UFC president Dana White has said repeatedly that his greatest career regret is not signing the greatest heavyweight in MMA history, Fedor Emelianenko. He also has said repeatedly that he respects Fedor, and had problems only with his former manager, M-1 Global founder Vadim Finkelchtein, who White refers to almost exclusively as ‘Vadummy’.

Finkelchtein is out of the picture, and Fedor fought Saturday on Eurasian Fight Night 50, which streamed live on UFC Fight Pass. “The Last Emperor” took a hellacious beating in the first, and came back to win the final two rounds.

White has a new podcast called UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra, and discussed the fight. 

They were going to let him die before they stopped that fight, you know that? said White. as transcribed by MMAjunkie. But a testament to how tough and durable and mentally strong Fedor is, man. He was out. He was out. Literally, when he got back up … when a guy is on crazy legs the way that he was on crazy legs, and it’s not like he was on crazy legs and able to avoid punches after that. He continued to get hit with bombs by Maldonado and he made it through it.

But I’ll tell you this: Those refs were willing to let him die before they stopped that fight, No. 1. And No. 2, Fedor’s got a chin and he’s a tough guy.

We’ve been negotiating for many, many, many years, White said. I’ll tell you this: Fight Pass did very well with that fight, so people do still want to watch Fedor.

H/T touch