In a career spanning more than two decades, Fedor Emelianenko regrets not being able to call himself a UFC fighter. Unsurprisingly, the Russian MMA legend blames UFC CEO Dana White for it. To be more precise, Fedor particularly shares his frustration about White’s business practices that snubbed him a well-deserved UFC debut.

In a recent interview with Ushatayka, the former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion questioned Dana White’s approach to signing him to the UFC.

“Honestly, I didn’t understand,” Emelianenko said. “I didn’t understand the point of his actions. He came over saying, ‘I want you to fight for me.’ He made that very clear, but one fight earlier, I’d been a free agent. I was free, and they didn’t sign me. … It happened every time. 

When I’m free, they aren’t interested. When I’m under contract, the offers start coming, but if you’re under contract, you can’t sign another one. There would be legal proceedings.”    

Fedor implied here that the UFC made a deal practically impossible by attempting to sign him after he committed to a different promotion. Though ‘The Last Emperor’ didn’t specify any instance, his words point toward 2009, when the promotion approached him multiple times.

At that time, Fedor Emelianenko was signed to a promotion named Affliction MMA and was about to fight Josh Barnett. However, Barnett tested positive right before their fight, and the promotion subsequently stopped producing fights. That made Fedor the most sought-after free agent in the world, and the UFC tried to take advantage of it

Reportedly, the UFC tried to sign Fedor when he was briefly out of promotional bounds following Affliction MMA’s downfall. But Dana White’s promotion couldn’t come to terms with the heavyweight fighter’s promoter, M1 Global, who wanted to co-promote his fights.

The failed talks ultimately led Fedor to sign with Strikeforce in 2009. 

The 40-7 MMA legend defeated Brett Rogers to win the Strikeforce heavyweight belt. That win once again prompted Dana White and UFC’s previous owner, Lorenzo Fertitta, to pitch him once again to join the UFC by traveling to the Caribbean island nation of Curaçao, where Fedor was spending a vacation. 

Despite the UFC’s repeated attempts, Fedor Emelianenko couldn’t sign with them because he was already contracted to Strikeforce. However, Scott Coker, who led Strikeforce before it merged with UFC, revealed that White offered Fedor legal fees if he wanted to get out of the contract.

Interestingly, Coker revealed it was Fedor’s manager, Vadim, who initially signaled to the UFC that the Russian was a free agent after the Rogers fight, which wasn’t the case. 

Fedor claimed that the UFC never showed interest in signing him when he was a free agent. However, the fizzled-out negotiations right before he signed with Strikeforce show that the situation was more complex than he perceived.

Well, Fedor’s problems with Dana White just didn’t stop there. He decided to take a shot at the UFC CEO for speaking what he called nonsense about him. 

Fedor Emelianenko calls out Dana White for being disrespectful 

In July, Dana White appeared on the Pivot podcast, where he also shared some details about behind-the-scenes negotiations with Fedor Emelianenko. The UFC CEO confirmed that he and Fertitta traveled to the Caribbean island to offer Fedor a lucrative fight with Brock Lesnar.

However, because of the complexities in the negotiations, White said he doesn’t “regret” the Russian heavyweight never coming to his promotion. Fedor found White’s words particularly disrespectful, and he decided to fire some further shots at the head honcho.

“There are different kinds of businessmen,” Fedor added in the interview with Ushatayka. “Some are decent and respectful. Some people don’t even need a contract. A handshake is enough; they keep their word. But now Dana is talking all sorts of nonsense. 

“First he wanted me, then he didn’t. Then he regretted it, then he’s glad he never signed me. The man talks and changes his story. He simply doesn’t stand by his words. His way of doing business doesn’t sit well with me.” 

Fedor definitely didn’t mince words in calling out the UFC CEO for sabotaging his chances to fight for the world’s biggest MMA organization. However, this isn’t the first time he has voiced his grievances against Dana White. In 2013, Fedor said he felt White personally “hated” him following the years of failed negotiations.

That said, Fedor Emelianenko’s latest comments again proved that his disdain toward Dana White isn’t over, even though his MMA career is long over. And it seems that the bad blood won’t go away anytime soon.