MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko hasn’t fought since November of 2009, where he defeated Bret Rogers via TKO in the second round. The Russian Sambo expert seems pretty frustrated with the fact that Strikeforce hasn’t been able to come to terms with M-1 Global, a deal both organizations had signed long ago where both sides would promote their label 50/50 during events. Due to the delay, Fedor has not been able to fight as much as he has wanted to.
Emelianenko’s next fight is scheduled to be against Fabricio Werdum on a June Strikeforce card. Though he was originally expected to fight Werdum on April 17, 2010, this fight was pushed back due to those same contractual negotiations between Strikeforce and M-1 Global.
From M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelchstein:
“There are certain clauses in that agreement which haven’t been lived up to. In one of these clauses was co-promotion, and given that M-1 spent a significantly larger amount of money on the first show than did Strikeforce, we would like to see something along the lines of a number of M-1 fighters fighting on the M-1 Strikeforce show, the main show, the undercard, etc. From our point of view, we’re waiting for the decision of, primarily, Scott (Coker) and Strikeforce, but also that of Showtime, and basically delivering in the relationship, going forward, that which was promised to us in the first place. This (decision) doesn’t depend on us at all. The ball is in their court. Fedor is in good shape. He’s constantly training to keep his form up. He needs around a month and a half warning before a potential fight and he’ll be able to fight. So the 26th of June is not a problem. Fedor is frustrated. He’s upset that he hasn’t been given the ability to fight. Again, the (delay) to make the fight happen, hasn’t been on us. It’s been on the other side. Because of their refusal to agree on giving us what was promised in the (contract) signed, the fight hasn’t happened. We’re not asking for anything other than what we were promised initially. … What we want is simply a 50-50 (relationship). We don’t want a repeat of the November 7 show, which for all intents and purposes looked like a Strikeforce show. We want to be 50-50 partners. We want this to be a proper fully fledged co-promotion.”
