Fedor Meeting Goes Poorly

A UFC source who spoke to FIGHT! Magazine contributor Sam Caplan said that the big Thursday meeting with Fedor did not go well. According to UFC Junkie, there were a variety of sources that said a deal was tentative:

A variety of reports today stated...that a tentative deal worth about $2 million per fight had been reached. However, Caplan reports that his source gave no indication that a deal was imminent.

Caplan's report, along with the little that Dana White admitted to knowing, culminate in a less than favorite report regarding the possibility of having Fedor in the company anytime soon. This is despite the fact that White acknowledged Fedor would receive an immediate title shot if he signed:

During Thursday’s UFC 75 media conference call, UFC President Dana White said that if Emelianenko signs with the organization, he could be next in line for a title shot with current champ Randy Couture. White, though, gave no indication that a deal was close, and even joked that the conference call members should “put in a good word” for him.

"Could be" in Dana White language usually means "is definite" and there are few things in mixed martial arts less definite than the deservedness of Fedor Emelianenko, a man who has beat the two fighters that can lay claim to a shot at Fedor's belt (Nogueira, Cro Cop). Couture-Fedor would probably draw one of the largest buy rates in the history of the sport and would be yet another boost for the unfazeable progress of mixed martial arts.