According to Ryan Hockensmith of ESPN The Magazine, Fedor Emelianenko will be released from his M-1 Global contract sometime next week and once again become a free agent.
According to the report, Fedor will depart from M-1 Global and will once again begin shopping around his services to other MMA promotions.
Apy Echteld, one of Emelianenko’s agents, confirmed what a source close to the situation previously told The Magazine: M-1 Global and Emelianenko will part ways some time in the next week, making the Russian a free agent. Divorce negotiations are ongoing right now, with a formal announcement likely for in the next few days. “Officially, yes, Fedor will be a free agent,” Echteld says.
M-1 Global has yet to officially hold their first event as a promotion, but was able to land MMA’s biggest free agent last October when they locked up Emelianenko. M-1 “loaned out” Fedor to compete on the “Yarennoka” show held on New Year’s Eve in Japan where he defeated Hong Man Choi via armbar in the first round.
In his article, Hockensmith speculates that Fedor’s departure from M-1 will once again open the door for a fight between Randy Couture and Fedor in the UFC. Personally, I don’t think this is going to happen at all considering all the legal wrangling that has been going on between Couture and the UFC recently. Couture is intent on sitting out the remainder of his contract with the UFC and becoming a free agent himself in July.
If and when Fedor leaves M-1, I still think the original plan of having the Fedor-Couture fight take place in Mark Cuban’s HDNet Fights promotion is the most likely scenario. Couture has already verbally committed to HDNet and they are helping his legal battle with the UFC. Fedor’s camp has already wasted nearly a year negotiating with the UFC and those negotiations led nowhere.
One way or another the Randy Couture vs Fedor Emelianenko fight will happen in 2008 and my money is on it not happening in the UFC Octagon.
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tom b
Ben Cartlidge
Shawn Smith
JStein
StuDog
LaM
Angelina
hmmm…i dont know what to think of this….The good part about this is that it seems that there ARE people that want to see this fight happen(randy/fedor) and this may be a way to make that happen. But what i dont like is that these companies make the contracts and everything around it a circus. Why cant we just forget the male egos, and all the crap, and just match the best fighters up and get it on. But unfortunatley all these companies want to be number one and get all the money, and they just want to attract the big name and get the big money, rather than set up the BIG fights…..sad…..But at least we may get to see fedor and randy. Although i think fedor will destroy randy. I rather see arlovski/fedor.
HEY DOC….do you think elite xc can get fedor?
Sure, I think EliteXC can sign anyone at this point. Their deals with both Showtime and now CBS will be a huge draw to any big name fighter. Getting exposure on network television or even Showtime is HUGE for these fighters to get their names out in the public and start making some REAL big time money.
Now, after saying all that, I dont think in this case that Fedor will end up with EliteXC unless EliteXC can bag Randy and a few other decent Heavyweights.
Fedors the only thing about M1 thats even remotely interesting.. now with WVR and Dreams, it looks like theyre going to be the next big competitors to the UFC.
The best part is that im 100% SURE these organizations will have zero problem collaborating in events. The 2 of them combined could effectively become Pride 2. If you have the means, watch Sengoku I, it was a very good event.
All those fighters who despise the UFC will be signing there, like Barnett, Randleman, maybe even Fedor soon. Also they automatically enveloped 90% of all the best Japanese fighters in the world which is great. I could also see them signing up Pride fighters like, Arona, Kharitonov and various Gracies.
Strikeforce and EliteXC just got taken down a notch, not to mention WEC, IFL, etc..
Doc, did you watch the Sengoku I event?? it kinda sucks when you know the results, but the torrents came through, it just took a bit longer than usual, but were definately getting to see those fights.
I’ve seen a few fights but not the whole event yet.
ya they had a few problems, but for a first event it was well executed with a very respectable fightcard. Though its japanese commentating, we already know who these guys are and what they can do, so it doesnt really matter…
Very good interview with Gomi at Sherdog.
http://www.sherdog.com/videos/videos.asp?v_id=1481
Fedor in Elite?hhhmmmmmm that sure sounds good, they could put him against Kimbo, Paul Buentello, and maybe a few others that could bring in some quick big dough. However, I’ve never gotten the impression that Fedor even cares about fighting here in the U.S. if anything, I think he might end up in this “Dream” promotion.
I think Fedor is a communist ******* loyal to his increasingly backslidden “democracy/socialist republic” and will never fight on U.S. Soil… my opinion.. as a fighter he is great…
eh?..You know he fought in vegas right? He destroyed Coleman.
Yeah… I know.. talking about now… in the current atmosphere ..all these estrangeiros are treating the UFC like its crap.. just makes me mad.. it’s whats causing all the match problems… course Dana doesn’t play nice with other orgs… its a shame
The real problem boils down to one word “exclusive”. Russians want none and UFC wants all. They will never reach an agreement. UFC will not allow their belt to a non-exclusive fighter, and the Russians will never sign a deal the commits them in the way the UFC wants. I’m confident this fight will never happen in the UFC. If by some miracle it does it will be because of some major concession from one side or the other.
i wouldnt pin it on just the Russians that dont want exclusive contracts, most fighters who cant work out a deal with Zuffa ether want to much money or want to be able to fight where ever they want when ever they want. i think both side have a good point. i think fighters should be able to choose who, when, and where they fight because in the end its there career. but Zuffa doesent want another issue like when Barnett beat Couture for the title, Barnett clams hes still the champ and was never beaten for the UFC heavy weight title.
hey *******!!!!!!!
sweet move fedor vs couture… nice
i know a lot of you guys dont care but just incase you do Cage Rage 25 will be on tonight headlined by Ken Shamrock vs. Robert Berry. all week the Fight Network has been advertising “live at 10:30pm” yet other websites are reporting the results. the only thing that bugs me i that there is no warning of spoilers, there it is in big letters on the front page. so if you wanna see these fights without someone ruining the surprise for you than stay off the other MMA sites.
ya im gonna watch Ken back at HW, not that i usually watch cage rage though…
i dont watch a lot of Cage Rage ether but i will make an exception this time. and this show seems a lot more like EliteXC than Cage Rage.
whats this FIGHT NETWORK and how can i get it?
Richard, its a satellite channel, you can get it with a dish, other than that, i dunno if you can get it through your cable locally..
you cant its a Canadian thing… unless your from Canada then by all means get it. lol
the Ken Shamrock fight went just about the way i figured it would. i think i did good on my picks for mmaplayground.
shamrock sucks… hes lost 8 of his past 9 fights… but hey … atleast he didnt get dominated in the first round like he always does
actually he pretty much did get dominated in the first round. I think he only landed about 3 punches.