It remains the white whale of mixed martial arts, the superfight that haunted message boards, press conferences and Dana White’s dreams for the better part of two years: Fedor Emelianenko, the stoic Russian emperor who ruled PRIDE with an iron sambo grip, against Brock Lesnar, the WWE-turned-freight train who had just fought his way to the UFC heavyweight title.
In the summer of 2009, the stars seemed to align as is almost never the case in this sport.
Fedor, 32 years old and on a 27-fight undefeated streak, had just completed his Affliction trilogy with a 75-second demolition of Andrei Arlovski and a first-round TKO of Tim Sylvia the year before. His management (M-1 Global) was openly looking for the biggest fight possible, and the UFC heavyweight division had a new king: Lesnar, who had survived Frank Mir’s kneebar at UFC 100 in July to unify the belts in front of 1.6 million pay-per-view buyers.
Dana White really wanted it. So much so that he flew to Russia, sat down across from Vadim Finkelstein and reportedly offered Fedor a six-fight deal worth $30 million – at the time the richest contract in MMA history. White later claimed that the only thing standing in the way was M-1’s demand for co-promotional rights, something the UFC would never allow.
Fedor’s side told a different story: They wanted the same percentage of earnings on PPV that Lesnar got (reportedly 10 points on the purchase price), plus the right to participate in combat sambo tournaments during the contract. The UFC said no. The negotiations failed. Fedor signed with Strikeforce instead.
What we got instead was the cruellest consolation prize imaginable.
Fedor fought Brett Rogers on CBS (and won) and then got caught in a Werdum triangle that ended the myth of his invincibility. Lesnar defended his title once again against Shane Carwin, after which diverticulitis nearly killed him, and by the time he returned, Alistair Overeem was waiting with a liver kick that sent him into retirement.
The window slammed shut forever.
Why it would have been the best
Style clash from hell: Lesnar’s Division I wrestling pedigree and 285 pounds of explosive muscle versus Fedor’s otherworldly reaction time, cast-iron chin and vicious ground-and-pound from top position. It was Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos on steroids, but with the added layer of one man being the most feared heavyweight in the world and the other being the scariest athlete to ever cross over from professional wrestling.
Cultural Clash: The silent, almost monastic Russian icon – the last emperor of PRIDE – versus the brash, roaring American monster who once told a Canadian audience, “I’m going to drink a Coors Light, that’s a Coors Light, because Bud Light won’t pay me anything.”
It was East versus West, old guard versus new money, humility versus spectacle.
Historic stakes: A win for Fedor would have made him the undisputed greatest heavyweight ever, period. A victory for Lesnar would have been the biggest mainstream crossover moment in MMA history – bigger than UFC 100 itself.
Instead, fifteen years later we’re debating mortgages.
Dana White still brings it up when he’s angry, usually after a few drinks. Fedor, now 49 and long retired, simply shrugs in interviews: “It didn’t happen. Life goes on.”
But every hardcore fan over the age of thirty knows the truth: on a cold night in 2009 or 2010, in a sold-out arena with five million people tuning in for pay-per-view, we were robbed of the one fight that could have transcended the sport.
And we’re left wondering what would have happened if the Last Emperor finally met the Incarnation Beast.
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