Fedor Emelianenko To Return By Summer

Sherdog talked to Evgeni Kogan, M-1 Global’s Director of Operations who shared the following update on the status of Fedor Emelianenko:

“I think June, July is realistic (for Emelianenko’s return).”

“We were renegotiating. I think we’re pretty much at the end of that road,” said Kogan. “After the CBS show, we thought that the terms needed a little bit tweaking — nothing major, just a little bit of tweaking. So, we had a round of negotiations with Strikeforce. Everything went positively. We’re pretty much at the end.”

“Obviously, we are much more than the management company for Fedor,” said Kogan. “For us, it’s really important that the M-1 Global brand is acknowledged on these co-promotion events. As much as the partners made a lot of effort to acknowledge the co-branding, the media basically picked up on the fact that it was Strikeforce and kind of forgot about everything else, which wasn’t the most ideal for us.”

That does confirm much of the speculation over what part of the contract CBS/Strikeforce had failed to live up to. M-1 appears to feel like they were treated more as an advertiser than a co-promoter for the event. Knowing how M-1 does business, I would wager that it specifies very clearly in the contract how M-1 is to be presented on these broadcasts.

Regardless of the fact that M-1 really seems non-existent at times when it comes to promotion, if Strikeforce and CBS failed to live up to the contract then they opened the door that led to these negotiations.

From SB Nation’s own Head Kick Legend:

According to M-1 Global, Strikeforce has not honored the contract that they signed with M-1 and the only way Fedor will fight in a Strikeforce cage again is if they sign a new contract. M-1 is looking for a partner and to have Strikeforce cards featuring Fedor to be fully co-promoted cards.

To put it bluntly, M-1 Global is looking at other potential partners right now if Strikeforce doesn’t shape up. Generally speaking, that does not mean there is a healthy relationship with Strikeforce and that the chances of seeing Fedor fighting outside of Strikeforce have gone up. Now, is this just them trying to scare Strikeforce into conceding to their demands or are they seriously shopping Fedor and M-1 Global around is the question.

Now, it’s really important to realize that there are limitations to the kind of “shopping” of Fedor. For example, Strikeforce could easily sue the UFC and M-1 for tampering if they’re actively negotiating.

There is a lot to this story and it’s just a matter of attempting to figure out why M-1 says Strikeforce hasn’t honored the contract and then determining what the overall play is here. Is it an attempt to get out of the contract entirely to move to the UFC? Is this a play to get more money from a company they see as on its way out?

SB Nation will have more details as the story continues to develop.

Fedor Emelianenko, the world’s No. 1-ranked heavyweight, will not appear on the April card. Emelianenko’s proposed bout with Fabricio Werdum has been pushed to May. However, multiple sources are indicating that the stoic Russian could be absent from both events as his management attempts to re-tool terms of Emelianenko’s existing contract with Strikeforce.

- Sherdog gives wind of possible problems between M-1 (Fedor’s representation) and Strikeforce.

This is very much along the lines of what I’d been told by various sources to this point. M-1 seems to want to redo the terms of the Fedor contract after only one fight. Which one could speculate means that either they see the end of the “good times” coming from Strikeforce and are trying to squeeze a bit of cash out before it all goes away, they rushed into the deal to get away from the UFC, or they simply want more cash for their remaining fighter in the promotion.

When Gegard Mousasi left M-1 Global it was a real shock that seems to have been somewhat overlooked by the MMA media. Mousasi and Fedor were the two footholds they had in being relevant in the sport. With the young superstar gone there is a lot riding on Fedor’s ability to generate for them.

SB Nation will have more as the situation with Fedor’s next fight continues to develop.

The Fedor/Strikeforce rumor mill has been in serious overdrive the last week. From fighting Alistair Overeem in Japan, to trying to renegotiate his current Strikeforce contract, it appears that we finally have a definitive answer as to when and against whom Fedor will be fighting next. 

MMA Fighting breaks the news:

Fedor Emelianenko will not fight on the Strikeforce card in April, says M-1 Global.

At a pre-fight press conference Thursday for Friday's M-1 Selection Eastern European event in St. Petersburg, Russia, M-1 Global told TV 100 that Fedor's next fight will still be against Fabricio Werdum, but in May.

This would mean that Fedor will not be competing on the yet to be announced Strikeforce on CBS (or possibly Showtime) card, as previously expected, and would put an end to rumors of him fighting Alistair Overeem in Japan.

Strikeforce has still not confirmed details of the long-talked-about April card on CBS. Jake Shields and Dan Henderson have both confirmed their participation, so it now appears that the Strikeforce middleweight title bout will serve as the main event.

While it took entirely too long to announce, Strikeforce has finally clued the rest of the MMA world into when the promotion's top draw will be fighting next.

As for an initial thought on this news - one would think that Strikeforce's April card featuring Dan Henderson and Jake Shields will be switched to Showtime and the fight card featuring Fedor in May will serve as their next CBS telecast.

Stay tuned to SB Nation for more information on this news as it breaks.