On the second last bout of his contract, Fedor Emelianenko was announced to be returning on October 23, 2021, against a TBA opponent at the VTB Arena in Moscow.
[5][6][7] A heavyweight bout between Vitaly Minakov and Tyrell Fortune was scheduled as a comain for this event.
[8] However in August, it was announced that Fortune pulled out due to unknown reasons and was replaced by Said Sowma.
[10] Bozinyan was rescheduled against Alexey Shurkevich, whose opponent Christian Eckerlin also pulled out.
[13] At the weigh-ins, Aiden Lee and Gadzhi Rabadanov missed weight for his bout.