BUZZ Fedor Emelianenko says UFC talks were meant to 'strangle' his career

Fedor Emelianenko has put his own account of the UFC years on record, and it is blunt: he believes the promotion never really wanted him to fight, only to keep him from fighting anywhere else.

Speaking to the Ushataika channel, the heavyweight, who turned 50 a month ago, described a personal meeting with Dana White that left him confused. In his telling, the UFC acted as though it wanted him on its roster, yet had not signed him a fight earlier, when he was free. The pattern, he said, repeated: when he was free he was of no interest, and when he was booked, offers started to arrive.

He laid out the trap as he saw it. Signed elsewhere, a fighter cannot take a new deal without being sued, and while the lawsuit runs he cannot fight in America. He named Strikeforce as the example: sign him, let Strikeforce sue, and he would fight in neither place. "As I understand it, they simply wanted to strangle my career," he said (translated).

Emelianenko then turned on White personally. He said businessmen differ, and that some honorable ones need only a handshake to keep their word. White, he said, has variously claimed he wanted to sign him, did not want to, regretted not signing him, or was glad he had not. He called that talk without accountability and said White's way of doing business is not his own. On White's status he was dismissive: if others see him as a legend, that is their choice.

The UFC has not responded in the interview, and the claims about White's motives are Emelianenko's own reading of events. Whether White answers is the next thing to watch.