The Last Emperor’ Signs With Strikeforce

Fedor Emelianenko, widely considered the world’s best heavyweight MMA fighter, has a new promotional home. After rebuffing the UFC’s offer–citing restrictive contractual arrangements–’The Last Emperor’ has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. Terms of the arrangement were not made public, but Fedor will make his debut for Strikeforce this October.

Strikeforce agreed to give Fedor a non-exclusive contract, which allows him to compete simultaneously in Japan and elsewhere. Furthermore, they agreed to co-promote events with M-1 Global. M-1 Global is owned by Fedors manager Vadim Finkelchtein and the fighter also has an equity stake. These were the sticking points in Fedors negotiations with the UFC, and with Strikeforce not having an issue with non-exclusivity or co-promotion a deal was quickly brokered.

Fedor issued the following statement in response to the signing:

I am looking forward to going back to work and fighting at the highest level. STRIKEFORCE is a top fight promotion that houses some of the greatest fighters in the world. I am prepared to fight any of them.

Emelianenkos manager, Vadim Finkelchtein concurred:

“I am very happy and excited about the upcoming collaboration with Strikeforce. We are very pleased that we found a reliable partner and I feel that Strikeforce and M-1 can support each other on many things. This will create big opportunities for both parties to test their fighters against worthy opponents.”

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker added his thoughts:

“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with M-1 Global and Fedor. Fedor has been the reigning king of MMAs heavyweight division for quite some time now so being able to work with M-1 and Fedor will substantially increase the level of competition amongst the athletes in this weight class.”

The UFC’s Dana White quickly responded with a ‘f-bomb’ laden tirade sounding more like a drunken frat boy than a pro sports CEO, suggesting that Fedor was choosing to fight “nobodys” for no money by signing with Strikeforce. His sycophants in the media at outlets like Yahoo Sports were quick to pick up that theme, thats simply an attempt to put the best spin on a bad situation.

More significantly, Strikeforce has much better television exposure at this point than the #1 US MMA promotion. Strikeforce has a relationship with premium cable giant Showtime, as well as CBS TV. This same exposure made Kimbo Slice the biggest star in MMA, and Fedor has the talent to back up the hype. From the media exposure perspective alone, Fedor made a good call.

Whites hysterical comments about the quality of opposition simply aren’t true either. Obviously the biggest fight available in the US for Fedor right now would be with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, but once you get past him the talent pool in the promotion becomes iffy at best. A fight with Randy Couture would do big business, but theres no guarantee how much longer The Natural will continue his career. The UFC has a couple of talented fighters with wrestling backgrounds in Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin, but neither man is ready for a fight against Fedor.

Strikeforce has several intriguing fights immediately available for Fedor. Heavyweight prospect Brett Rogers, who knocked out Andrei Arlovski in his last fight, is likely first on deck. The Strikeforce heavyweight belt is currently held by Alistair Overeem, whom mutual opponent Mirko Cro Cop suggests is the one man in the sport capable of defeating Fedor. Fabricio Werdum is a talented veteran of the UFC and PRIDE and may figure into the mix some point as well.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.