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[Cat--Smasher]

M-1: June Targeted for Return of Fedor Emelianenko

according to M-1's global director of operations Evgeni Kogan, who told MMA Fighting that recent rumors of a concrete date and opponent are incorrect.

"We're working towards securing a Fedor fight in Monaco for the summer, sometime around the time when Formula One happens," he said. "Specifically, a little while afterwards."

The Formula One racing series is scheduled to make its annual stop through the principality during the period of May 24-27, and Kogan said M-1 was targeting an event "closer to the second week of June."

Kogan noted that neither a date or opponent have yet to be finalized, and that the promotion hopes to officially announce both around mid-March.

Asked about reports that Emelianenko would face former UFC fighter Todd Duffee, Kogan would not confirm or deny any individual rumors.

"The search for the opponent is currently in process with a number of worthy candidates being considered," he said.

M-1: June Targeted for Return of Fedor Emelianenko - MMA Fighting

Rumour: Fedor vs Todd Duffee in Las Vegas

If you’ve been following the MMA news pages lately you’ve probably seen the rumours that Todd Duffee is being lined up for a fight with Fedor Emelianenko.

A well-placed source gave me a call yesterday to add some (extraordinary) details.

According to this source, who has been solid in the past, the fight “is being considered for a co-promotion between M-1 Global and a new organisation, which may be a one-and-done org for the purposes of the fight.”

The venue apparently being looked at is Caesar’s in Las Vegas, Nevada.

An M-1 spokesman literally laughed when I put this to him, but would not categorically deny that there was no foundation to the rumour. I wouldn’t normally have put these details out there except for the previous reliability of the source and the fact they match up well with some other behind-the-scenes rumblings.

For example, the talk of a ‘new organisation’ being behind the match ties in with the fact that M-1 Global has now officially changed its name to MMA-1. The announcement was on the company’s Russian-language site today.

“Our sport is now becoming very popular and we are approaching the stage where the world should know one name. Whether it's Brazil, China, America, Europe, everyone knows the name of the MMA - Mixed Martial Arts (trans. mixed martial arts).

“M-1 gets its name from Mixfight-1. No country in this kind of martial arts do not call mixfight. We decided to use a more accurate epithet,” said M-1 (sorry, MMA-1) president Vadim Finkelstein.

So, a solid source saying that a new organisation is looking at booking Fedor in Las Vegas, followed by M-1 changing its name to something completely new?

Rumour: Fedor vs Todd Duffee in Las Vegas - Fighters Only

[Y2JUBAE]

Todd would be a horrible opponent for Fedor. He might actually KO Fedor. If Fedor wins, it really means nothing as Overeem just murdered him.

Fedor, just come to the UFC. It makes no sense to say you wouldn't go to the UFC but yet all you want to fight is UFC rejects?

There are plenty of good fights for Fedor in the UFC.

[disposableassassin]

Originally Posted by Y2JUBAE

Todd would be a horrible opponent for Fedor. He might actually KO Fedor. If Fedor wins, it really means nothing as Overeem just murdered him.

Fedor, just come to the UFC. It makes no sense to say you wouldn't go to the UFC but yet all you want to fight is UFC rejects?

There are plenty of good fights for Fedor in the UFC.

at this point in his career and with the strikeforce heavys coming in i am sad to say that i do not believe fedor would do well at all in the UFC

[The8thPlague]

"The search for the opponent is currently in process with a number of worthy candidates being considered," he said.

If they're searching for WORTHY Opponents for Fedor they must be searching on the UFC Website, because I can't think of any other "worthy" opponents out there.

[thefirm0]

fedor has nothing left to prove in terms of accolades, he was the man for a decade and still is you fucks, if he still wants to fight then let him its not like he talks shit about ufc saying hes better then everyone so who cares if he fights guys outisde the top 10.

[DarkMage]

Originally Posted by disposableassassin

at this point in his career and with the strikeforce heavys coming in i am sad to say that i do not believe fedor would do well at all in the UFC

Despite his loss to Dan Henderson, I still feel Fedor would do well if he would drop to LHW. I really feel he could make a great run with his skill sets taking on guys that don't outweight him by 40 or 50 pounds. However he is too stubborn to do so; he's explicitly said he will not drop down. That really makes me sad since it's obvious the HW division has gotten to big and well rounded for him.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Unless it's some sort of freakshow fight vs. Badr Hari or something of that nature, M1 has zero pull anymore with Fedor drawing alone.

Given that SPIKE TV is now deeply invested in Bellator, outside of the UFC the only fight worth making is a BIG SPLASH Viacom investment in Konrad/Fedor for the BFC Title, which still, ain't too impressive, but is better than most alternatives.

[FedortheCan]

Originally Posted by thefirm0

fedor has nothing left to prove in terms of accolades, he was the man for a decade and still is you fucks, if he still wants to fight then let him its not like he talks shit about ufc saying hes better then everyone so who cares if he fights guys outisde the top 10.

Um have you seen his last few fights??? If he still wants to be considered relevant as a top HW in MMA... he needs to fight a legit opponet and handle his business. If not, he is going to ride off into retirement fighting has-beens and wannabe's and Im sure the MMA world doesnt want to see a guy considered the best HW of all time ending it that way.

[DarkMage]

Originally Posted by FedortheCan

Um have you seen his last few fights??? If he still wants to be considered relevant as a top HW in MMA... he needs to fight a legit opponet and handle his business. If not, he is going to ride off into retirement fighting has-beens and wannabe's and Im sure the MMA world doesnt want to see a guy considered the best HW of all time ending it that way.

Regardless of what haters feel, Fedor was recognized by the majority of the MMA world as the best HW on the planet for 10 years. Period. End of story. Nothing is going to change that. Fedor is going to spend his last good fighting years fighting people that are not even considered top 20. So any haters might as well just make one big Fedor-bashing post bitching about it right now, because that is how he is going to end his career. It's still not going to change the fact that he will be remembered as the GOAT because of his decade-long reign of terror as an undersized HW fighting as HW. In 50 years that is what they will remember, not the bitching from Fedor Haters.

[Sniggles]

Does anyone else think that Duffee is cycling some shit with his year off?