Published on October 23rd, 2021 | by Darren Paltrowitz
0Exclusive Q&A With “Bellator 269” Winners Kirill Sidelnikov, Anatoly Tokov & Usman Nurmagomedov
Bellator is a leading global MMA and kickboxing promotion featuring many of the best athletes in the world. Under the direction of veteran fight promoter Scott Coker, Bellator events take place in major cities around the world and can be seen on television in over 160 countries to an available audience of over 1 billion people. In the States, Bellator events from all over the world can be seen on Showtime — a new TV deal announced earlier this year — and online via Pluto TV and Bellator’s YouTube channel.
Bellator’s latest big event was Bellator 269, as also known as Bellator Moscow. Within the event’s main event, Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko made a highly-anticipated return to the cage following a nearly 22-month, defeating then-#2-ranked contender Tim Johnson. In a co-main event inside the VTB Arena in Moscow, Russia, former Bellator Heavyweight Champion Vitaly Minakov returned to combat for the first time in more than 2 years when he faced #8-ranked Said Sowma; Sowma picked up what many would call a surprise victory. The big event also saw Usman Nurmagomedov in action against Patrik Pietila and Anatoly Tokov battling Sharaf Davlatmurodov.
Following their victories, I had the pleasure of conducting Q&A with several of the winners at Bellator 269, including Kirill Sidelnikov, Anatoly Tokov and Usman Nurmagomedov via Zoom, as embedded below. More on these fighters and future Bellator MMA events can be found here, here and here.