Strikeforce: Fedor Emelianenko Announcement Likely in Coming Days
Despite reports that ongoing negotiations between Fedor Emelianenko and Strikeforce may prevent the top-ranked heavyweight from returning to action in May, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker today told MMAjunkie that they are in the final stages of talks and expect to make an announcement in the coming days on his next fight:
“I can tell you this: we’ve been having really good dialogue with M-1 Global and (M-1 Global president) Vadim Finkelchtein, and I think we’re in the final stages of buttoning everything up to make that happen again. I think we’ll have an announcement soon on that, but I feel very confident we’ll be promoting Fedor here in the near future.”
A lingering hand injury, suffered in his November Strikeforce debut over Brett Rogers, is reportedly to blame for Emelianenko not fighting on Strikeforce’s April 17 return to CBS, and he’s instead expected to meet fellow heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum at a May 15 Showtime-televised event in St. Louis, which also features the return of heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem vs. Rogers and Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio Silva.
For the latest Strikeforce news and Strikeforce rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Fedor Emelianenko
Tags: Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko
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Kiss, make up, and get back in the cage. Not a Fedor fan, but I would like to see him and AA fighting for the Strikeforce title. Now that Overeem has babysat the title for 2 years, it’s time to hand it off.
Nevermind that AA is on a two fight losing streak, including a loss to Fedor.
And Rogers is coming off a KO loss from Fedor and has a title shot. Just saying out of the HW’s that are fighting, would like to see AA and Fedor rematch. Hopefully AA will not try a flying knee this time.
Rogers is getting that shot because Fedor has refused to fight Overeem unless Overeem comes to a place with an Athletic Commission.
Also Werdum is tied up in what is believed to be his eventual fight w/ Fedor. Rogers is not a choice but a lack of options.
Plus, if say Rogers were to beat Overeem, Strikeforce can then build up a Fedor vs. Rogers rematch which since Rogers still contends he would beat Fedor 9 out of 10 times could be amusing and worth a CBS broadcast.
Good points Chris. Rogers or AA rematch with Fedor I would enjoy seeing. Since Fedor pretty much knocked them both the eff out.
Before AA gets a fight with the best. He needs to wait in line and more important avenge his loss to Rogers. If AA can’t beat Roger’s he doesn’t deserve to be in the ring again with Fedor.
amen to that!
whatever has happened to AA boxing career?
What more can M-1 Global possibly ask for from Scott Coker, his firstborn son?
Its getting old, and its actually pretty simple.
If Fedor wants to fight, thats cool.
If not, he can head on back to Mother Russia and enjoy his life as the world’s top SAMBO practitioner, and MMA will go on without him…
JCOHL,
Well said dude =)
I agree with CHRISL,
Rogers getting a title shot is due to a lack of options. It still looks silly but hey, whatever. Atleast the “champ” is returning and we can see a newly crowned strikeforce champ in the near future.
Hope AA bounces back. He’s still my boy and imho a great talent.
i thought that i read that was a non-title fight…
Initially it was said to be non-title, but then Overeem said it was a title fight. Coker hasn’t publicly said either way, so right now I don’t think anyone knows for sure, other than Coker.
Not to mention the fact that they are going to stick him on showtime …. DO A SECOND CBS CARD!!!!!
Didn’t he have a 3 fight contract? Tell him to honor or lose his stake in M-1 in litigation. Plain and simple, right?
Not that I wouldn’t want to see that happen, but I’m not sure that a North American court decision would or could be enforced in Russia, or Japan where Fedor will most likely fight if this latest SF/M-1 issue isn’t resolved…
That is true, but it’s hard to send money around the world without it coming through a bank the US either has jurisdiction over, or one with a vested interest in doing business in the US. And lately, even the Swiss have been cooperating with US law enforcement in money laundering cases, so there are ways.
Beyond that, M-1 represents fighters that will still be fighting in the US and therefore WILL be subject to US laws, at least as I understand the system. If the company does business in the US, they are fully under the US’s jurisdiction.
Though I wouldn’t be upset if that was a way to get rid of them…
Holy sh!t, dbiz, I knew you and your brother were smart, but I think you just sussed out how to send these Eastern Promises types packing!
No one has a court system like ours, especially when it comes to prying coin out of someone, and I could really see M-1 Global taking their “business” elsewhere if they lost a court case and had to pay out a judge’s decision…
:)
why would anybody dislike fedor? He’s got great sportmanship, never talks trash, and never loses. Really whats their not to like?
m1 global which he is a part of, and him dodging top competion and still claiming to be the #1 heavyweight in the world
Well said Brent
Fedor has never claimed to be number one.. I was never a fedor fan, i really had only watched ufc, but my buddy is huge on fedor. he had me watch these documentaries and past fights, and i’ll tell you what fedor is one humble mother f’r. he said he never predicts fights because anything can be taken away at any moment. I still think he should go to the ufc but i dont blame him. My dad and a guy went into buisiness together 20 something years ago, my dad had a chance to leave it for more money but didnt because he is loyal to his friend and company. Sure he doesnt make as much money, but i garuntee he’s happier. I think fedor was in the same boat with M-1.. I agree with the dude who said whats not to like. Fedor is the classiest sports figure i’ve seen in any professional sport, if I were competing I would try to be the same way.
Amongst those of us who “dislike Fedor”, I would catagorize that dislike by saying that its more an issue of M-1 Global’s involvement than Fedor personally.
Its hard for some of us to support a guy who basically allows his handlers to lead him to and from the cage, and throughout his MMA career, on a leash like some Russian dancing bear from an old circus.
Of course I can’t speak for anyone other than myself, but I can’t recall too many specific posts attacking Fedor’s sense of sportsmanship, or his manhood, or his skills in the cage/ring, but rather calling into question his judgement in terms of management..
Couldn’t agree more, and well spoken.
M-1 Is become such a pain in our a$$es.
I do whole heartedly agree M-1 is rediculous. I’m crossing my fingers hoping that fedor finishes these two fights and heads to the ufc. However judging by the kind of guy he is i dont know if it will happen, he seems not to care what dana or anyone from the ufc says about him. Plus he’s part owner in M-1, and vadeim is his good friend, everthing i’ve seen on him makes him out to be extremely loyal to his friends. which isnt a bad quality to have cause after the fight is over he’s just another guy.
Although this isn’t something I subscribe to, its worth bearing in mind that some MMA conspiracy theorists out there have gone on record as saying that Fedor is not in fact the baddest man on the planet, but rather the SAMBO-rolling, MMA fighting indentured servant of the Russian Mafia, and thereby is unable to rid himself of M-1 Global without risking his own life, of the lives of his loved ones back in Russia…
I sorta figured Fedor wasn’t completely healed a few weeks ago. When your a fighter it takes longer for you injuries to heal since you could never completely rest. You have to fight and continue your training almost immediately. I really wish he was in the April card but I’d rather see him healthy and healed. Anyways, I hope Overeem gets KO because he’s been hoarding the belt and he’s not completely focused on MMA but more on kickboxing. Fedor deserves a title shot and I do believe at the end of the year he will be Strikeforce HW champion.
I’m not so sure M-1 is treating Fedor so badly in these fight deals. UFC would have control over Fedor right now if he would have signed before Affliction. No raise, no extra money for continuing to win. (Unless Dana felt like it) UFC contracts have a championship clause that states that your contract automatically renews if your the champion. Only way to leave UFC is to lose. That doesn’t sound to fair.
I get tierd of everyone blaming Fedor or M-1 for not having the best meat in the ring. Why not blame the UFC for not letting thier fighters fight outside or copromoted. It’s both thier faults, but everyone thinks the M-1 is the bad guy.
Just because a contract automatically renews, doesn’t mean you don’t get raises when it does so. I’m pretty sure Anderson Silva is making more money now than when he first became the champ. As far as the only way out being to lose, well, if you’re the champ, what good does it do the promotion for you to just up and leave with their belt? None, so how would that situation be fair?
I think it’s funny that people complain about how the UFC doesn’t allow open contracts while we have the prime example of why not to allow them as part the news cycle right now. The situation with Overeem and Strikeforce is the very reason the UFC doesn’t have open contracts.
If Dana was so certain that his heavyweights would be Fedor (Brock, Mir, Carwin, Dos Santos, Velasquez, etc.), then he should have no problem letting ONE of them come over to Strikeforce and do it. Bottom line is that Dana knows that they all have a slim-to-none chance and his antics are merely for publicity purposes. You cant tell me that any of the UFC Heavyweights resumes are better than Fedor’s….none of them. Say what you want, but Fedor’s last three opponent’s were all top 10 guys at the time. Next thing you know, a year from now he will come to the UFC and flatten one of Dana’s prized heavyweights and then every hater will start saying that Velasquez, Mir, Carwin, Brock wasn’t top competiton. Get a clue that there is more to MMA than the UFC heavyweight division and that you could take Strikeforce’s top 5 heavyweights and pair them with the UFC’s and a lot of you would end up eating your words.
Dana should let one of his guys fight in Strikeforce?
Fedor would flatten the UFC HW division?
You’re having a laugh, right?
Strikeforce top 5:
1. Fedor 2. Overeem 3. Rogers 4. Werdum 5. Bigfoot/Arlovski
UFC top 5:
1. Lesnar 2. Mir/Carwin 4. Velasquez 5. JdS
Lesnar v. Fedor I’d personally take Lesnar, but this is an age old debate so we’ll call it a toss up
Carwin v. Overeem (since I think Carwin will beat Mir) I think it’s simply a matter of who lands first, both men have knockout power, going with a toss up.
Mir v. Rogers Mir would destrominate him.
Velasquez v. Werdum IMO would be like Velasquez v. Nog only shorter.
JdS v. Bigfoot/Arlovski I think he’d KO either.
At worst that is 3-2 in favor of the UFC, at best they could go 5-0.
Does Strikeforce have the best HW in the world in Fedor? Possibly. Below that they don’t have much to offer, in fact Big Nog (who didn’t even make the list) could probably beat at least half the mentioned Strikeforce fighters, in his current form, and the Nog of old went the distance with Fedor twice.
lol, am I the only one that sees this coming? It is so obvious that Dana White and the UFC have got Fedor’s attention by most likely throwing an enticing offer at him. I don’t want to hear any of the “but he already has a 3 fight contract with Strikeforce” nonsense none of that was official because if it were then Scott Coker would not say “I think we’ll have an announcement soon on that, but I feel very confident we’ll be promoting Fedor here in the near future.” If Fedor had a multi fight contract with Strikeforce then Scott Coker would be saying “This is when Fedor is going to fight” not “I think we might have Fedor fight in Strikeforce again” UFC here comes Fedor!
Haha…I spend more time laughing at UFC nut huggers….Dana wont let his heavyweights come fight Fedor because the result will be the same when Liddell steped into PRIDE and embarrased himself against Rampage….Fedor vs Brock, Mir vs Werdum, Rogers vs Carwin, Arlovski vs Dos Santos, Overeeem vs Velasquez, Silva vs Kongo, Lashley vs Gonzaga, and possbily Barnett vs whoever….im not gonna beat a dead horse but pair them up anyway you want and Strikeforce Heavyweights would hold their own against the UFC….Ill give you Mir vs Werdum…that would be a pretty quick fight in favor of Mir….but quit trying to convince to general public the the UFC is the only place to fight quality heavyweights…they have talent…just like strikeforce
I was pointing out that the blame lies with both sides. M-1 and the UFC have faults in negotiating a deal for sure. But to blame M-1/Fedor and not blame the UFC is silly.
One of my favorite points people make that is silly, is about his prime and too old if he doesn’t sign now. Brock Lesnar was born on July 12, 1977. Fedor was born on September 28, 1976. So if Fedor will be past his prime if he doesn’t sign now, what does that make Brock? I love the nuthuggers on both sides.
Bear in mind that many times when we talk about a fighter being past his prime, we aren’t always necessarily referencing his age.
The bizzes [and others] have posted more than once about how the number of fights a fighter had has can have a much greater bearing on his abilities than the number of birthdays he’s celebrated.
And as it relates to your post, Fedor has had something like 34 MMA fights, and Lesnar had had 5, so, y’know…
I’ll tell you now what I wanna see Overeem vs rogers, rogers ko Overeem then rogers vs. Arlovski rematch , arlorvski beat rogers and there you go fedor vs arlovski rematch for the strikeforce title that would be wonderful