Fedor Emelianenko Holding Out on Strikeforce Contract?

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.