Bellator MMA traveled to Russia for the first time this past Saturday, putting on Bellator 269 from VTB Arena in Moscow. In the main event, legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko scored a big knockout of Tim Johnson to show he still has some life left at age 45.
The fight with Johnson was Emelianeko’s first since knocking out Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in December 2019. With the victory, Emelianenko joins the official Bellator MMA Fighter Rankings as the No. 3 heavyweight. He has now won four of his last five fights, with the lone loss coming by knockout to Ryan Bader in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix, a fight that was also for the vacant heavyweight championship.
Johnson, meanwhile, fell two spots from No. 2 to No. 4. The loss is the second in a row for Johnson, previously losing to Valentin Moldavsky in a bout for the interim heavyweight championship in June.
Below are the top-10 pound-for-pound rankings for both the men and women. The full top-10 rankings for each division within the promotion can be found here. The rankings are voted on by 17 members of the media.
Editor’s note: CBS Sports insider Brian Campbell is a member of the 17-person voting panel. Bellator and CBS Sports are both owned by ViacomCBS.
Bellator Rankings (Oct. 26)
Men’s pound-for-pound
|
1. AJ McKee |
18-0 |
|
2. Vadim Nemkov |
15-2 |
|
3. Patricio Pitbull |
32-5 |
|
4. Gegard Mousasi |
48-7-2 |
|
5. Yaroslav Amosov |
26-0 |
|
6. Corey Anderson |
16-5 |
|
7. Sergio Pettis |
21-5 |
|
8. Ryan Bader |
28-7 |
|
9. Michael Page |
20-1 |
|
10. Valentin Moldavsky |
11-1 |
Women’s pound-for-pound
|
1. Cris Cyborg |
24-2 |
|
2. Juliana Velasquez |
12-0 |
|
3. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane |
11-1 |
|
4. Liz Carmouche |
16-7 |
|
5. Denise Kielholtz |
6-3 |
|
6. Arlene Blencowe |
14-8 |
|
7. Cat Zingano |
12-4 |
|
8. Kana Watanabe |
10-1-1 |
|
9. Leah McCourt |
6-1 |
|
10. Leslie Smith |
12-9-1 |
Other notable results
- Heavyweight: Said Sowma defeated Vitaly Minakov in the night’s co-main event. Sowma remains the No. 8 ranked heavyweight in Bellator with the victory.
- Lightweight: Usman Nurmagomedov remained undefeated as a professional, defeating unheralded Patrik Pietilä by submission in the first round. The fight took place at a 160-pound catchweight. Nurmagomedov remains the No. 7 ranked lightweight.
- Middleweight: Anatoly Tokov broke into the top 10 after picking up a very tough win over Sharaf Davlatmurodov by split decision. With the win, Tokov is now ranked No. 6 at 185 pounds.
