Updates on Fedor's Status in the UFC

Sherdog.com recently sat down with Red Devil Manager Vadim Finkelstein, who is ultimately in charge of the career of PRIDE's heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. In this interview, Finkelstein discusses Fedor's status on the UFC.

It seems as if the UFC is in the crosshairs of Fedor and his contract negotiations.

When Sherdog.com asked Fedor's manager for the current status of their contract negotiations, he had this to say:

"At the moment we are in negotiations with a number of organizations who have put offers on the table. I'll be blunt in saying that the UFC offer is the most financially attractive one. However they are very harsh in their terms and are not very flexible in actually negotiating them.

Fedor has now been the PRIDE heavyweight champion for four years and I think we have earned the right to negotiate a contract that suits both parties. Instead we are faced with a blunt "you are either in or you're out." This does not really suit us. If the negotiations continue in a similar manner, we'll prefer to fight for less money but with an organization which is more flexible.

The problem is that Fedor is the face of Combat Sambo in Russia. His popularity is at a level where he is acquainted with president Putin himself, in part because he is so successful and well known for Combat Sambo here.

Combat Sambo is a Russian sport that's not at a level of difficulty of MMA, but is hugely popular with our public. Fedor must represent Russia in Combat Sambo and at world championships, specifically the ones coming up in September. All we want him to do is compete something like once a year in Combat Sambo. But the UFC is not happy with that.

Their proposal has all kinds of clauses, all kinds of fines etc. that do not suit us. The UFC is not really that eager to communicate and negotiate. The negotiations are still continuing, and we will try very hard to get our demands met, if not Fedor will simply not compete in the UFC, even though that will be unfortunate as they currently have one of the, if not the, strongest, heavyweight divisions in the world."

The interview also touches upon their preferences as to how the UFC should adopt Fedor, as far as opponents go. Finkelstein says that he'd prefer that Fedor fight not the best immediately, in order to adapt to the cage format and etc.

Hmm, it looks to me that they would definitely like to join the UFC, but there are still some kinks in the contracts that Dana White is reluctant to hand over. Fedor is probably the last big heavyweight the UFC needs to compelete their new and improved superior heavyweight division and I think White should really reason with Fedor's managers to have him in the UFC.

Well, this is still an inkling of hope for Fedor in the UFC and I'll take what I can get. I'll keep you posted on further news on the situation.

The Lianger