Per Dave Meltzer (Wrestling Observer) "Fedor Emelianenko was at a show in Russia over the weekend and said that he would probably announce his next fight at the end of this month. There have been rumors going for more than a week that he is UFC-bound and the deal is done, and while there is no confirmation, there are people, including Bas Rutten, who have reported on the deal. Dana White was asked about it at the “Go Big” press conference and first jokingly ignored the question but then said he doesn’t have him. Our UFC sources only said the deal isn’t done and money is part of the issues. There has been an idea floating that if he does come to UFC to see if he’ll go at light heavyweight. The idea broached is that if Daniel Cormier beats Alexander Gustafsson on 10/3, that if Jon Jones isn’t coming back, you could do Cormier vs. Fedor. If Fedor wins, then it sets up Jones vs. Fedor as a monster fight. If Cormier wins, it sets up Jones vs. Cormier as a monster fight. I guess if Gustafsson wins, you could also do the same thing. Part of the issue is that by today’s standards, Fedor is very small for a heavyweight and he’s older now so it’s better to be less weight. But the heavyweight division also has far less depth and Fedor could still walk in against Velasquez and it’s a big fight, and Werdum has its own story behind it. Nobuyuki Sakakibara of Japan, who ran Pride, has been working behind the scenes to start something up and revive Japanese MMA, and that Emelianenko’s people have met with him".
