Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Fedor Wants to Meet with UFC President Dana White

Fedor Emelianenko confirmed that he will indeed fight on the next Affliction show, although he couldn't name his opponent yet, according to a recent interview on DreamFighters.com. Affliction VP Tom Atencio has long stated that the plan is to pit Fedor against Josh Barnett, but Vitor Belfort is another name that has been tossed around recently.

Perhaps the bigger news though is that Fedor is hopeful to meet face to face with UFC president Dana White this summer with hopes of a bout against Brock Lesnar becoming the fruit of their talks.

"Yes, I will fight again on the next affliction card. Besides this me and my management hope to get a chance to talk to Dana White in person in June to discuss a possible fight between me and Brock," said Fedor in the DreamFighters interview.

Such an outcome has many hurdles before it. Firstly, Lesnar and Frank Mir are expected to meet before June to unify the UFC heavyweight championship. The outcome of that bout could have a big influence on any possible match-ups.

Aside from that, there is the matter that Fedor is under an exclusive contract to Affliction and M-1 Global. The folks that head M-1 Global also handle management duties for the Russian fighter.

A one-off deal or co-promotion is not something that the UFC has even remotely considered to this point, which is a major hurdle for both sides.

“The fact of the matter is that a loan-out is something that the UFC would not desire, they would never go for such a deal,” M-1 Global Chief Operating Officer Joost Raimond told MMAWeekly.com last October. “And secondly, the way we have our program set up for the next years, and our event schedules set up, it's just not feasible to have a Fedor fight within the UFC.”

The UFC-Fedor soap opera has been a long and winding road, but it looks like there are still a few twists and turns left before we find out what the destination is.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What they need to do is have Fedor and Brock fight at a new years eve event in Japan for Dream, while still under contract with there own companies. It would be so much easier, just a one time thing.

Anonymous said...

Fedor vs. Belfort a possibillity? did i read that right??!! HAHAHA, WORST FIGHT IVE EVER HEARD OF!!! There both great fighters but Vitor is a fucking middleweight... enough said. would anyone seriously pay to watch that?

IngenuityGap said...

Anon- Which wouldn't benefit anyone but Dream.

ZuffaFan- No. Just look how many people bought Lindland/Fedor.

Anonymous said...

It isnt going to matter, because lesnar is going to lose to mir again anyway.

Anonymous said...

Ingenuity- But, Lindland is/was a #1/#2 ranked middleweight when he fought Fedor. Vitor isn't...yet. His resume wouldn't as 'hype-worthy'

Anonymous said...

@IngenuityGap - It would benefit the fans.

I for one would love to see Fedor mop up the waste of a human that is Brock Lesner

Anonymous said...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Fedor wouldnt even come close to taking out brock, you people are dumb, all brock would have to do is keep the fight standing up and Fedor would lose. Brock is to big and strong for fedor, and Frank Mir wont even come close to beating Brock. Brock lost last time because he rushed the fight, again Brock keeps the fight standing with Mir and Mir stands not chance. The only thing Brock lacks is Fight time, but he make up for it in size reach and power.

Anonymous said...

Wow the last person, what do I say to that? You are an idiot lesnar would get hurt fighting Fedor in a standing fight considering Lesner still hasn't been hit yet. Mir is oozing confidence again so here again I do not believe Brock Lesner will beat Frank Mir. Think about it this Mir is better than the old Mir and Lesner still isn't ready for him. Lesner was to tired after the first round with Couture and Mir is bigger than Couture.

Anonymous said...

So what. All this will amount to is another dispute and and nothing will come of this. The UFC and Fedors managers, although I like both, are to thick headed to come to an agreement. Would be sweet though!

Anonymous said...

With a couple of more years of experience, i believe Brock lesnar would have a legitimate shot at defeating Fedor (the fight would certainly pose some interesting questions for both men), but at this point in time, i think its ignorant to assume that a man with only 4 pro fights(Lesnar) could defeat someone with a near flawless record like Fedor(29-1) whose sole loss is considered a technicality by virtually everyone. I think Brock has an incredible amount of potential and could be an unstoppable force at Heavyweight... with time. But in this day, in 2009, Brock could not defeat Fedor. In My Opinion.

sweat101 said...

Fedor has to beat Barnett. He has not faced anyone that caliber for years weight,chin and skills. Mir if continues to train hard will destroy brock. Mirs boxing skills and kicks have improved by leaps and bounds and he has the ground skills to push fedor much harder than a small lindland did.

Anonymous said...

holy sh*t balls lets all just hope it really happens and quit b*tching. its about time fedor tells m-1 to f*ck off anyways....

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Dana says to hell with the 'one off' deal (which he wouldn't do anyway)and offers Fedor a multi fight deal he can't refuse.

Anonymous said...

CHECK OUT THIS IDEA.....IF DANA WHITE IS SOO CONVINCED THAT BROCK LESNAR IS THE BEST THEN.....AFFLICTION SHOULD HOST THE FIGHT....A ONE TIME DEAL FOR THE WAMMA BELT.....THE UFC TITLE SHOULD STAY IN THE UFC....WITH THE BELT HOLDER TO BE KNOWN AS THE UFC CHAMP-NOT THE WORLD CHAMP (BROCK), BECAUSE REALLY THE UFC IS A COMPANY NOT THE WORLD....THEY COULD PAY LESNAR 1.5 MILLION AND THE UFC 1.5 MILLION.....AND CUT THE NUMBER OF FIGHTS TO COMPENSATE FOR THE UFC PAYMENT...YOU COULD EVEN CUT OUT THE HD-NET PRELIMS AND SAVE EVEN MORE MONEY!!!! THIS COULD BE REALLY RISKY FOR AFFLICTION BECAUSE THE WAMMA BELT COULD FEASIBLY SHIFT TO THE UFC....LIKE THAT WOULD EVER HAPPEN IN THIS LIFETIME!!!!.....HEY DANA PUT UP OR SHUT UP YOU BIG MOUTHED-NO-NOTHING LITTLE PRICK!!!! IF YOUR HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION IS THAT STRONG THAN WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOOSE? THIS COULD MAKE OR BREAK AFFLICTION WITHOUT ALL YOUR LITTLE PARALLEL PROMOTIONS TO TRY TO DETRACT POSSIBLE AFFLICTION VEIWERS!!! YOU KNOW WHAT?? ON SECOND THOUGHT MAYBE DANA COULD LOOSE EVEN MORE THAN AFFLICTION...BECAUSE THEN EVERYBODY WOULD KNOW DANA'S PRECIOUS HEAVY WEIGHT DIVISION WOULD BE COMPLETELY DISCREDITED AND HIS P4P CLAIMS WOULD GO DOWN THE DRAIN.....OK I SAID MY PIECE!!!!! SO DANA WHITE IF YOU BY SOME SMALL CHANCE READ THIS... TAKE NOTE!!!!! YOU FILL BALLOON'S WITH HOT AIR NOT THE HEAVYWEIGHT AND P4P GUYS YOU CLAIM ARE SO GREAT...NUT UP AND LOAN OUT BROCK!!! THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN IS THAT ALL THE WORLD WOULD SEE HOW MUCH OF A- KNOW- NOTHING-USED-CAR-SALSEMAN YOU REALLY ARE......BROCK LOOKS GOOD PHYSICALLY BUT HE COULD NEVER...NEVER...NEVER...MATCH THE SKILLS OF THE GREAT ONE FROM STARY ESKOL RUSSIA!!!!!!!! LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!!!!!!FEDOR