Two months removed from his first loss in nearly 10 years, Fedor Emelianenko is confident his future – and a contract extension with Strikeforce – soon will be finalized.
The former PRIDE champion recently suffered an upset submission loss to fellow top-10 heavyweight Fabricio Werdum at a June Showtime-televised event.
Although no return date or opponent have been determined, Emelianenko (32-2 MMA, 1-1 SF) recently said his management team and Strikeforce officials are ready to move forward.
"So far I feel very comfortable fighting, very good with my fighting, and I'm planning [to fight] as long as I can physically," he recently told m-1global.com, the official site of M-1 Global. "As far and I'm concerned we should discuss the possibility of signing another contract for four to six fights."
Emelianenko is the chief asset of M-1 Global, which has taken co-promoter status in the fighter's Strikeforce bouts. Emelianenko has one fight left on his current contract, though both Strikeforce and M-1 Global want a new deal in place before his next fight.
On that front, M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan sees progress.
"The relationship between ourselves, Strikeforce and Showtime is a good one," he said. "We had a great event in June in San Jose, and we look forward to more good events with our partners. ... [We] are in talks to extend the contract for Fedor and at the same time to settle on who, when and where he is fighting next. These talks are going smoothly, and we are hopeful of a full resolution very shortly."
So what exactly is in store for his next fight?
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker initially said that he was open to Werdum vs. Emelianenko II, though the original meeting in June was supposed to determine a No. 1 contender for champ Alistair Overeem, who recently topped Brett Rogers for his first title defense in more than two years. However, in a recent interview, Coker said Werdum will sit out the rest of 2010 to undergo long-needed elbow surgery. Overeem may be on the sidelines until Werdum returns.
Regardless of what the future holds for Emelianenko, one thing now seems very unlikely: a move to the UFC, the world's top MMA promotion.
Emelianenko's team and UFC officials have negotiated without success in the past, and though each side occasionally hinted at future possibilities, both recently have shut the door in wake of the Werdum loss.
As MMAjunkie.com reported soon after Emelianenko's defeat, UFC president Dana White said he is "done playing the games" and no longer plans to pursue the Russian.
Emelianenko echoed the sentiments.
"For now [we work] with Strikeforce, and we are concentrating on that," he said. "The contract is not over yet. So for now we don't have any interest in the UFC."
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I Didn't See This Coming 
