Why Dana White and the UFC Fear Fedor

When it comes to the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is the largest and most well known promotion. With its shows the Ultimate Fighter and it's stockade of talented fighters, non-fight fans often mislabel the sport as ultimate fighting. The UFC has become successful due in large part to it's president, the arrogant and brash Dana White. It has been his vision in which the Mixed Martial Arts has become almost as popular as professional wrestling and even boxing. In a few more years, Mixed Martial Arts will surpass the latter two in popularity. Dana White can take much of that credit.

The UFC as an organization has easily dominated other promotions. They have gleefully watched competitors Elite-XC, Pride, and the IFL go out of business. The UFC currently has the majority of the most well known and top fighters such as Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. There is however, one notable name that is not in the UFC. "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko. At first glance, he doesn't look fearsome at all. At six feet tall and a two hundred and thirty pounds, many fighters in his weight class outsize him.

Fedor has an impressive professional record of 29 wins 1 loss and a no contest. His one loss is controversial in that his fight was stopped in the first seventeen seconds due to a cut sustained from an accidental illegal blow from his opponent Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Fedor avenged his only loss by submitting Kohsaka years later.

Fedor is the is the main reason that Affliction was able to stage two big fight promotions. White and the UFC know this and desperately want him to fight their heavyweights. The truth is, Fedor has already beaten two of the UFC's current top five heavyweights: Heath Herring and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. It is highly unlikely that other heavyweights such as Chuck Keingo, Cain Velasquez or even Frank Mir would last the distance with Fedor. However, the prospect of a fight between former professional wrestler turned UFC champion Brock Lesnar and Fedor could end up being the biggest pay per view event in the history of Mixed Martial Arts. Lesnar has impressed fans with his wins over Randy Couture and Heath Herring but is not experienced enough to beat a cerebral fighter such as Fedor.

Fedor doesn't need Lesnar or the UFC to cement his place in history as the greatest heavyweight of all time. He would really give the Mixed Martial Arts world a boost if he were to fight in the Strikeforce promotion. Strikeforce is a smaller promotion that has purchased the contracts of several known fighters from the defunct Elite-XC promotion including well known bust Kimbo Slice. They also have a television contract with NBC. A Fedor fight on national television could really give the UFC a run for it's money and make Strikeforce a legitimate promotion to compete with the UFC .

Fedor should remain a free agent and not be confined to a promotion that doesn't compensate it's fighters well. Dana White has said at times that Fedor is overrated. That his stand up game was bad. After his two wins against former UFC champions, White has lightened his criticism of the Russian fighter. White is now stating that Fedor is one of the top four or five heavyweights in the world. Dana has it wrong and he even knows it. Fedor is the best heavyweight and pound for pound mixed martial artist in the world. Dana White just wants him to fight in the UFC. The reasons why the Russian fighter won't sign with the UFC are not clear but it has been rumored that financial terms were not satisfactory and that any contract would halt his appearances in other promotions and other martial art competitions such as the sport of Sambo. The UFC is known to underpay their fighters and give them contracts that have made some of their bigger names such as Tito Ortiz and Randy "The Natural" Couture to leave the organization at one time or another. Fedor is widely known as the most coveted free agent in the sport. In Russia, he is widely regarded as the most popular athlete in that country. He is also widely recognized and admired in the countries of South Korea and Japan. A clip on the youtube website shows Fedor acting in a South Korean comedy sketch show. However, in America, he is still an enigma to fight fans. Clips of his fights in Pride and Affliction promotions can be viewed on Youtube and other sites. One such popular fight shows Fedor submitting 7 foot 2 inch giant Hong Mon Choi in an arm bar. Despite his other nickname, "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Fedor is a humble fighter that is all business in the ring. He never trash talks his opponents or stares them down. He often consoles them after he defeats them in competition. In the last twelve months, he has fought two former UFC champions at events promoted by the Affliction clothing company. In January of 2009, he knocked out Belorussian fighter Andre Arlovski with a punch in the first round. In July of 2008, he pummeled the taller American fighter Tim Sylvia onto the ground and into submission in 36 seconds.