Fedor dropped by Strikeforce...the word from last week

Former WAMMA World Champion, Pride World Champion and at one point (that lasted a decade) thought to be indestructible Fedor Emelianenko has been dropped from Strikeforce.  Dana White made the announcement during the UFC 133 press conference in Philadelphia, PA.

Today during the Press Conference Dana took a few minutes from hyping UFC 133 to drop the news that Fedor Emelianenko had been released from his Strikeforce contract.   He handled it in perfect Dana form adding “Yeah, he’s being cut.  You guys thought he was the pound-for-pound best in the world, I said he was overrated for years.”  So even in releasing Fedor he found time to add insult to injury.

Fedor has lost three consecutive fights inside of the Strikeforce promotion.  He was submitted by Fabricio Werdum, stopped by Antonio Silva and TKO’d by Dan Henderson consecutively.  Any other fighter who had been stopped three times in a row like that would also be expected to be let go, so there is no cry foul here.  You can not continue to lose inside the UFC or Strikeforce and expect to remain employed.  That’s not what is at issue here.

The interesting aspect of this is Fedor doesn’t have a contract with Zuffa or specifically with Strikeforce.  His deal is and has been with Showtime Network Inc.  So it’s hard to imagine what say if any Dana White has as it pertains to contract issues with the Russian legend.   He can of course say Fedor is persona non grata in Strikeforce and or in the UFC, but cutting him, not resigning him isn’t within his power.

What the future holds for Fedor is up for debate but if he returns, it’ll likely be under the M1 banner and on the Showtime Network.  There are other options out there as well.  Pro Elite is back and has had a working relationship with Fedor in the past.  Time will tell.

courtesy of mmavalor.com