Fedor Emelianenko’s New MMA Home: Much Ado About Nothing

At last Saturday’s Bellator 142 event, the Bellator brass promised a big announcement. Well there was a big announcement, but it wasn’t actually an announcement regarding the future of Bellator. In fact, the announcement really had nothing to do with Bellator MMA at all, even though it happened on a Bellator broadcast. Recently, Fedor Emelianenko and his camp announced that The Last Emperor was coming out of retirement, and he would be making a return to MMA. There were heavy rumors and reports that the long awaited fantasy of Fedor actually fighting in the UFC would actually happen. Multiple journalists and outlets even reported that it was a done deal, and it would be announced in a matter of weeks. Bas Rutten claimed he was told by a legitimate source that Fedor had signed with the UFC. A report by Combat Press claimed “that Fedor Emelianenko has officially signed with the UFC, with an official announcement set to be made in the coming weeks.” That was about three weeks ago. Another MMA insider known as FrontRowBrian, also claimed that Fedor was UFC bound. Since this announcement, FrontRowBrian has deleted all his tweets relating to Fedor getting signed by the UFC> So more than one party went out on a limb that this was going to happen. A light should be shined on the sources that claimed this was happening, but that’s another story for another time.

So what is going on with Fedor Emelianenko. He will be fighting again, and he will be fighting on Spike TV. However, that fight will not be inside the Bellator cage. It will be as part of a “new global MMA promotion” (that is still unnamed) that is being run by former Pride FC President Nobuyuki Sakakibara. Bellator does get a bit of shine that they will co-promote with the event and have some of its fighters supposedly participating for this event. After the MMA media building up that this would finally be the time that Fedor fights in the UFC, it was more than a little frustrating and a letdown with what actually happened.

Despite being 38 years old and having suffered a string of losses in Strikeforce before he crushed some cans before his recent retirement, Fedor still has a loyal fanbase. For the longest time, he was considered one of if not the best fighter on the planet. There was a mystique to Fedor because he had such a renowned reputation despite having never fought in the UFC. It seemed there were many close calls, but it never came to pass. So even though he’s passed his prime years and coming out of a lengthy retirement, if Fedor had signed with the UFC, people would have tuned in.

One reason this news is so disappointing is that the pickings are slim for Fedor outside the UFC. Heavyweight is probably the most shallow division in the UFC right now. Bellator’s heavyweight division is far from impressive. This just seems reminiscent of when he fought on that Yarrenoka card after Pride FC dissolved. His opponent? Hong-man Choi. After that, he fought a career middleweight in Matt Lindland in the also now defunct promotion Bodog. He then had a limited run in Affliction, which went under after two shows before ultimately signing with Strikeforce.

Signing and promoting Fedor was a move that Strikeforce and Coker clearly were not ready for. At the time, Strikeforce had recently gone from being a regional promotion to a national player on the MMA scene. Coker, Strikeforce, and the CBS/Showtime executives who didn’t understand MMA were ill-equipped to properly promote Fedor. It was move that did not pay off for them in the long-term. The good news for Coker now is that Bellator MMA isn’t really footing the bill for Fedor’s paycheck. Spike TV might be throwing something in there, but it’s a deal more than likely set up by Sakakibara.

However, it begs the question. Who can Fedor fight at this point? With such a shallow division, there are not many legitimate options for him outside the UFC. Maybe they can get Sergei Kharitonov, another longtime MMA veteran who has also fought in Strikeforce and Pride, to face him. Maybe it will be Bellator’s Cheick Kongo. Either way, it doesn’t seem like there are ton of intriguing and competitive options for Fedor, which makes it harder to get excited about this announcement.

This announcement just seems like Sakakibara and Spike TV are trying to cater to the Pride FC fanatics. I loved Pride, and the Pride era was good while it lasted. However, that era of MMA is long over, and I don’t think there is any going back. I believe Bellator 142 is symbolic of that. It shows why one-night tournaments really don’t work anymore. Not to mention, those tournaments in Pride with guys fighting multiple times a night happened in a region where there was little in the way of regulation or actual drug testing. Pride nostalgia is fine and everything, but I think attempting to recapture the magic of that era is a fool’s errand. Just like the Japanese promotions which were essentially Pride-lite, DREAM and Sengoku, I do not see this endeavor lasting very long.

I do not begrudge the huge Fedor Emelienankeo fans such as Robert Winfree, who are just happy to see their favorite fighter making a comeback. For them, they will get to see The Last Emperor fight again, and it will be free on Spike TV. There is nothing wrong with that. However, I still would have preferred to see Fedor in Octagon. Even if it was later than it should have, it would have finally put many debates to rest.