SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
October - 2015
19
legend teased fans on social
media with a photoshop of
him at a UFC weigh-in, it was
clear that he had his sights set
on a huge payday. Which he
reportedly got, with a $2.5 mil-
lion deal for fighting in Japan
on New Year’s Eve (it is believed
that he has a deal for a second
fight as well).
Chalking his motivations up to
money alone, however, would
be over-simplifying the matter.
Fedor, perhaps, is loyal to a
fault, and dreaming of yester-
year, when he dominated Pride
in Japan. While some of his
aura — his mystique — was
shattered by his three Strike-
force losses on American soil
towards the end of his career,
in Japan, he will retain his im-
age of the unstoppable giant
slayer, the man who really only
needed a first name.
At the same time, this may also
be a business tactic: look what
I can get outside the UFC, Dana
White. Now maybe you should
consider upping your offer.
There is still a chance that Fedor
signs with an American promo-
tion. Scott Coker’s words, that
he’s not interested in Fedor at
the moment, but perhaps “a
couple years down the line, or
next year, or whatever” from a
recent interview were telling. It’s
likely that even then, he had a
hint of where the Russian fighter
was headed, and it clearly wasn’t
his own yard over in Bellator.
And so we play the waiting
game. In the meantime, Sakak-
ibara has said that Fedor’s op-
ponent will “mean something
for the future of MMA.” For
that to be the case, it cannot
be an unheard of fighter. That
would mean nothing for the
future, because there is one of
two outcomes: Fedor crushes a
can, or a can upsets the man
considered to be the best ever.
It will also not be Kimbo Slice,
or any Bellator fighter, appar-
ently, according to the most
recent word from Scott Coker.
Which leaves a very small num-
ber of relevant fighters, or a re-
tired fighter not under contract
elsewhere. Randy Couture
would be the most interesting
option, but in his fifties, does
even Couture mean something
to the future?
Fedors next fight, more than
anything, seems to be about
the past, about returning to his
roots. Still, it hasn’t done any-
thing to take away from the
fact that in the MMA world,
he is something of an enigma,
as hard to figure outside the
cage/ring as inside of it. Is he
looking for a payday? A return
to Glory? To challenge him-
self? To remain relevant? Who
will he fight, how will he look,
were those Strikeforce losses
a sign, or a string of bad days
and rough outings?
As always, with Fedor, there are
more questions than answers.
