It took US light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader just 35 seconds to knock out Russian legend Fedor Emelianenko to win the Bellator MMA Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament on Saturday.
Referee Mike Beltran quickly waved off the fight to rescue Emelianenko as fell on the canvas after Bader performed his left hook and tried to go ahead with a right uppercut.
"It was an honour for me to be in the cage and win the heavyweight title and compete against that man. I have a tonne of respect for him," Bader told reporters, referring to Emelianenko.
Twitter users have, meanwhile, remained at loggerheads over the bout, with some giving kudos to Emelianenko, while others advise him to "hang up the gloves" and "submit to age".
One netizen even claimed that the referee should not have stopped the bout because the Russian fighter "may have recovered".
Emelianenko, nicknamed "The Last Emperor", said earlier this week that "at my age right now, more and more I'm thinking about retiring".
"And it's not because I don't want to fight. It's definitely because of the age and all the injuries. There's been no adjustments, no changes in the training process. But it takes more time to recover", the 42-year-old admitted.