Fedor Emelianenko has his eyes on fixed the new UFC Heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar.

After watching Lesnar defeat Randy Couture in Las Vegas last Saturday at UFC 91, Emelianenko’s team have issued a press release voicing their interest in “a co-promoted event between the UFC, M-1, and Affliction Entertainment.”

Couture had lobbied for a fight with Emelianenko during his time away from the UFC during a contract dispute.

But Emelianenko and his team, who had previously been interested in a bout with the 45-year-old, clearly see the benefits from a match with the former WWE star, who has been the main topic of conversation all week.

“I think Lesnar fought a very smart fight,” Emelianenko told Sherdog.com of Lesnar’s title win. “It was very interesting to watch.

“I think one of his strengths was that – I was impressed by his speed in the fight. I think just from watching the fight, each fighter was waiting for the other one to make a mistake and I think Lesnar was very fortunate to have caught Randy and prevail.”

An Emelianenko vs. Couture fight, seen as a “dream bout” by many MMA fans, now appears highly unlikely.

And the Russian clearly has made Lesnar a higher priority.

When asked who he would prefer to fight, he said: “I’m very sympathetic to Randy. We hung out together. We got to know each other. I have a lot of warm feelings toward him. Based on that, if I had my choice without any outside forces involved, I would choose Lesnar.”

And on Lesnar’s high-profile start to his career in the UFC, Emelianenko added: “It was certainly a good start for him, but his successes and failures will depend on who’s in the ring with him.

“Whether I get a chance to fight Lesnar in the future or not, that fight will be about me taking advantage of those weaknesses.

“Any opponent that he has in the future, for them to prevail would be for them to take advantage and capitalize on mistakes that he makes. Like every fighter, he’s certainly prone to them and I see that.”

There is no love lost between Emelianenko’s team and the UFC as a result of previous contract issues.

The press release issued on Tuesday read: “It is the position of M-1 that the UFC has adopted an anti-Fedor policy because multiple attempts to sign him have not been fruitful.

“For a company that has tried to market itself as the number one promotion in the world, they are unable to accept the fact that the number one fighter in the world does not reside on its roster of contracted fighters.

“We believe that the UFC has determined that it’s much more inexpensive for them to use their marketing resources to use smoke and mirrors to brand a fighter as the pound-for-pound best as opposed to actually paying the pound-for-pound best what he is truly worth on the open market.”

Emelianenko (28-1) former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (13-5) at Affliction 2: Day of Reckoning on January 24 in Anaheim, CA in an event co-promoted by M-1.

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com