
Fedor Emelianenko did it again, but this time he did it in front of his biggest U.S. audience to date.
Emelianenko built his reputation as the world's greatest heavyweight fighting for Japan's now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships, but he has yet to translate that success into mass popularity in the U.S.
That is sure to change following Emelianenko's scintilating second-round KO over Brett Rogers in the main event of "CBS/Strikeforce/M-1 Global Saturday night Fights" on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Sears Centre in Chicago, Ill., and a national network television audience.
It was another impressive outing for Emelianenko who dismantled former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia in his previous two outings.
Rogers gave the Russian his toughest fight in years, but once again Emelianenko showed off his toughness and resilience.
Rogers cracked Emelianenko with a left in the opening exchange of the fight. The blow opened a nast cut on the bridge of Emelianenko's nose. Emelienenko was able to toss Rogers to the ground after a clinch, but Rogers quickly scrambled to his feet.
Emelianenko was able to score another takedown, but Rogers reversed him to gain top position and began dropping bombs on him. Emelianenko was finally able to reverse Rogers and regain top position. He caught Rogers in an arm-triangle choke, but Rogers survived the sumbission and regained guard. Emelianenko took the first round, but it was a lot closer than people expected.
Emelianenko unloaded his hands on Rogers in the second round. He connected a perfect right hand that exploded on Rogers' chin, sending him crashing to the canvas. Emelianenko added some follow-up punches on his opponent before referee Big John McCarthy stopped it at 1:48 of the second round.
Emelianenko ran his record 31-1. It looks like he'll get Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem or a bout against Fabricio Werdum next. Rogers dropped to 10-1.
Jake Shields (24-4-1) of San Francisco was too much for Jason "Mayhem" Miller (22-7-1) of Temecula as he piled up the points en route to a five-round unanimous decision to claim the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title.
Miller spent the first half of the opening round on the defensive, but he came on strong in the second half of the round with a double-leg takedown and a suplex. The first round was very close and could have gone either way.
Shields got the better of the grappling in the second round and controlled most of the third round, but Miller came on strong in the final minute and actually had Shields in a rear-naked choke as the third round ended. Shields dominated the fourth round with his ground skills. Miller was unable to get anything going in the fifth round as Shields continued to dominate him on the ground.
All three judges scored it for Shields, 48-47, 49-46, 49-46.
Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1) of Leiden, Netherlands, won his 14th consecutive bout, stopping Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (7-5) of Oceanside with strikes at 3:43 of the second round in a non-title bout.
A very entertaining first round probably went to Sokoudjou, who used his Judo throws to control much of the action. But Mousasi was able to gain some momentum by the end of the round.
Sokoudjou was able to get Mousasi back to the ground in the second round, but his Judo prowess was not enough to stop Mousasi. Mousasi got a reversal and proceeded to unload some serious ground-and-pound until the referee stepped in and stopped the one-sided beating.
Fabricio Werdum (13-4) of Marina Del Rey, a 6-4, 242-pounder, rallied down the stretch to pull out a three-round unanimous decision over American Top Team heavyweight Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (13-2) of Coconut Creek, Fla., a 6-4, 263-pounder.
Silva dropped Werdum twice in the first round and landed some devastating strikes. Werdum was lucky to get out of the opening round with his faculties intact. The few shots Werdum was able to land didn't seem to faze Silva at all.
A short left hook dropped Werdum in the opening seconds of the second round. Werdum was able to get a reversal, but Silva easily got back to his feet. Werdum got a takedown late in the round, but was unable to inflict any damage.
Werdum clipped Silva with a couple of rights and landed some damaging knees that put Silva on thr ground in the third round, but he was uanble to put enough strikes together to finish Silva.
All three judges scored it, 29-28, in favor of Werdum.