Their first fight ended in 15 seconds after a groin strike sent Kharitonov to the hospital. Now they’re running it back.
Sergei Kharitonov is a brave man.
The Russian fighter will face Matt Mitrione again on August 24th at a Bellator event in Bridgeport, Connecticut. While technically a rematch, the first fight between the two at Bellator 215 in February of 2019 ended just 15 seconds into the bout. Mitrione threw a hard inside leg kick that went high, smashing Kharitonov’s groin and ending the fight immediately.
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— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 16, 2019
Kharitonov would end up being stretchered out of the ring and taken to the hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a hemorrhoid from the sack kick. The fight would be ruled a no contest. And Matt Mitrione would sheepishly apologize as best he could for turning the main event into a total clusterf**k.
But now the two will run it back, hopefully with very different and less controversial results.
Kharitonov will have to watch his luck, though. The groin strike NC in 2019 was proceeded by a NC in 2018 where his win over Anton Vyazigin was overturned due to an accidental eye poke. That’s some recent bad luck that unfortunately takes away from the five other victories he’s earned since the start of 2017, three via knockout.
Mitrione started his Bellator career with a four win streak including a KO victory over Fedor Emelianenko. But Ryan Bader defeated him in the Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-finals and then there was this odd quick groin kick oddity. We’re sure “Meathead” will be looking forward to erasing the memory of this one in the rematch.