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| No | 59% | 13 votes | Total: 22 votes | |
| Yes | 41% | 9 votes |
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Add to FavoritesFedor Emelianenko was the most dominant heavyweight champion in the Pride Fighting Championships history. He was, and is undefeated throughout his entire career, apart from a loss due to a cut several years earlier in a Japanese tournament. It seemed that the champ was on top of the world, and was producing dominant victories over every opponent he faced. What's more he was regularly topping pound for pound mixed martial arts rankings, and was regarded as the top heavyweight fighter in the world, not just his own promotion.
Everything seemed to be going well, except that eventually the Pride organization started losing money, there were many reasons for this, including ties to the Yakuza and a lost Japanese TV deal. The end result of which was that the organization went bust and their fighters were all looking for new banners to fight under. Some struggled to make their marks elsewhere whilst others flourished. A great deal of them ended up eventually in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or more commonly the UFC. They were at the time the other large MMA organization in the world, where Pride was the biggest company in the huge Asian market; the UFC was the American version.
It seemed to follow therefore then that the best heavyweight in the world would soon follow suit and become the largest acquisition that the UFC could have made. It wasn't to be however, as the Russian champion and his team couldn't agree terms with the UFC. Although the details didn't come to light it was rumoured that Fedor's continued participation in Sambo tournaments was a sticking point, along with more famous American fighters being paid more.
Many fans and experts thought that failure to sign with the largest and more prestigious MMA organization was a fatal flaw in Fedor's career. After all the UFC now had most of the other top heavyweight fighters that could give Fedor a credible challenge, and surely not fighting top competition would harm Fedor's standing as the best in the world. For a time this seemed to be true, with Fedor slipping down the top ten rankings in many people's eyes, and taking what many considered to be easy fights.
More recently however the decision from Fedor not to sign with the UFC has seemingly become a much better decision. The have near complete top ten heavyweight roster that the UFC had not so long ago have now nearly all left the organization one way or another. And it is now another organization, which Fedor has joined, that has the best fighters in the heavyweight division. The mass exodus from the UFC began with Mirko Crocop, who after a bad run left for the Dream company in Japan. Soon after to be followed out the door by then champion Randy Couture, and soon top ten stars Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.
Sylvia and Arlovski then signed with the new Affliction company, along with Fedor, fellow pride star Josh Barnett and several other high profile heavyweights. Meaning in essence that it is now affliction and not the UFC that has the best heavyweight division in the world. Fedor's decision not to sign with the UFC now looks suddenly like the move of a maverick, rather than someone with no sense of their own career as it did not so long ago.
Whether it was the fact that the UFC couldn't keep its fighters happy, or that the appeal of fighting the worlds best in Fedor was enough to tempt some away remains to be fully seen. Certainly the likes of Sylvia and Arlovski had achieved all they could in the UFC, both being former champions and both being offered bigger offers outside the UFC at the time they each left. The UFC's notoriety for being less than generous with fighters pay and strict conditions of their contracts has once again come back to haunt them.
Most recently Fedor fought Tim Sylvia at an affliction event in the United States, and beat him very easily in just over 30 seconds. For his loss Sylvia received in the region of $800,000, and Fedor likely received over a million. Both pieces of information seem to show that Fedor's non-signing with the UFC was at the very least a good decision, and one that has seen the UFC emptied of some of their best fighters as well.
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Yes
When it was first announced that Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, had bought the PRIDE Fighting Championship their was great excitement among many as to the potential match-ups and fighters that would showcase their talent in the U.S and one of the most talked about fighters was the PRIDE Fighting Heavyweight Champion, Fedor Emelianko. Initial talks with the UFC President, Dana White, looked promising but they quickly went down hill and Fedor Emelianko signed with M-1 Global, a start-up MMA organization based out of Russia. Was it a mistake by for the most feared heavyweight on the planet? Let's debate.
First, it has been several, several months since news of Fedor signing with M-1 (October 2007) and no fight card or date has yet to be announced since the spectacle of Fedor fighting Hong-Man Choi, a fighter that had no business in their with the alleged best heavyweight on the planet that took place December 31, 2007.
Second, if Fedor would have signed with the UFC he would have gotten massive exposure into the very lucrative American fight scene. With exposure comes sponsorships and with sponsorships come money. In addition, the exposure in America would have highly boasted Fedor's claim as the top heavyweight in the world as many who only have a general interest in MMA and UFC have no idea of who Fedor Emelianko is or what he has accomplished.
Third, by signing with the UFC, Fedor would have been open to having the possibility of fighting the best heavyweights in the world. In late 2007 the UFC had the following heavyweights under contract: Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, Andrei Arlovski, Brandon Vera, Tim Sylvia, Heath Herring, Cro-Cop, Gabriel Gonzaga, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and most notably, Randy Couture. The match-up with UFC Heavyweight Champion, Randy Couture would have been a huge event and would have settled any argument as to who was the best heavyweight in the world. Instead, now there are rumors of Fedor fighting good but not top-tier heavyweights, Jeff Monson or Semmy Schilt.
In ending, by signing with the UFC, Fedor would have become an instant multi-millionaire, had access to the largest growing segment of MMA fans and had the opportunity to fight the best in the world. In fairness, I don't know everything that lead to Fedor signing elsewhere and by all accounts, Dana White, can be a little difficult to negotiate with but signing with M-1 Global as opposed to UFC seems like a big mistake as the sport seems to be moving on and past, the one time baddest heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianko.
Learn more about this author, Matthew Soo.
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