Maldonado (left) could still have his defeat to Fedor (right) reversed. Photo: Mikhail Kireev
The team of Fabio Maldonado he still hasn't given up on overturning his defeat against Fedor Emelianenko. And this time the team achieved an important breakthrough.
In the fight, held on June 17, the Brazilian came close to knocking out the heavyweight legend in the first round, but ended up defeated by the judges' majority decision (29×28, 28×28, 29×28). The result marked by Russian judges displeased the team and much of the specialized press. The Brazilian's team filed an appeal with the Russian MMA Union, but the entity did not accept the request.
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Maldonado's businessman, Stefano Sartori, this time filed the appeal with the World MMA Association (WMMAA), the highest authority in the sport, which accepted the appeal and has already taken some measures.
The entity temporarily suspended the vice-president of the Russian MMA Union, Radmir Gabdullin, who, in addition to being the entity's main judge, is Fedor's friend and training partner.
The WMMAA also appointed its general secretary, Alexander Engelhardt, to lead the appeal procedure and appoint a group of experienced international judges to review the fight, under the tutelage of Dutch judge Marco Broersen.
“The agent’s obligation is to fight for the interests and rights of his athletes, so I did what I had to do in this case. When I reviewed the fight with a cool head, it was clear that we were harmed by the Russian MMA Union, which is presided over by Fedor himself. The conflict of interest was clear and we needed to respond,” said Sartori, on the Combate channel website.
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