Fedor

By FCF Staff

In what might have been the final bout of Fedor Emelianenko’s storied career, the Russian fighter needed under two minutes to stop fellow veteran Pedro Rizzo today in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Emelianenko began stalking Rizzo right after the opening bell, and after avoiding several of Rizzo’s punches, he landed a low kick and a follow up right that sent the Brazilian to the mat. From there, Emelianenko swarmed in for the finish and left Rizzo unconscious with several follow up punches.

After the bout, Emelianenko spoke to crowd and proceeded to take several pictures inside the ring with his family, M-1 officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Although the bout’s results were announced in English, the ringside announcer did not offer any indication as to what the former Pride champion had said.

Prior to today’s M-1 Global event there had been speculation that the 35 year-old Emelianenko may elect to retire.

The win was Fedor’s (34-4) third in a row after he dropped three straight fights while competing for Strikeforce.

In other action from the card, Kenny Garner unified the interim and world heavyweight championship by stopping Guram Gugenishvili  after three rounds.

Gugenishvili continually looked to take Garner to the mat, but when he was successful, he was unable to finish the American off with any submissions. In fact, Garner was able to work his way into the top position on several occasions, whereby, he proceeded to work his own submission attempts or punished the Georgian fighter with strikes.

After absorbing several telling punches in round three, a bruised and exhausted Gugenishvili was reportedly prevented by the ringside doctor from continuing.

And in the event’s other championship bout, Musa Khamanaev laid claim to M-1 Global’s lightweight title by quickly forcing Daniel Weichel to tap with a painful looking heelhook.

Here are today’s main card results.

Fedor Emelianenko def.  Pedro Rizzo by KO (Punches) R1 1:24

Heavyweight Championship

Kenny Garner def. Guram Gugenishvili  by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) R3 5:00

Lightweight Championship

Musa Khamanaev def. Daniel Weichel by Submission (Heel Hook) R1 1:48

Jeff Monson def. Denis Komkin by Submission (North-South Choke) R1 1:58

Marat Gafurov def. Mairbek Taisumov by Split Decision

Mikhail Malyutin  def. Renat Gasanov by TKO (strikes) R1 4:16