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The UFC hasn’t missed out on many high profile free agents over the years but arguably the biggest fighter to get away is former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko.
After the UFC bought out the Japanese based promotion, many high profile athletes eventually moved over to the promotion but Emelianenko was the one holdout that required extensive negotiations. In fact, UFC CEO Dana White has spoken numerous times in the past about how he and former UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta actually flew to some exotic destination to sit down with the Russian and his team in hopes they could hammer out a deal.
In the end, Emelianenko turned down the UFC’s offer and he eventually ended upcoming in organizations like Strikeforce and Bellator before calling it a career. But looking back now, White says it didn’t take long to move on from Emelianenko and he was actually happy the deal never got done.
“I feel like we’ve gotten everything done that we ever wanted to do,” White told The Pivot podcast. “We never got a deal done with Fedor [Emelianenko] but when me and Lorenzo [Fertitta] got on the plane and left wherever the hell we were, we looked at each other and said thank god they said no.
“Because we offered him so much money. You get in that room, and you’re just trying to get the deal done. We didn’t fly all the way f*ck out here for nothing. Let’s get this deal done.”
The deal didn’t get done and as much as White wanted to sign Emelianenko and pit him against Brock Lesnar, which would have been one of the biggest UFC fights in history, he still doesn’t regret how it all played out.
“We wanted to do him versus Brock Lesnar at the time,” White said. “But I don’t regret it. That’s the only fight off the top of my head I can think of that we didn’t make and we wanted to and we tried to.”
Of course, Lesnar remains one of the biggest draws to ever compete in the UFC and his star power wasn’t diminished just because he never faced Emelianenko.
As for the legendary Russian, his career eventually ended after a knockout loss to Ryan Bader back in 2023, but he’s still widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight of all-time. He’s also undoubtedly the most successful MMA fighter to never compete in the UFC.
