Fedor Emelianenko snapped a three-fight losing streak on Sunday with a win over Jeff Monson in Moscow, and after having been quiet on the subject recently his management team M-1 Global have now began talking up the heavyweight star’s chances of fighting in the UFC.
“We are ready to move forward and offer the deal to UFC. M-1 is ready to take all organizational duties and make fight Fedor Emelianenko – Cain Velasquez in Moscow in 2012,” M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelstein told Russian media after the event in Moscow which they promoted.
22,000 fans turned up to the Fedor Vs Monson show, and Finkelstein believes those are the kind of numbers that may tempt the UFC to finally come to an agreement with them.
“I can guarantee that gates will be at least at the same level as in US, and live attendance can even break all current records. M-1 is ready to co-operation and we would like to discuss about any possibilities to make this tournament happen.”
As is often the case, Finkelstein’s latest comments are somewhat perplexing.
For a start, given that the UFC and M-1 Global couldn’t come to a deal to sign Fedor when he was on a 28 fight unbeaten run a few years ago, a solitary win over Monson, a 40 year-old who’s last notable bout was a three round hammering in Strikeforce at the hands of Daniel Cormier, isn’t the kind of fight you want to use to entice the UFC into changing their minds.
Also, Finkelstein has mentioned the dreaded “Co-promotion” phrase once again despite the fact that Dana White has stated on numerous occasions that the UFC won’t co-promote with anyone. In fact it was one of the key reasons that they couldn’t come to terms with Fedor and M-1 in the past when the Russian was still undefeated in 10 years and one of MMA’s hottest commodities.
Moving on, while 22,000 fans watching Fedor’s latest fight is an excellent number for a European show, it’s hardly the kind of numbers that are going to turn the UFC into putty in their hands given that earlier this year over 55,000 fans attended UFC 129 in Canada and talks are on-going to pack 100,000 into a stadium in Brazil next year.
Still, M-1 Global’s Evgeni Kogan boldly proclaimed yesterday on Twitter that, “Sh*t’s about to get real. As real as it gets.”
To be fair, he didn’t specifically say that was anything to do with Fedor and the UFC, but soon after he then wrote a message directly to the UFC president.
“@danawhite Fedor vs Velasquez in 2012, lets make this happen. Fedor is back, and a fight w/ Cain will prove it.”
The silence from White, who often refers to M-1 Global as “the crazy Russians”, was deafening.
In fact it wasn’t until Ariel Helwani contacted him directly and asked if there any truth to to the Fedor talks that he finally gave a short, but to the point reply.
“Hell no.”
