Fedor Emelianenko is still sore at Dana White, and at 50 he no longer sees much reason to be polite about it.
In an interview with Ushatayka (translated by Red Corner MMA and picked up by Cageside Press), the former PRIDE and Strikeforce heavyweight champion said the UFC’s interest always seemed to land at the exact moment he couldn’t accept it. MMA Fighting boiled it down on X: Fedor has never been impressed with White’s business tactics.
“When I’m free, they aren’t interested. When I’m under contract, the offers start coming, but if you’re under contract, you can’t sign another one,” Emelianenko said. “There would be legal proceedings. While those were going on, I couldn’t fight in America.”
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He described sitting down with White and a room of lawyers at the request of his manager, Vadim Finkelstein, after he’d already committed to Strikeforce. Fedor said he had no intention of leaving. His theory on what the UFC was really after was blunt: “I think they just wanted to shut me down. They sign me, Strikeforce sues me, and I can’t fight for either side. That’s it.”
Then he went after White’s word. “First he wanted me, then he didn’t. Then he regretted it, then he’s glad he never signed me. The man talks and changes his story. He simply doesn’t stand by his words.” He wasn’t buying the icon status either. “A legend? If someone thinks he’s a legend, let them.”
How we got here
This all traces back to 2009. Affliction stopped promoting after Josh Barnett tested positive ahead of his scheduled fight with Fedor, which turned the best heavyweight on the planet into a free agent. Talks with the UFC died, reportedly because M1 Global wanted to co-promote his fights. Fedor signed with Strikeforce and beat Brett Rogers, and then White and then-owner Lorenzo Fertitta flew to Curaçao, where Fedor was on vacation, to pitch him again. Too late. He was under contract.
Scott Coker told his side earlier this year, saying White offered to cover Fedor’s legal fees if he wanted out. Coker later clarified that Finkelstein may have given the impression Fedor was on the market. Strikeforce still had to send the UFC a legal notice.
What lit the fuse this time was White’s appearance on the Pivot podcast in July. White confirmed the Curaçao trip, said the offer was a fight with Brock Lesnar, and said he has no regrets about Fedor never coming over. Fedor called that nonsense. This is old ground for him, too. Back in 2013 he said he felt White personally hated him.
Fedor (40-7) made his name in PRIDE and finished up in Strikeforce and Bellator without ever stepping into the Octagon. White, for his part, said during the UFC’s antitrust trial that he’s no longer involved in fighter contract negotiations. As for Fedor, Sherdog reports he wants a boxing match with Francis Ngannou, though he denied any talks are happening.
My take: Fedor’s memory skips a few inconvenient pages, mainly the M1 co-promotion demand and his own manager floating free agency that didn’t exist. But White going from flying to Curaçao with a Lesnar fight in his pocket to shrugging about no regrets is exactly the kind of story drift Fedor is talking about. The heavyweight fight of that era never happened, and 17 years later both guys are still arguing over whose fault it was.
