Chael Sonnen’s last eight fights have all been against world champions — either past, present or future — and on Saturday he takes on arguably the most decorated one of all: “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko.
Though Emelianenko is long removed from the legendary 28-fight unbeaten streak that to this day has him at the top of many pundits’ all-time pound-for-pound lists, he’s seen a fair amount of success in his past few fights dating back to November 2011. The 42-year-old has won six of his last seven (which were split by a three-year retirement from the sport) and he is coming off of a 48-second TKO of Frank Mir, which put him into the final four of a tournament to crown a new Bellator heavyweight champion.