Fedor Emelianenko will forever be one of the greatest fighters to have never fought in the UFC, and Joe Rogan has revealed exactly why it never came to fruition.
The 47-fight veteran, Fedor Emelianenko, is widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, having competed for several promotions.
Despite ‘The Last Emperor’ having retired from MMA in 2023 after an unsuccessful Bellator heavyweight title challenge against Ryan Bader, Conor McGregor teased his signing for BKFC.
Although Fedor is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time, he is one of the only ones in that category who has never competed in the UFC.
Joe Rogan on why Fedor never fought in the UFC
Over the years, there have been many rumors as to why the Russian never fought under the UFC banner, with him previously stating that one of the reasons is because he felt that Dana White hated him.
However, UFC commentator Joe Rogan has revealed the reason as to why Fedor never signed with the promotion, despite years of talks.
“So, Fedor was controlled by some Russian people, that were very rough men, as it were, gangster type characters,” he began to explain in an episode of his podcast.
“They had a bunch of negotiations with the UFC, but they were very unreasonable demands. They wanted part of the promotion, they wanted to own a piece of everything, they wanted a lot.
“Because they knew that with Fedor, they had the golden ticket, and they wanted to play it out as much as possible. The negotiations were very intense and very confrontational, they got bad, (to the point that) Dana had to up his security, it got heavy.
“These were dangerous people… It got crazy,” Rogan continued.
Fedor Emelianenko implored to make his comeback to fighting
The 48-year-old has been implored to make his return to combat sports by UFC legend Andrei Arlovski.
The former UFC champion has recently competed in a new combat sports promotion, Dirty Boxing Championship, which is co-owned by Jon Jones.
With there having already been talks that he may sign with BKFC, Fedor’s comeback to combat sports seems imminent, which worries the majority of the fanbase, considering he is 48 years old.
