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The 40-year-old Russian, regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time, had been expected to face former UFC star Mitrione at Bellator 172, in San Jose, California.

But the bout was cancelled at the 11th hour after Mitrione contracted a kidney stone, forcing officials to pull the main event.

“It was the first time I’ve ever seen Fedor sigh” Coker told Daily Star Online.

“He took a big breath, then he was back to being Fedor.

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“He said ‘it’s not God’s time’. He’s a very religious man.

“The whole week he was in San Jose, the whole week, he would drive an hour to San Francisco, to this one particular church to pray. He would do that twice a day.

“He just felt like if God wanted him to fight, he would have had a fight.

“I was like ‘wow, that’s pretty heavy Fedor’.”

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Speaking at a press conference in London ahead of a mouth-watering Bellator 179 card featuring Rory MacDonald’s debut in the promotion, Coker said Fedor/Mitrione would likely be rescheduled for May or June.

Fans who stuck around after Saturday’s main event in San Jose were treated to one of the wildest finishes of the year so far as Abraham Vaesau triumphed over Dominic Sumner on the undercard.

Vaesau was rocked and appeared to be out for the count before landing a flush uppercut on Sumner that dramatically finished the fight in the very first round.