Dana White: ‘The door is wide open’ for Fedor Emelianenko to fight in UFC

“The door is wide open. I want Fedor to come in and fight the best. At the end of the day, I’m a fight fan. That’s what I really am, and I want to see the best fight the best. Let’s find out if he’s the best. I want to do it…. I still feel the same way about Fedor [after beating Tim Sylvia]. I want to see Fedor fight the best in the world. People want to call him the best heavyweight pound-for-pound. Wait until he gets in and starts fighting some of these guys. I give him credit for fighting Tim Sylvia, but there are better guys out there than Tim.”

UFC President Dana White softens his stance, indicating that he welcomes Fedor Emelianenko as a possible addition to his heavyweight division. White and Co. worked hard to bring the Russian on board after the collapse of Pride FC; however, talks broke down when the parties could not agree on an exclusive fight contract. Emelianenko now competes primarily for Affliction MMA and is apparently locked in to a deal that would prevent him from competing in the Octagon anytime soon. Unless, of course, the upstart promotion falls on hard times in 2009 and beyond. Even still, it would be a minor miracle if Emelianenko ever signed with the UFC … he and his camp appear to mix like water and oil when it comes to working with UFC execs. Stranger things have happened, however. In the meantime, Emelianenko is penciled in to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski sometime early in the New Year, which is a fantastic and highly anticipated match up.






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lol days after announcing that fedor is locked up & stands no chance of being signed by the ufc, now this

ithere should be a fedor/ufc thread

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Posted by CantAndleDaRiddum

there should be a fedor/ufc thread

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But he's already fighitng in an org with a better HW division??

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Posted by pv3Hpv3p

But he's already fighitng in an org with a better HW division??

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I just don't see the advantage for him (besides exposure, which I don't think he cares to much about) to go to the UFC at this point.

MMAs HW div isn't exactly stacked anyways, and the UFCs is certainly equally pitiful. I like Nog too much to see that fight again.

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Posted by Manfred

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Posted by pv3Hpv3p

But he's already fighitng in an org with a better HW division??

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I just don't see the advantage for him (besides exposure, which I don't think he cares to much about) to go to the UFC at this point.

MMAs HW div isn't exactly stacked anyways, and the UFCs is certainly equally pitiful. I like Nog too much to see that fight again.

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The UFC HW division may not be much at the moment but it is the future. Barnett and Arlovski are the only other good HW's where Fedor is, Cro Cop is in Dream and the UFC has Couture and Noguiera. The future are the big three powerhouse wrestlers though. Once Lesnar, Carwin, and Velasquez learn some good submission defense, not sure if any of them have it yet, and good enough stand up to not get killed, they will be trading the title around for awhile. Couture will be gone soon and Nog is aging.

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Posted by imanidiot777

The UFC HW division may not be much at the moment but it is the future. Barnett and Arlovski are the only other good HW's where Fedor is, Cro Cop is in Dream and the UFC has Couture and Noguiera. The future are the big three powerhouse wrestlers though. Once Lesnar, Carwin, and Velasquez learn some good submission defense, not sure if any of them have it yet, and good enough stand up to not get killed, they will be trading the title around for awhile. Couture will be gone soon and Nog is aging.

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Good post I couldn't agree more that the UFC seems to be picking up some strong up-and-comers. But I think the guys you mentioned are at least a year or two away from the upper level.

That why I said "at this point". Should he decide to keep fighting when his Affliction contract is up, maybe it'll be worth it.

Consider too that the contract negotiations went pretty bad last time too and Fedors main issue with the UFC wasn't money, but the ownage. He wants to work for someone, not be owned by them.

This is a chance to see who may really be the best Pound for Pound fighter in the world. I personally say Anderson is, but there is so many people saying it's Fedor that I'm glad for him to maybe come to the UFC.

after arlovski and barnett he will have to come to the ufc if he wants to fight any of the other top hw's in the world.
in my mind arlovski is fedor's biggest test to date and this will be one of the biggest fights in mma history.

AA and Barnett are 2 outside the UFC he's gotta fight.
Plain and simple.He could beat those 2 alone and cement his legacy as the best HW in the history of the sport and never had stepped foot in the octagon.
It would be argueable,but you could make the case.
I would like to see Fedor come in and fight in the UFC.
It would be great.
But I think Fedor and his "people" are trying to make a point to Dana White.

"Fedor can survive outside of the UFC"


Remember after PRIDE went under and Fedor didn't sign with the UFC???
Most of us said he was dodging competition and that he would never fight a legit opponent outside of the octagon.
Well to a point I believed it myself.
But then he fought Timmy and now he's gonna fight AA.Both of whom are former heavy-weight champions of the UFC.
In the UFC I would love to see him fight Couture and Werdum.

Well so far the only one he has fought is Big Tim and he has lost to every ex champ there is. Now he is going to fight AA who lost to Big Tim twice so how is he proving he is the best there are at least two to four people he needs to fight in the UFC to cement his legacy.

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Posted by imanidiot777

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Posted by Manfred

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Posted by pv3Hpv3p

But he's already fighitng in an org with a better HW division??

---

I just don't see the advantage for him (besides exposure, which I don't think he cares to much about) to go to the UFC at this point.

MMAs HW div isn't exactly stacked anyways, and the UFCs is certainly equally pitiful. I like Nog too much to see that fight again.

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The UFC HW division may not be much at the moment but it is the future. Barnett and Arlovski are the only other good HW's where Fedor is, Cro Cop is in Dream and the UFC has Couture and Noguiera. The future are the big three powerhouse wrestlers though. Once Lesnar, Carwin, and Velasquez learn some good submission defense, not sure if any of them have it yet, and good enough stand up to not get killed, they will be trading the title around for awhile. Couture will be gone soon and Nog is aging.

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After Fedor fights AA and Barnett, who is left for him to fight?? The future of the HW division in coming up in the UFC. Carwin, Velasquez, and Lesnar, and others. After a couple more years of constant evolution, these guys will be hell to deal with for anyone in the division. Both Couture and Nog are toward the end of their careers. Although Mir will probably never live up to the expectations from a few years ago, there are still younger fighters that are coming up and that will later join the UFC. The potential of some of these current fighters is unlimited. I would love to see a fight with the Fedor of now, and the Lesnar in 2 1/2 years from now. Or Velasquez or Carwin for that matter. After AA and Barnett, Fedor may get bored with Affliction, and then again, Affliction may go under. Dana should've gave Fedor a clause in his contract that would've let him compete in his SAMBO tourneys, but nothing else, like DREAM or anything. However, this would really aggravate other fighters because they are not allowed to fight in any other org. In a way, I don't think Dana should break any on the non-compete clause, but I just want to see Fedor in the UFC so much, I can't stand it.

dana is gonna have to kiss his butt more than that to get the fight to happen

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Posted by prozacnation1978

dana is gonna have to kiss his butt more than that to get the fight to happen

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I think thats what Fedor wants above anything. The door isn't exactly wide open when you tell the World Sambo Champion he can't defend his title if he signs with the UFC, it seems like Sambo has replaced Vodka in your typical list of Russian priorities.

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Posted by monkeybrawler

Well so far the only one he has fought is Big Tim and he has lost to every ex champ there is. Now he is going to fight AA who lost to Big Tim twice so how is he proving he is the best there are at least two to four people he needs to fight in the UFC to cement his legacy.

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I said if he beats AA and Barnett it is arguable.Not surefire.But for the matter I can't think of another HW in the world that is as impressive as Fedor.
But fighting Timmy and AA,if nothing else,insures Fedor is still willing to fight top competition.

Dana White: ‘The door is wide open’ for Fedor Emelianenko to fight in UFC



I'm sure the gates of hell are wide open too.

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Posted by MMAcca

“I want to see Fedor fight the best in the world. People want to call him the best heavyweight pound-for-pound. Wait until he gets in and starts fighting some of these guys. I give him credit for fighting Tim Sylvia, but there are better guys out there than Tim.”

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you mean like.... nogueira?

Sure he needs to fight Randy for the sake of saying it happened, but I don't see anyone else in the UFC that he needs to beat. I think people are getting a little too excited about brock to be honest. I've always said Brock has championship potential, but what he has is just that - potential, not well developed skills. Maybe if he worked on sub defense and standup for a couple of years he could get to that level but does anyone really think he's a candidate to beat fedor with his current abilities? Being a big wrestler isn't enough.

Randy and Nog are the only people in the UFC with a decent chance IMO. Nog has been wrecked twice by him and he doesn't look as sharp these days as he used to. Randy is a great fighter but I don't think he matches up with fedor very well stylistically. He likes to push people against the cage and use short elbows and punches, I don't think that's going to be an effective strategy against a guy like Fedor who pushes the pace hard.

I have a hard time believing that Dana believes what he says on the matter. It really just seems like he's trying to incite him in the hopes that he signs with the UFC just to prove him wrong. I don't think it's an effective strategy, it will probably just be interpreted as disrespect. I'd like to see Fedor fight Arlovski, then Barnett, and then move to the UFC to fight Randy, but I think Dana's mouth might prevent it from happening. The guy is big on respect and Dana isn't exactly a soft spoken person. I'm almost hopeful that affliction folds just so we can see most of the best heavyweights in one place.