Fedor Emelianenko In Negotiations With The UFC?

[Built Ford Tough]

A source close to Fedor Emelianenko's camp has exclusively informed FiveKnuckles.com, that rumors stating UFC President Dana White will announce the signing of Emelianenko at a press conference scheduled for this Friday are accurate.

 

The information was first broken by the LA Times.

 

Our source tells us that a fight between Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar is in preliminary discussions for UFC 103, which is set for Dallas, TX on Sept. 19 and would be for Lesnar's UFC heavyweight title.

 

More HERE

 

Good god, if this turns out to be true, I am going to be so pumped. I am not going to get my hopes up until I actually here it from Dana White or Fedor Emelianenko's mouthes, but damn, this is some great news.

 

Also, if they do fight at UFC 103, that card is going to be absolutely STACKED. Just look at the potential card for UFC 103 if this does prove to be legit:

 

Fedor vs. Lesnar for UFC Heavyweight Championship

Franklin vs. Henderson

Swick vs. Kammpmann with the winner getting a Welterweight Championship fight against GSP

Koscheck vs. Trigg

Sherk vs. Franca

Escuredo vs. Miller

 

Hot damn, that is an amazing card right there. There has also been rumors about a possibility of having Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfort (if they join the company) fight at this event as well. The rumor is Franklin vs. Ortiz and Belfort vs. Hendo which only adds two more main even caliber fights to this already stacked card. Personally I don't buy into the rumors of Tito and Vitor because it would seem to be too soon and I think it is all talk, but damn, could you imagine if it was true?

 

Anyways, its like I said above, I'm not going to believe anything until it is officially announced by a legit source, but this would be awsome if it is true. Fedor vs. Lesnar would definitely be the biggest fight in the history of the UFC, that is for damn sure.

[Real Deal]

Fedor in the UFC would be awesome.

 

Seeing Ortiz get crushed by Franklin would also be awesome.

[Karl Malone]

Fedor probably won't fight lesnar for the belt in his first match. That might not be true. He will be put up against someone else first. And i saw this coming, White has been wanting Fedor in the UFC for a while now.

[Built Ford Tough]

The deal is further away than this article suggests though. They are in discussion with each other but the catch is that Fedor's manager is also the owner of M-1 and he is trying to make it so that the the UFC would co-promote with M-1 or something.

 

Here are details from a press conference that was held dearlier today:

 

http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/07/29/fedor-emelianenko-on-twitter-live-tweeting-the-m-1-conference-c/

 

Like I said, I wasn't going to buy this until I heard it from a legit, official source like Dana White or Fedor theirselves.

 

And B4KED, Fedor would definitely fight Lesnar in his first fight in the UFC. That fight would be the biggest fight in MMA history and would gross a ridiculous amount of cash for the company. I don't think that the UFC would risk having Fedor lose a fight before fighting Lensar because if that were to happen it would be harder for the UFC to promote the fight. Then there is also the little tidbit about how Fedor is the greatest Heavyweight fighter as of right now and of all time and all that minor details.

 

If Fedor signs with the UFC, he would definitely fight Lesnar right away, at least in my opinion.

[Karl Malone]

But White isn't like that. All he ever did was criticize fedor and call him overrated. I doubt he would give him an immediate title shot after what i heard come out of White's mouth.

[Smitty]

Slaven is gonna start humping everything in sight when he sees this.

[Built Ford Tough]

But White isn't like that. All he ever did was criticize fedor and call him overrated. I doubt he would give him an immediate title shot after what i heard come out of White's mouth.

 

White only ripped on Fedor because of the fact that he was not apart of the UFC. He isn't going to go around calling Fedor the greatest fighter on the planet when you consider the fact that he was under contract and fighting for a rival company in Affliction. Dana knew damn well that Fedor was the best fighter in the world but it would be terrible business if he went around annointing Fedor as the greatest fighter in the world (or heavyweight at least) because it would take away credability from the UFC's heavyweight division.

 

And, yes, Fedor would've got an immediate title shot. It was one of the major stipulations of the contract that was offered to him. I just came across this and, well, read it lol:

 

Raimond said a title shot against heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar –- in Emelianenko’s first fight or otherwise -- was not specified during the talks. (UFC President Dana White has publicly stated the Russian would challenge for the title in his first bout with the promotion, though.) Raimond also confirmed that the UFC conceded to allow Emelianenko to continue to compete in sambo, of which he is a national champion and spokesman, and noted during the meeting that the fighter was free to wear M-1 clothing.

 

http://sherdog.com/news/news/m-1-fedor-not-offered-30-million-18816

 

The bottom line though is that I don't think we will ever see Fedor in the UFC because the UFC is not willing to co-promote with M-1 and it just so happens that Fedor is a part owner of M-1 and his manager is the majority owner (I think) of M-1 as well. The only way that Fedor would join the UFC is if they were willing to co-promote with M-1 and I just don't see Zuffa and the UFC ever be willing to do that.

 

As a result of this, I doubt we ever see Fedor in the UFC. It is looking more and more likely that Fedor is either going to sign with Strikeforce or head to Japan or something.

[Karl Malone]

What a douche. Screw him then. I was hoping he would destroy Lesnar but now he can just suck a big one.

[Built Ford Tough]

What a douche. Screw him then. I was hoping he would destroy Lesnar but now he can just suck a big one.

 

Not sure if you care or not, but I thought I would post what Dana White had to say about the Fedor situation in case you were interested:

 

On the morning of negotiations with M-1 Global and Fedor Emelianenko, Dana White didn’t just wake with a good feeling. The UFC president says he knew he was going to sign the top-ranked heavyweight in the world.

 

“This is going to happen,” White said he told UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta. “It’s going to happen today. We’re going to make this thing happen.”

 

Days later, however, Emelianenko is back in Russia and still outside the UFC. White was adamant during a media conference call Friday that the fault belongs to M-1 Global.

 

“I was f---ing miserable, miserable … because we couldn’t make this deal,” White said. “I was so confident we were going to get this done because we were willing to do it. We were willing to make a deal at almost any cost.”

 

The “almost” involves co-promoting. White said he won’t do a deal that includes co-promotion, and M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelstein has said he won’t do one that excludes it.

 

Rest of the article is here

 

Its a good read if you are interested.

[Karl Malone]

Yeah. Well when M-1 goes out of business too, well see if Fedor will come to the UFC.

[Built Ford Tough]

UFC-Fedor negotiations are officialy over as Fedor signed a 3 fight deal with StrikeForce (not sure how much he is making per fight though). SF agreed to co-promote with M-1 and that sealed the deal.