Renowned Russian MMA veteran Fedor Emelianenko shared his thoughts on the defeat of his student Valentin Moldavsky in a title fight against Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader.
Recall that on January 30 at Bellator 273, Bader defeated Moldavsky by unanimous decision.
- What emotions did you have after the judges gave the victory to Bader?
- Such a decision was unpleasant, but expected. Valentin and I talked about this moment. When Vadim Nemkov fought with Bader, in the first round he “rolled him out”, but according to the judges, he lost that round. It was clear that you need to win confidently, preferably ahead of schedule, because Bader fought at home. When I entered the cage, Valya was sure that he had won, and I was sure that he had won at least three rounds. But I understood that Bader was at home, so we should not expect victory.
- Can the word "robbed" be applied to this situation?
— I don't think it was "robbed". It's just unpleasant, and you need to draw conclusions. That is why it is valuable not to be a home champion, but to defeat rivals on their territory. Valya started his fight a little wrong, not quite the way we planned and wanted. But even with such a start, I think he won.
- I think the judges could highly appreciate the last round performed by Bader, which could be the reason for his victory.
- It's hard to say that these were some kind of accented blows. Bader waved away, Valentine controlled him. With the same Bellator representative, we talked about our impressions of the fight. I said: "Guys, I'm sorry, but Valentine took three rounds." They answered: “Yes, yes. But this is Bader's hometown."
