It's so easy to say a fighter fakes a sickness. When a fighter has so much to lose its not going to happen. This is probably the biggest income of Matt's career in MMA, win or lose. There's the weeks of training ,paying for coaches, nutrionists, Dr bills and all the other expenses just to get to the fight, which will STILL have to be payed ,now without his fight pay coming in. Sponsor income lost. Time away from spouse and kids. No matter what, he'd want to fight.
Matt has been in the cage with some pretty scary dudes which were bigger more powerful and in their prime, yet you think a 40 plus year old Fedor with a declining chin scares him? Remember the guy does fight for a living , you're not a pussy if you get in the cage with any of the top fifty HWs of the world.
According to Bellator Matt still wanted to fight but it was Coker and the Dr's who said he couldn't. But I guess doubters know more.
Here's a thought , why didn't Bellator get Kongo to move up on the card and fill in for the main event? In a situation like this he would have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Bet Bellator inquired into it. Would be a better option for them than scrap the main event. Fedor is the one that would have everything to lose. A late replacement coming in ,even one as physically scary as Kongo, Fedor would be expected to walk through him. If Fedor lost it would be terrible for his career. No way his management team would allow this at this time in his career.