Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture: The Last of the PRIDE vs. UFC Matchups that will Never Happen

First, some background: As MMA grew in popularity from the late 1990s until today, consistently at the forefront among all MMA fighting organizations were the UFC (America’s premiere MMA league—which, arguably, created the sport in 1993) and PRIDE (Japan’s equivalent). Japan has a very strong and very loyal MMA fan base, which was evident in their ability to sign the very best fighters in the world, including the #1 ranked fighter in the world in any weight class, the heavyweight Russian Sambo fighter Fedor Emelianenko. Japan’s fan base, in fact, was largely considered more sophisticated than the American equivalent, which took significantly longer to develop.

The fighting styles featured in these two leagues were different as well. While PRIDE fights were staged in a boxing ring, the UFC incorporated the much larger, and more dramatic, steel cage. Over the years, in order to gain more widespread appeal and to secure pay-per-view providers, the UFC realized it needed official sanctioning and opted to cooperate with state athletic commissions to regulate the fights; thus, they reformed their rules, banning certain types of strikes that were deemed “brutal”—things like soccer kicks (kicking an opponent while he’s down), head stomps, etc. PRIDE, however, continued to allow these types of strikes, and in fact, some of their fighters, like Wanderlei Silva, were even known for them as their bread and butter moves.

Fighters in the UFC and PRIDE were constantly being compared by MMA fans. Which organization features the better fighters? Who would win between the champions of the UFC against their counterparts in the West? Up until about a year ago, most well-versed MMA fans considered PRIDE as having the slight edge.

However, all that changed in early 2007 and in the months leading up to the UFC’s eventual buyout of PRIDE. While much speculation still exists about what exactly happened between the two organizations, it was not unlike an MMA Cold War, where the more financially mismanaged PRIDE eventually succumbed to the “meteoric rise” of the UFC, which was assisted by the popular reality show The Ultimate Fighter series. On May 25, 2007, the UFC officially closed the deal on PRIDE for reportedly just under $70 million. What the UFC got out of the deal was access to PRIDE’s extensive video library and, even more valuable, the contracts of fighters currently signed to the PRIDE roster. Finally, MMA fans around the world would get answers to their questions of who would win between PRIDE’s best and that of the UFC.

Unfortunately for all of us, there was a catch in some of those contracts, most importantly, in Fedor Emelianenko’s, whose PRIDE contract had a non-transferable clause. Without a contract, the UFC was forced to negotiate with the free agent, a process that took more than five months and only recently ended.

Central to the contract dispute were three things: 1. Emelianenko’s management team, led by Vadim Finklestein, requested that the UFC work with his Russian M-1 promotion; 2. That the UFC allow Emelianenko to compete in combat Sambo tournaments, as PRIDE had permitted previously; and 3. That the UFC extend contract offers to other members of Emelianenko’s training team, Red Devil Sport Club (likely including his brother, Aleksander).

While the UFC and Emelianenko’s camp took months to close in on a deal, other PRIDE featured fighters—including Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson—all made the crossover to the UFC. But while many MMA fans thought that the PRIDE elites would come over and manhandle the UFC veterans, what they found was hardly the case. Cro Cop, Shogun and Henderson all have seen defeats in the Octagon (while Hendo lost to the former PRIDE fighter Rampage Jackson, the much-touted Cro Cop has seen at least one embarrassing loss), and Minotauro saw a near-defeat to a former PRIDE fighter he had previously beaten twice. Many attribute these losses to the sheer size of the caged ring and the differing match lengths (PRIDE consisted of one 10-minute round, followed by two five-minute rounds and intermissions lasting two minutes each; whereas the UFC features three five-minute rounds with 60-second intermissions). Still others, most notably Rampage Jackson, have seen success—Jackson has even captured the UFC Light Heavyweight title by beating UFC poster boy Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, before defending his title against Hendo.

But the Emelianenko deal continued to be elusive, and what happened in October 2007 shocked the MMA community. It was announced that Emelianenko had signed a multi-million dollar deal with the upstart (and hardly heard of) M-1 Mixfight Championship, the very promotion owned by Emelianenko’s manager Finklestein. Since the move was made public just a few days ago, MMA blogs and chat rooms have been flooded with posts by angry MMA fans, calling for Finklestein’s head and calling the deal one of the worst decisions a fighter presumably at the top of his game could have made—one that was made in his manager’s best interest, not in his own. Additionally, many MMA fans want to know how Emelianenko can continue to be considered the world’s #1 fighter when he will no longer be fighting top competition.

The fallout is already being felt. Just one day after the highly credible MMA blog MMAJunkie.com confirmed the Emelianenko announcement, UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture announced his resignation, despite two fights remaining on his contract. Reportedly miffed by the UFC’s inability to sign the Russian heavyweight, as well as frustration with the amount of money rumored to have been offered Emelianenko by the UFC—money that, in Couture’s eyes, is not being offered to him and other fighters who helped establish the UFC—Couture thought it best to pursue other interests. After all, he’s already proven he can beat the best heavyweights the UFC has to offer. Without the potential for a bout with Fedor, what else does he have to prove?

The loss of Emelianenko stings, but the loss of Couture could spell even greater repercussions, especially as many of the UFC’s largest draws are all nearing crossroads of their own:

• Chuck Liddell – The highest paid UFC fighter to date, Chuck Liddell recently lost his title to PRIDE standout Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and then followed it up with another loss to rising talent (but not highly marketable) Keith Jardine. While Rampage’s popularity won’t hurt the Light Heavyweight division, Liddell is still the UFC’s largest draw, and questions about the future of his career do not help the UFC at this time. Plus, how marketable is a Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva matchup now? Once touted as the SuperBowl of MMA events, both fighters are coming off back-to-back losses.


• Matt Hughes – Once called the “Most Dominant Welterweight in UFC History,” the former golden boy has since fallen—to rising star Georges St. Pierre who took Hughes’ Welterweight title. That in itself wouldn’t be considered a bad thing necessarily; after all, GSP is Canada’s golden boy and often called “the future of the sport.” However, GSP turned around and lost his very first title defense to a reality show winner, Matt Serra. Slightly embarrassing. Now Hughes faces Serra, a less marketable fighter, in a fight that the UFC is undoubtedly hoping goes Hughes’ way. If not, where does Hughes go to from here? The 34-year-old recently stated that he “only has two or three fights left in him.”


• Rich Franklin – The Cincinnati native was a perfect poster boy for the up-and- coming sport three and four years ago. But now that the former Middleweight Champion has lost his belt—in embarrassing fashion—to the seemingly unstoppable Anderson Silva, where does Franklin go from here? Should he lose his rematch next weekend at UFC 77 in his home town of Cincinnati, is there anywhere for him to go, other than early retirement?


• Georges St. Pierre – At just 26, GSP is already a former UFC Champion, but he has the brightest future ahead of him as any of these top draws. On top of that, he’s already earned the next title shot, facing either current Champion Matt Serra (who embarrassed him in their last fight) or former Champ Matt Hughes (who GSP embarrassed). Most expect GSP to beat whoever he faces, but should he lose, what does that spell for the future of the Welterweight division?


• Forrest Griffin – While certainly a top draw on account of his fan base, no one is sure who the UFC will match Griffin up against next. At an odd time in the Light Heavyweight division when all of the top talent is coming off recent losses, Griffin and Jardine find themselves with recent wins over two fighters largely considered to otherwise be the #1 and #2 contenders. While Jardine cannot command top box office appeal, Griffin certainly can. Unfortunately, no one expects him to be capable of beating the Champ, Rampage Jackson. What would a loss do for Griffin’s career?

On top of all these questions is the recent doping scandal involving Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk, who will likely be stripped of his belt at the end of this month when the California State Athletic Commission is expected to uphold their one-year suspension at Sherk’s appeal hearing. While Sherk’s possible departure actually helps the UFC in that it brings in more appealing contenders like B.J. Penn and Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, the growing steroid controversy—especially when a title is at stake—is nearly crippling.

What does all this mean? It means that Couture’s resignation (and announcement that he wishes to “severe all ties to the UFC”) comes at the worst of times. The UFC needs to consider life without Couture, Liddell, Hughes and even Franklin (not to mention Sherk). And while it has a stable of young fighters eager to fill those shoes (and capable of doing so), there are definite holes in its ranks. Noteworthy hopefuls are Lightweights Penn, Stevenson and Roger Huerta, who the UFC fancies as their ticket to breaking into the Mexican market; Welterweights GSP, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Diego Sanchez; and Light Heavyweights Jackson, Griffin, Shogun Rua, Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping, who the UFC has leveraged to break into England. The much weaker divisions are definitely the Middleweights and Heavyweights, made all the more thin by the loss of Couture.

Can the UFC survive without Emelianenko and Couture? Absolutely. The UFC is just too big, and MMA is too popular not to survive this fallout. But re-negotiating with Emelianenko and convincing him to renege on his M-1 contract (if even possible at this point), and then going out and securing Couture for a title bout would definitely help their situation. Until then, it looks like the greatest PRIDE vs. UFC match up that never happened.