(Uh-oh, I think we've got a workout video on our hands. Somebody get Jay Glazer on the horn, STAT. PicProps: Connect.in)
If you looked at yesterday’s reports that a bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was being considered for Strikeforce’s Jan. 29 show and thought to yourself, “Self, that seems awfully soon. Almost too soon,” well, you were right. We hate it when you’re right. Anyway, it turns out the aforementioned January date is “not on the table” for Fedor’s next yawn-worthy matchup in the Strikeforce cage, M-1 Global spokeshipster Evgeni Kogan said on Friday. As reported by MMA Junkie, Kogan wouldn’t elaborate further on the matter except to say that everybody involved has “been steadily working toward an agreement.”
The Junkie also notes that a couple months back M-1 boss Vadim Finkelstein said the rent-a-Fedor outfit was “negotiating primarily with Showtime to secure Emelianenko's return.” Not to read too much into that, but it pretty much makes it sound like Strikeforce itself is the least important party in these talks. It also indicates that maybe Kogan wasn’t just blowing smoke recently when he said M-1 was trying leverage its own live fight events onto Showtime. If they can pull that off, well, I wonder if they could also speak to my mortgage lender.
It still seems like Bigfoot Silva is the odds-on favorite to face Fedor when M-1 gets around to putting him back in action and as soon as it gets through renegotiating a contract that from where we’re sitting still has one fight left on it. According to the Junkie, Fedor signed a three-fight deal with Strikeforce in August of last year. So far he’s fought twice for the company, a win over the increasingly crappy-looking Brett Rogers last Nov. and a shocking loss to Fab Werdum in June. Our math is not the greatest, but that … let’s see here … yep, still one fight left.
Strikeforce’s people (who, to their credit, continue to act like they have a say) contend that it’s a possibility Fedor vs. Silva could be part of a rumored heavyweight tournament beginning in February. Frankly, we’re not even going to dignify that bullshit with a response, except to say anybody who has the naivety (or the sheer balls) to puts the words Fedor, Strikeforce, heavyweight and tournament together in the same paragraph ought to be punched in the face on general principle.
So, while everybody keeps saying we’re on the verge of seeing Emelianenko deign to grace us with presence sometime in the near future, we’ll go ahead and leave you with this increasingly vague string of quotes from all parties involved and let you decide for yourself:
"I think we're moving in the right direction," Scott Coker says. "It sounds like it's getting very close.”
"We are really hoping that we can finalize things as soon as possible …," says Kogan. "And I think we are closer to it now than we have been in the past."
“We feel fine about (the negotiations) in terms of Fedor's career,” says Finkelstein. “Because we know at some point very soon, he's going to have a fight."
"It all depends where these negotiations take us," Strikeforce spokesperson Mike Afromowitz says. No shit, really? Well, any time now, you guys …
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