Looks like Fedor Emelianenko will, in fact, be in the upcoming EA MMA video game. Fedor, as he’s known to MMA fans, currently fights in M-1 Global, which is an MMA organization based in Russia. (YouTube helps here.)
This could have consequences further down the road. Pretty much every MMA fan in the world wants to see Fedor fight in the UFC; most of those fans, I would guess, would want him to fight Brock Lesnar, who just gave Frank Mir a thorough talking-to. The only problem is that Dana White, who’s sort of the Vince McMahon of UFC (he’s actually the president of the company, but he also performs a public “look at me!” role like Vince McMahon does/used to), has gone on record, time and again, as sayingthat anyone who appears in the upcoming EA MMA game will never fight in the UFC. (Yes, Randy Coture is the exception to this rule.)
Why is Mr. White resorting to such measures?
I went to EA Sports. Know what EA Sports said? ‘It’s not a sport. This isn’t a sport. We would never get involved in something like this.’ We come out with a video game [UFC Undisputed, the best selling game of the quarter] and now they want to come out with a video game? (Expletive) you.
(Also, Dave Meltzer, the guy whose story that quote comes from, could be the greatest journalist alive today.)
So, in summary, Fedor’s appearance in the EA game complicates matters. Now, because Lesnar vs. Fedor has money written all over it, especially if neither of the two lose any upcoming fights, you’d have to think that Dana White would re-consider his stance.
Fedor isn’t getting any younger, and I’d like to see him and Lesnar go at it before the sun runs out hydrogen.