UFC's White on Fedor: 'I'm over it'

After years of wondering when it might happen, or if it ever would, mixed martial arts fans will have to keep waiting.

Despite rumors and reports that Fedor Emelianenko would sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, company president Dana White said Friday a deal was not done and that as far as Fedor is concerned, he's "over it."

"I was so confident we were going to get this done," White said about negotations with Fedor and his manager, Vadim Finkelchtein, who also runs M-1 Global. "I went in with the mindset that we were going to get this done."

White said there is essentially a standing offer to Fedor to come to the UFC.

"We haven't pulled anything back. We have an offer out to Fedor," White said. "We sat and talked to these guys all day the other day. They can call me right now. They can call me tomorrow. They can call me next month. I'm ready to roll."

White said his motivation for trying to finally get Fedor into the UFC is simple: the fans.

"Listen, the fans wanna see this fight," White said. "It's my job to make this fight happen. That's what I do for living. I'm trying."

Reports earlier this week were that a deal with Fedor would be a six-fight contract worth $5 million per fight; an immediate title shot against UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar; a cut of the pay-per-view of a Lesnar-Fedor main event; no co-promotion status with M-1 Global, but the ability to wear M-1 global logos to the Octagon; and the opportunity to fight outside the organization in Russian Sambo tournaments if he wanted to.

White alluded to some parts of the potential deal Friday.

"He got offered a (freaking) (butt)load of money," White said. "A ton of money, everything he wanted, he could go fight in Sambo every (freaking) Thursday night if he wants to. He could do everything he wanted to do, and we showed them nothing but respect and tried to bring them in because people wanna see this fight and the media keeps talking like this guy's the (freaking) best."

White has always said he doesn't believe Fedor is the best fighter in the world, and he echoed that on Friday's call.

"I've heard lots of different reasons why he doesn't want to be in the UFC," White said. "I don't know what the answer is. I think for the fans, or any of the media, to seriously call this guy the best in the world, let alone pound-for-pound, is (freaking) insanity when he won't give you the fights the fans wanna see. I have tried to do everything in my power to make this thing happen. We've done deals with the best fighters in the world over the last 10 years. There's absolutely no reason why Fedor should not be fighting in the UFC right now."

When asked about sticking points to making the deal happen going forward, White's voice raised and he said he's hit the wall when it comes to negotiating to bring Fedor to the UFC.

"There is no sticking point. I'm over it. I'm over the deal," White said. "To be honest with you, I don't even wanna talk about him anymore. I literally did everything. I've put my money where my mouth is, laid everything out to try to make this thing happen, and they're coming up with unrealistic (crap). The guy doesn't wanna fight the best in the world -- I don't even wanna talk about him. I wanna talk about the guys who do wanna fight the best in the world."

Fedor, a heavyweight with a 30-1 career record and 26 straight wins, is considered by the vast majority of analysts, competitors and fans to be the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Fedor's potential journey to the UFC, the most prominent MMA organization in the world, was made possible by the collapse of a rival promotion just a week ago. Affliction, a clothing company based in California that had risen up to challenge the UFC's supremacy by organizing its first fight card a year ago, announced last Friday, just two weeks short of only its third event, that it had canceled Affliction III: Trilogy and was getting out of the fight promotion business.

The scheduled main event for that card was Fedor against former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, the No. 2 heavyweight in the world in most rankings. But when Barnett allegedly tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid, the California State Athletic Commission denied his license to fight in the card, which was to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Aug. 1.

Sources close to Affliction and its partner and co-promoter, M-1 Global, a Russia-based MMA promotion run by Vadim Finkelchtein, Fedor's manager, told The Times that Affliction had lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million with the cancelation of the event. According to that source, finding a replacement for Barnett suitable for Fedor, changing all its advertising related to the main event and risking fans wanting refunds of their $44.95 pay-per-view purchase was too much to endure.

Instead, Affliction did what most consider the smartest business move it could make -- it patched things up with the UFC and agreed to become a major sponsor. The UFC and parent company Zuffa had banned its fighters from being sponsored by Affliction in January 2008 after the company decided to promote fights.

Fedor hasn't lost since Dec. 22, 2000, when Tsuyoshi Kohsaka cut him with an elbow in a Rings: King of Kings tournament in Osaka, Japan. The elbow was accidental in that Kohsaka missed Fedor with a punch and Fedor ducked under and into the elbow. The cut was severe enough that Fedor was not allowed to continue. But because the elbow strike -- illegal under the organization's rules -- was accidental, the bout was not ruled a no contest. And because it was a tournament, a winner had to advance, giving Fedor the loss in just his fifth professional fight.