Scott Coker's MMA company Strikeforce, has always benefited from failure. They have held their ground, slowly expanding their product, and picking up MMA stars from the defunct IFL and buying up the disaster that was Elite XC. Now Strikeforce benefits from Affliction's death as they sign the biggest free agent in MMA, "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko!The Red Devil leader will debut for Strikeforce on Showtime in late October or November, said Coker, who agreed to a trio of co-promoted events with M-1 Global, which manages and promotes the 32-year-old heavyweight. Similar provisions for co-promotion were laid out by M-1 during a four-day negotiation period with the UFC last week but Dana White and the boys didn't bite. Blaf responded to the breaking news in his usual PC way. “I’m in Abu Dhabi right now and my reaction is Fedor is a [expletive] joke,” White exclaimed angrily. “[He] turns down a huge deal and the opportunity to face the best in the world to fight nobodies, for no money. Fedor is a [expletive]!” I am personally baffled that Fedor would not want to sign with such a professional.
Dana White may have seen the tables turn on him, as he acquired the services of many former Affliction fighters while Coker was on vacation in Italy. After seeing all the names going to the UFC, Coker returned home and to the negotiating table to begin talks with anyone left unsigned, which included Fedor. The tables turned when Dana White left for Abu Dhabi, and he had to find out that the door had finally been closed on the possibility of Fedor in the octagon, and for less money.
The Fedor contract is a 3-fight deal and you can expect Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem to instantly be in the cross hairs of the "Emperor." After that, Fabricio Werdum, Mak Kyle, Paul Buentello, Kevin Randleman, and of course Brett "The Grim" Rogers, and the bevy of talent that will no doubt come calling to Strikeforce now that Emelianenko is in the stable.
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