Fedor: Not being in UFC was ultimately God’s will, but …
Fedor Emelianenko: “Everything has its time and place, and it wasn’t the right time for it. This is how God willed it, so it happened.”
Legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko is in the US at the invitation of his friend Scott Coker, who now runs Bellator MMA. On Thursday Fedor will join Royce Gracie, Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, and Kimbo Slice at a Bellator Fan Festival. The event is free and open to the public at 7:00 p.m. ET at at the Dave & Busters in Manchester, Connecticut. The British Invasion takes place the next day.
Having Fedor, Royce, Ken Shamrock, and Kimbo at Dave & Busters is a little like having a reunion of the Who at Panera Bread, but sometimes these things happen in mixed martial arts.
Fedor remains the one that got away. List the greatest fighters in the history of the sport, Anderson Silva, Royce Gracie, GSP, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, BJ Penn, even Saku, and they all were in the UFC.
In an extended interview with Chuck Mindenhall for MMA Fighting, Fedor reflected on the long, failed negotiation.
“I got the invite [to fight Lesnar] only after I was retired,” said Fedor. “Everything has its time and place, and it wasn’t the right time for it. This is how God willed it, so it happened. I also believe it could have happened earlier had the UFC – primarily Dana – reached out and actually started a proper dialogue where both parties met halfway. Not just, ‘these are my rules, either take it or leave it.’”
The rule that neither party could get around was co promotion. Fedor’s manager, M-1 Global founder Vadim Finkelchtein negotiated remarkably lucrative co-promotion deals with for example Affliction and StrikeForce. The UFC offered Fedor untold millions to fight, but would not cede on co-promotion.
“In all actuality, we did have a couple of conversations here and there, and a lot of what Dana White had said came through as inadequate. Meaning, during the dialogue that happened over the phone one thing would be said but when the paperwork was sent over it would be something completely different.”
“We did meet on the island. It was very short. It was unclear why he came. Of course, over the conversation one thing was promised, but when the paperwork was received it was something else. There was a very extensive dialogue between me and Dana, as well as Dana’s lawyers, but it didn’t go anywhere. In other words, Dana basically said, sooner or later you’re going to end up fighting here anyway. You’re still going to say yes to this contract I’m giving you.”
“Throughout my entire career, I’ve heard and read on the Internet a lot of negativity coming from Dana. Someone who says a lot of negative things about you and then turns around and invites you to join him, how do you react to that? And it’s not even about money. It’s all about mutual respect, meeting each other halfway. Not just one saying one thing to the other.”
Fedor also discussed his current role as an international ambassador for MMA and combat sports, denounced PEDs, and revealed he was nervous before every fight. He added that his serene appearance came “with god’s help.”