Pitbull KO’s Thomson, Fedor’s absence felt at Bellator 172

Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire knocked out Josh Thomson at the 40-second mark of the second round in the graduated main event of last night’s Bellator 172.

After a first round that saw Thomson mostly switching stances and attacking predominantly with inside and outside leg kicks, one overhand right that landed from Freire was enough to drop Thomson and potentially give Freire the round. Freire and Thomson inadvertently clashed heads around the 30-second mark of the second round, dropping Thomson. As he got up, Freire landed a big right uppercut that fell Thomson once and for all.

Sneaky right uppercut ends Josh Thomson's night. Pitbull gets the win #Bellator172 pic.twitter.com/rOnoQkw5de

— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) February 19, 2017

The fight was the lone highlight of the night, in what was largely a lackluster event. There were some decent performances here and there, but there was a lingering bad taste from early Saturday’s MMA news cycle that stayed throughout the card.

Bellator 172 was supposed to be the next chapter of the company’s apparent nostalgia tour. Fedor Emelianenko was set to make his US return in a highly marketed match against Matt Mitrione. With a mere hours before start time, however, Bellator president Scott Coker, took to Twitter to let the masses know that the fight was canceled.

Due to illness, @mattmitrione will be unable to compete tonight at #Bellator172. @THEREALPUNK vs @PatrickyPitbull promoted to main event.

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) February 18, 2017

Mitrione had been battling kidney stones during fight week but thought he’d be able to still compete. Weigh-ins came and went on Friday, the two stared down, and all systems seemed go.

Early Saturday was a different story. Mitrione had to go to the hospital due to further complications and forced the promotion to call off the fight.

At the start of the Spike TV main card broadcast, Sean Grande announced that Fedor was offered multiple replacements (rumored to be Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen) on fight day. Ultimately, Fedor decided he wanted to keep the fight with Mitrione. The date of the replacement bout is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

This article comes to you via @GavelPro