyweight prospects outside of the UFC as he submitted Australian Peter Graham in the first round of their semi-main event matchup at Eurasia Fight Night 50. Fedor Emelianenko was lucky to recover from a first-round knockdown to earn a majority decision against Fabio Maldonado in the headline fight.
The event took place at the Sibur Arena in St. Petersburg, Russia and was broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass Saturday morning AEST.
Minakov landed a kick to the body before attempting for a takedown. The takedown attempt was enough for Graham to sprawl where he slipped and ended on his back with Minakov, a champion Sambo practitioner on top. Minakov trapped Graham’s arm which allowed him to slide his leg through to mount. Minakov immediately rained down some heavy shots from the top with the 40-year-old Australian looking to posture up on his side. Minakov quickly got the arm to secure the armbar submission.
The end came only 62-seconds into the fight as the 31-year-old Russian takes his record to an impressive 18-0 while Graham drops to 11-10 with the loss.
‘The Last Emperor’ Fedor Emelianenko started his fight in top gear, landing a series of punches but that would prove to cost him early as Maldonado landed a big counter that dropped Fedor. The Brazilian immediately pounced landing big punches that may have caused most referees to stop the contest, however the Russian official gave Fedor every chance to get back to his feet where he clearly was still rocked from the punches. The punishment continued with Maldonado stalking Fedor for the rest of the round.
The recovery between rounds was enough for Fedor to gather his bearings as he started the second round strong landing heavy strikes from the centre of cage. Maldonado waited until the last part of the round before landing some offense of his own.
Maldonado landed a heavy right early in the last round however Fedor remained more active landing punches through Maldonado’s high guard and strong defense. Maldonado would be more selective with his shots as his tempo began to slow.
One judge scored the bout a 28-28 draw, while the other scored it to Fedor 29-28 to give him the win.
Results:
- Fedor Emelianenko def. Fabio Maldonado via Decision (Majority – 28-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Vitaly Minakov def. Peter Graham via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 1:02
- Kirill Sidelnikov def. Ruben Wolf via Decision (Unanimous)
- Akhmet Aliev def. Matej Truhan via Decision (Unanimous)
- Anatoly Tokov def. Vladimir Filipovic via Decision (Unanimous)
- Sergey Pavlovich def. Chaban Ka via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 1:54
- Vadim Nemkov def. Mikolaj Rozanski via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 3:39
- Rasul Mirzaev def. Dioginis Souza via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 4:13
- Valentin Moldavsky def. Daniel Dorrer via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 0:47
- Georgy Kichigin def. Vladimir Tyurin via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 2:03
- Abdulsupyan Alikhanov def. Artem Shokalo via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jack McGann def. Abdula Dadaev via TKO (Knee & Punches), Rd 1, 2:13
- Alexander Dankov def. Dmitriy Maryukhin via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:49
- Vasiliy Zubkov def. Sergey Tovkan via Submission (Triangle Choke), Rd 1, 3:57
- Marina Mokhnatkina def. Ekaterina Torbeeva via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 0:25
