UFC president Dana White confirmed today during his teleconference that the promotion has worked diligently to try and sign Fedor Emelianenko.
Emelianenko’s Manager, Vadim Finkelstein, has been all over the news recently claiming that the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion will only fight on a card co-promoted by M-1 Global.
Dana White responded to this claim in his usual colloquial style, “M-1’s going to co-promote? They’re going to help us? That shit probably works in Russia. Not here.”
This exchange between the two promotions almost assures that the MMA fan’s dream of seeing Fedor Emelianenko inside the Octagon will not happen.
The recent collapse of Affliction as an MMA promoter seemed to open the door, but now it is almost certainly closed. Emelianenko can either sign with Strikeforce, who has a history of co-promotion, or one of the major Japanese promotions.