Illness forces Matt Mitrione out of fight vs. Fedor Emelianenko

The return of Fedor Emelianenko will have to wait a bit longer.

Matt Mitrione was hospitalized with an illness Saturday and forced to pull out of his fight against Emelianenko on the Bellator 172 card in San Jose, California.

The card went on without the heavyweight main event. Bellator officials indicated the fight would be rescheduled.

Several Bellator fighters claimed on social media they were in town for the event and offered to fill in for Mitrione. Chael Sonnen, who lost his Bellator debut to Tito Ortiz last month, nearly drew the assignment.

In the end, Bellator officials didn’t have time to put anything together on such short notice. It’s unclear whether such a bout would have received commission approval anyway.

Saturday was to mark Emelianenko’s first fight in the United States since a knockout loss to Dan Henderson in 2011.

Emelianenko, considered one of the greatest heavyweights in mixed martial arts history for his legendary run as Pride champion, won two fights in Russia and one in Japan before retiring in 2012.

The 40-year-old Russian came out of retirement in 2015 and won two fights to extend his winning streak to five. Emelianenko announced a multi-fight deal with Bellator in November.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.