Well fight fans it appears that negotiations to put a fight together between Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko (32-3, 1NC) and Dan Henderson (27-8) have not taken place according to M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan.
Kogan confirmed the news with MMAjunkie.com on Wednesday, noting “There have been no discussions with us. Any discussions have been solely on the other side of the Atlantic.”
Talk of a possible matchup surfaced among the media after Henderson’s victory this past weekend over Rafael “Feijão” Cavalcante for the Strikeforce light heavyweight title in Columbus, Ohio. In an interview after the event Henderson was asked if fighting Fedor would interest him he responded “it would be a huge challenge.”
Fedor is coming off the third loss of his career, just his second real defeat, at the hands of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on Feb. 12 in their opening quarterfinal bout of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament. The loss, coupled with his previous submission defeat to Fabricio Werdum, have many questioning his validity as a heavyweight in the current pool of larger fighters. Many fans and media have called for a move by the Russian to 205 lbs where his size more closely matches that of the opponents in that division.
This doesn’t mean that a possible fight between Henderson and Fedor won’t happen, just expect the negotiations to take their usual length of time when dealing with M-1 Global, if the fight is to happen.