The UFC has a crop of stars now in it's stacked heavyweight class: Brock Lesnar, a resurgent Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Rodrigo Nogueira, Stefan Struve, Gabriel Gonzaga, and a few others. Not all of those names are going to be titlists, but they are good, exciting fighters that can make some very interesting fights. There is still one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb in that line up however, and that is Fedor Emelienenko's name is absent from it. In the opionion of many, including myself, Fedor would come out on top in any one of those match ups because he is Fedor. The thing that is so frustrating for fans is that we will not get to see these fights come to fruition to be sure because of several different forces at work. First of all there is M-1 global and all of the leeches that are surrounding Emelienenko who insist on co-promotion of a brand that has one asset that anyone is interested in, and that is Fedor. Before the announcement that Gegard Mousasi had left M-1 Global to seek alternative management you could have said that they had two valuable assets. Hopefully Mousasi leaving is a signal that Fedor may be the next follow suit and ease up on the co-promotion aspect of the negotiations (Emelianenko is apparently part owner of M-1 which may also impede any progress). The UFC has built such a strong name and fan base in the US that they have absolutely nothing to gain from co-promoting with M-1 and for them to think any differently is absurd. The second element in this volatile mix is Dana White's brash and disrespectful attitude towards Fedor and his camp. What the UFC really needs is to have Dana stick to promoting the events and stay out of the negotiating process completely. For Fedor to be in the position that he is willing to compete for the promotion I have a feeling that DW will have to be so far out of the promotion that Fedor can't even see the shiny glare from Dana's bald head. As recently as last weekend in Australia the aforementioned White stated that they are still wanting to get Fedor and that it is a possibility, but he has been dangling that carrot in front of fans for way to long for us to hold our breath. I like one match up in the stable that Fedor currently resides in and that is him vs. Alastair Overeem. Besides that fans and pundits alike are really not too thrilled about the other possibilities in the Strikeforce HW division. The only solution to this ailment is to get Fedor where he belongs, with the world's other top heavyweight talent before he gets too old and fans are left wondering what could have been.
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