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LA Times is reporting Fedor & UFC close to finalizing a deal
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Has hell frozen over? According to a report from the LA Times, the UFC and the man many consider to be the pound for pound top mixed martial artist in the world, Fedor Emelianenko are close to finalizing a deal that would see Fedor fighting inside the octagon.
The announcement is expected to be made by UFC President Dana White on Friday. White did promise that he would be making some very big announcements on July 31st.
The deal between the two sides was hastened along with the cancellation of the Affliction pay-per-view, Trilogy which was to have a main event of Fedor Emelianenko taking on Josh Barnett. Barnett failed a drug test and the California State Althletic Commission decided against renewing his license.
The UFC has been after Fedor since they purchased and dissolved the Pride organization for which he was their heavyweight champion. Negotiations between the fighter's management and the UFC have not always been civil.
Since being rebuffed by Fedor on more than one occassion, White has taken to the media in an effort to belittle Fedor's accomplishments. All along White has maintained the same credo, stating if Fedor wants to be considered the best in the world then he needs to fight in the UFC. Fedor has been reluctant to sign with the UFC because their contracts are exclusive and they had no desire to co-promote his fights with M-1 Global, the organization for whom Fedor fights for.
Fedor's manager, Vadim Finkelchtein has supposedly asked the UFC to sign many of Fedor's Red Devil teammates and there are also stories of Finkelchtein asking the UFC to help fund a new arena in Russia. Whatever the case may be, if this report is true it opens up the possibility of the fans getting to see the biggest fight in MMA history.
White has said if Fedor were to sign with the UFC, he would immediately get a shot at Brock Lesnar's UFC heavyweight championship. This fight has the chance to break the record just set by UFC 100 which did over 1.5 million pay-per-view buys. Some betting websites have even posted odds on the potential match-up. Lesnar has risen to prominence in such a short period of time and has used his former career as a pro wrestler to help sell his fights.
Another fight that MMA fans have been clamoring to see is the long talked about Randy Couture-Fedor match-up which was one of the reasons Couture walked away from the company in 2007. Couture cited a desire to fight Fedor as the main reason he quit even though he had 2 fights left on his contract and was the reigning UFC heavyweight champion. Now we may get to see that fight as well.
Obviously we must take this with a grain of salt but we should all keep our fingers crossed. Having gained much needed exposure over the past year and a half, the time is right for Emelianenko to step inside the octagon once and for all.
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