Things did not go as planned at Bellator 215 last night (Fri., Feb. 15, 2019) from Uncasville, Connecticut, as the heavyweight main event ended in a no contest when Matt Mitrione landed an accidental low blow just 15 seconds into the first round that opponent Sergei Kharitonov simply couldn’t rebound from.
Kharitonov was given ample time to collect his marbles and shake off the painful kick to the groin, but doctors eventually waved it off, thus putting a sour end to Friday night’s fight card.
After the dust settled, Mitrione told Bellator MMA president Scott Coker that he’d fight later tonight at Bellator 216 should one of the main card heavyweights lose their spot. “Meathead” also discussed other potential dates for a quick turnaround.
“It just sucks, man,” Mitrione told MMAjunkie following the main event letdown. “… Mr. Coker and I were already talking about some stuff. I have to get in Mr. (Bellator matchmaker Rich) Chou’s ear and see what I can get on. If it’s all booked out, maybe they can bump somebody. I know there’s a card in Chicago (in May), and I live in the Midwest. I’ll bring a gang of people there and we’ll act straight foolish in there if we can get a fight in Chicago.”
“If Sergei is down to go, if he can do it, if his body’s good – hopefully he didn’t rupture a (testicle) – but if he can do it again, then obviously I’m 100 percent down,” Mitrione added. “He’s the only person I really want to fight in this situation because everybody, I think, deserves that. It would’ve been a great fight and a lot of fun. It just sucks, man.”
Mitrione also apologized at the post-fight press conference for his accidental low blow that ended up putting Kharitonov on a stretcher.
“I cannot begin to explain how sorry I am for everybody that paid to come to the fight to watch that fight between Sergei and I. It would’ve been really dope – it would’ve been a great fight. Obviously, it was not intentional – the worst possible situation.
“… Sergei: I’m genuinely sorry. I’m apologetic as I could possibly be.”
In addition to “Meathead,” Coker reached out to fight fans on social media to apologize for the lackluster main event. Considering Mitrione vs. Kharitonov was originally billed as a clash of heavyweight knockout artists destined to end in dramatic fashion, the Bellator president felt obligated to explain the 15-second outcome.
That’s a first for me… sorry everyone.#Bellator215
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) February 16, 2019
“That’s a first for me,” wrote Coker. “Sorry everyone.”
We see more low blows in the sport of MMA than we’d like to, but rarely do we see a fight end from an accidental kick to the cojones. It’s an unfortunate ending to a heavyweight main event that had all the fixings for a knockout, but one look at Kharitonov rolling around on the ground in pain and it was easy to see why the fight was stopped.
Hopefully Bellator officials can re-book the heavyweight fight as quickly as possible and find some sort of silver lining from this main event mess.
For complete Bellator 215 results and coverage click here.