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Bloody nose not a problem for Emelianenko
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Despite an opening jab by Brett "The Grim" Rogers that bloodied his nose, top heavyweight fighter Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko didn't disappoint, winning by TKO in the second round of the main event Saturday night.
The jab by Rogers to Emelianenko came early on in the first round. As the round went on, the bleeding from the nose continued before Emelianenko delivered some strong punches and a single-leg takedown on Rogers with 2:40 remaining in Round 1.
Emelianenko tried to end it early with a Kimura at 3:10, but Rogers reversed it into a ground and pound aimed at Emelianenko's nose. After Emelianenko escaped the TKO predictament, he then went for an armbar but Rogers quickly escaped it. As the first round came to a close, Emelianenko was unsuccessful in applying a side choke.
In the first few seconds of Round 2, Rogers withstood a five-second flurry of punches by Emelianenko. But Rogers wasn't able to withstand a big right hand to the chin that knocked him down immediately, and referee "Big" John McCarthy then stopped the fight at 1:47.
The victory improved Emelianenko's impressive professional record to 31-1. But Rogers (10-1) knew he gave a good effort.
"I hate it. I'm coming back stronger," Rogers said. "He wants to rematch me? I'll put it to you like this- I will gladly take that rematch."
Meanwhile, Jake Shields, the only EliteXC middleweight champion, won Strikeforce's title in the same weight class after outpointing Jason "Mayhem" Miller in a five-round championship match.
But Shields (24-4-1) got quite a scare as the third round came to a close, as Miller (22-7-1) locked in a rear-naked choke on him, and he was close to tapping out before the air horn sounded to end the round.
The scores were 48-47 and two 49-46s in favor of Shields.
On the undercard, after struggling for most of the first round, Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum came on strong during the later parts of Round 1 to take the last two rounds of his heavyweight fight and defeat Antonio "Junior" Silva by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring it 29-28. Also, Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard "The Dreamcatcher" Mousasi defeated "The African Assassin" Sokoudjou by TKO at 3:43 of the second round.
