RIZIN VP: UFC not best for Fedor

Former PRIDE and now RIZIN vice president Jerry Millen made his debut on Submission Radio this week.

Millen was asked if Fedor would ever depart RIZIN for the UFC.

I want whatever’s best for Fedor,” he said. “I work for Rizin – make no mistake – but I want what’s best for him. But truly in my heart, I know that the UFC is not what’s best for Fedor. You know, Fedor is not the kind of guy that has an ego and he feels he’s gotta go chase Werdum or he’s gotta go chase Henderson or he’s gotta go chase Bigfoot. That’s not like his motive. He’s not that kind of guy, like ‘oh they beat me, I must go revenge myself’. That’s not his personality. And he just wants to be treated with respect. And over the years, he’s been completely disrespected by Dana White, until Dana wants him. And then ‘oh I was only kidding, haha’. It doesn’t work with Fedor. It doesn’t work with certain fighters. Fighters that are hungry and need to feed their families – yeah, they will kiss Dana’s ass. Fedor is not in that position. So no, I don’t ever see him fighting in the UFC. I don’t think it’s best for him. 

“I mean really, if you really step back and think about it and you really think about the reason that Dana White would want FedorEmelianenko, what would that reason be? Would it be to make him the UFC champion and promote him as this big superstar? Absolutely not. It would be to destroy him and say ‘hah look, the last piece of Pride that I could never get, I got, and I destroyed’. Make no mistake, they don’t want Fedor as the champion over there. They want to bring Fedor in to get beat. So with that being said, why would you want to go somewhere, where number one, they’ve never showed you respect. And number two, they’re not interested in making you one of the anointed ones. So other than money, what’s the motivation to go there?

A number of names surfaced as potential opponent’s for Fedor Emelianenko’s debut on New Year’s Eve. Millen talked about the process.

I talked to Randy (Couture) and it would have taken Randy a little bit more time to get ready. I mean, come on, you can’t just throw it on Randy at the last minute,” said Millen. “And never say never. You never know who Fedor will fight next. You never know if Randy Couture would come out of retirement to fight, you know. I think it’s a definite possibility. We talked to quite a few guys. Some guys weren’t ready, some guys said they were ready but, you know, they want five million dollars. And it’s like ‘come on man’, I mean our phones are blowing up. And at the end of the day, Jaideep Singh – Sakakibara felt it made the most sense. You know, he’s of Indian decent but he’s lived in Japan since he was three years old, speaks fluent Japanese, and he is definitely interested in mixed martial arts. And Sakakibara felt that he had the credentials to go up against Fedor, and you know, anything can happen.

People are always gonna complain. No matter who Fedor fought, there would’ve been a complaint. Make no doubt. Because he wasn’t in the UFC, you know, all the nut-huggers would’ve complained that ‘oh he fought this guy or this guy’s a bum, or he should’ve fought that guy, that guy’s a bum’. But unless he’s in the UFC, everybody’s gonna complain. Even if he’s in the UFC people are gonna complain who he fights. That’s that problem. It’s like, you really have to step back and say, number one, Fedor makes the decisions if he wants to accept this opponent. Fedor accepted Jaideep Singh. Fedor is a grown man that’s proven himself, time and time again in this sport, and he doesn’t have to answer to anyone. He didn’t have to come back, he came back for the love of the sport. He was fine with Jaideep Singh as an opponent, and I think everyone should respect that. And the debate ‘oh he’s not the greatest of all time, that hurts his legacy’, Fedor’s legacy is cemented. I’ve seen ninety percent of Fedor’s fights live. And when he fought in Pride, it was the Joe Louis era of mixed martial arts. And to me, Fedor is the greatest of all time in that era. Now, we’re in a different era in mixed martial arts. So people gotta realize that Fedor is at the end of his career. Fedor’s gonna choose what’s best for Fedor. And as long as he puts on a great fight and we’re not asking somebody to pay 70 dollars for a pay-per-view, I don’t think they really have anything to bitch about to be honest.

His next fight will be for Rizin. I mean, in the crazy world of Mixed Martial Arts, I can say that he’s not going to fight in April, but then again, anything can happen. I mean, you know how this crazy fight game goes. I mean, he can come to us and say ‘I don’t want to fight in April’ and then he fights in April. But like, right now he’s on vacation taking some time with his family, you know, much needed, cause he was training his ass off for the past three or four months. So he’s on vacation right now, having a great time hopefully. And I mean, we’re going to do another show – I think after April or probably July, then September, October, and then New Years Eve. And we have a couple of different things cooking. So it could be July, it could be the September, October show. It just depends on which way Fedor wants to go.

Wanderlei Silva was recently released by the UFC. He is currently suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission, but could fight overseas beyond the reach of regulatory bodies, if he never wanted to fight in North America again.

It’s Wanderlei Silva, of course I’d love to see Wanderlei Silva in Japan,” said Millen. “He’s a warrior. Wanderlei Silva is one of my favorite fighters in the world because Wanderlei Silva brings it. Every fight, win or lose. Wanderlei Silva is a warrior and he brings it. Either you’re going to kick his ass or he’s going to kick your ass and he’s a great – I love Wanderlei Silva. Very good friend and I would love to see Wanderlei in Japan, so we’ll see.

Millen even discussed a Wand vs. Fedor fight.

Sure, I think it be a great fight,” he said. “I mean we’ll see if we can make it materialize, but I think it’d be a huge fight. I think people would love to see that.

I’d love to see it even though I’m close to both of them. I’d hate to see friends fight, but hey, it’s a sport and friends have to fight because that’s just the way the business is.

Millen even said Fedor vs. Brock Lesnar was conceivable.

Hey, you know it could,” he said. “If Brock wants to fight, we would definitely entertain it. I know Fedor, you know, we’ve talked about it. I know Brock is wrapped up in the WWE, I just don’t know what his…I’m sure he still has a contract, I think he still has a contract in place with the UFC. So I don’t know. They would never, never allow that to happen. So if he doesn’t have a contract with the UFC, sure it could happen. You know, the WWE, Stephanie’s over there running a great show and Vince, and I know they were big PRIDE fans, and Shane McMahon was actually a huge PRIDE fan and also like a bigger Fedor fan. And so yeah, it could happen if Brock says he wants to come out. But yeah, I think he’s under UFC contract. But we’d definitely take him.