FEDOR SIGNS WITH M-1

Top-ranked fighter and PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko — the most sought-after free agent in mixed-martial arts — has reportedly inked a new deal with the Russian-based M-1 Mix-Fight Championship promotion.

News of the possible signing was first reported by Frank Trigg as part of his TAGG Radio program earlier this month, and The Fight Network today reportedly confirmed the signing with an anonymous source close to the deal.

If the reports prove true, the UFC has seen perhaps the biggest name in MMA slip through its fingers.

Trigg broke news of the signing on Oct. 4 (which, ironically, was the same day I was a guest on the show) and said Emelianenko was offered a $10 million contract from “a new organization out of Russia… that used to be M-1.“

According to today’s report from The Fight Network, though, the organization will still be known as M-1 but that the fight promotion was recently purchased by an “American entertainment-related company” that pumped additional funds into the 10-year-old promotion. M-1 had been owned by Russian businessman Vadim Finkelstein, who also serves as manager of Emelianenko and his Red Devil Sports Club teammates.

The news will come as a disappointment to UFC fans who were hopeful that current UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture would next defend his title against Emelianenko at a Feb. 2 show in Las Vegas. Fight fans had been teased by the possible matchup for much of 2007.

Soon after UFC officials announced they had purchased PRIDE earlier this year, the organization began negotiations to sign Emelianenko when it was learned his contract was non-transferable. In less than a year, the UFC had taken one of its weakest divisions and stocked it with a stable of world-class heavyweights, including Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovoc, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fabricio Werdum and — thanks to an unimaginable return from retirement — Couture. However, the heavyweight division was lacking the world’s consensus No. 1 fighter.

Earlier this year, a source inside the UFC told MMAjunkie.com that the general consensus among staffers was that the Emelianenko signing was “inevitable.” UFC President Dana White has said as much during the past few months, though he admitted that one sticking point of his proposed contract — that Emelianenko would not be permitted to fight outside the UFC — was met with resistance.

Now, it appears, the sticking point was a real deal-breaker.

(Originally reported by MMAjunkie.com)