One of the biggest questions in mixed martial arts history is how would Fedor Emelianenko perform in the UFC? The Russian was a huge star in Japan, took the Pride promotion by storm, and was rightly considered one of the best MMA fighters in the world. Of course, with the UFC gaining momentum, they were interested in signing The Last Emperor.
But the union did not work out at all. In 2007, UFC took over Pride and there were negotiations with Fedor, but the parties did not come to an agreement. Dana White later claimed that the best fighters fight in his promotion and criticized Emelianenko for allegedly weak opposition. Two years later, negotiations were resumed, but the Russian was not satisfied with the terms of the contract. In particular, the fact that he could not compete anywhere else except in the UFC. In addition, Fedor claimed that some conditions were stipulated, but the contract contained others.
Emelianenko, who was already under contract with the Strikeforce promotion, suggested that the UFC agree on joint tournaments, and White, of course, insisted on a full transfer of the Last Emperor. The main motivation was considered to be the opportunity to fight Brock Lesnar, but the negotiations were extremely difficult. It was untimely that there was a pause in Fedor’s career, although even during this period people from the UFC approached him. Then the league also bought Strikeforce, luring fighters from this league to sign a contract, but Emelianenko then returned to fighting in Japan and M-1.
There was also an opportunity to hold a joint tournament with M-1, but UFC legend Randy Couture clearly explained why this did not happen.
“I can only say one thing: the UFC bosses have too big an ego to organize such a fight. Because of their egoism, I was never able to fight Fedor Emelianenko. After all, M-1 proposed to hold it jointly. And UFC made it clear that this would never happen. Therefore, I do not see an outcome where the UFC champion would be given the opportunity to fight the PFL champion. Unfortunately, this is not possible for the UFC. It is a shame that fans will never see this fight. This kind of egoism is the problem of our sport,” Couture explained.
Fedor Emelianenko
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
And Vadim Finkelstein, the head of M-1, claimed that during the negotiations they were made to look like madmen: “If UFC president Dana White wanted Fedor to perform in his organization, he would have been performing there a long time ago. White wants it very much. He intends to do what he wants. This issue is completely independent of M-1. The company and Fedor are completely different. Fedor does not compete in M-1 tournaments. Our company only wants to organize fights for him with good fighters. And if some of them take place on UFC territory, then there is no problem. There is no need to turn into monsters, we are not against the Emelianenko-Lesnar fight. We want, we long for this fight. And Fedor wants it. And the only reason it cannot take place is not because of us or because we are twisting the arms of the UFC, demanding co-promotion. During the negotiations, we agreed on other conditions, but no one offered them to us. They just made us look like donkeys, crazy Russians. It’s like we’re taking away their business.”
Nemkov is now following Emelianenko’s path:
Nemkov repeats the fate of Fedor. The Russian star has no desire to join the UFC and hits the middle class
After Fedor’s career resumed, the UFC made a new attempt to sign Emelianenko. The Russian immediately set the conditions for the promotion: “I said: this is my team. I am ready to discuss both the contract and the amount of the fee. They harshly told me that they were only interested in me.” The UFC was not really interested in expanding the roster at the expense of Team Fedor.
As a result, Emelianenko was caught at a crossroads, and then an offer came from Rizin to return to Japan and lead the first tournament of the new organization. The offer came from the former head of Pride Nobuyuki Sakakibara, so Fedor went to the country where he was loved and there he performed brilliantly, defeating Jaideep Singh in the first round. True, the Last Emperor did not stay long in Japan, and Bellator came on time, which was ready to sign Emelianenko’s students.
This season, Rizin broadcasts are available on OKKO.
In his new organization, Fedor racked up four wins and three losses, while losing twice in battles for the championship belt. In 2022, after an unsuccessful fight with Ryan Bader, the Russian ended his professional career with honors, and other MMA legends came to pay tribute to him.
After a while, Fedor recalled the situation with the contract: “All UFC stars were killed at Pride. UFC at that time was a failing company with huge debts. This is the first one. Secondly, when I was free, Dana White offered me a ridiculous contract. He spoke very boldly. And when I was busy, in another organization, he appeared and offered me good conditions. But I couldn’t break the contract with the promotion I was performing for. Or the person wanted to remove me on purpose. If I signed a contract with them, Strikeforce would sue me and I wouldn’t be able to compete anywhere while the trial was going on.”
But now Emelianenko “entered the UFC” – the fighter appeared in the UFC 5 game. Of course, this is a small consolation, and we will never get an answer to the main question: how would Fedor Emelianenko perform in the UFC?
