Fedor Emelianenko’s Relationship With Scott Coker Won’t Affect Where He Signs

Ever since Fedor Emelianenko told the Russian website Union MMA that he was contemplating a return to the sport of MMA earlier this week, there has been speculation about which MMA promotion he would be fighting for.

Will it be Bellator MMA? UFC? or for some odd reason World Series of Fighting?

According to his manager Vadim Finkelchtein, Fedor’s relationship with his former boss, Scott Coker, who is the president of Bellator, will not affect his decision.

“I think that doesn’t matter at all,” Finkelchtein told MMAFighting.com via e-mail. “”And you know, Fedor is not in a bad relationship with Dana White or anyone else.”

With the decision just made this past week, Finkelchtein is not sure where his client will be fighting for following a three-year absence.

“I don’t really know where he will fight,” Finkelchtein said. “Time will show. It depends on which offer will be the best. He doesn’t have any specific preferences. But I am sure U.S., Japan, Russia and other countries will be happy to welcome Fedor.”

“Fedor doesn’t have any contracts with any promotions. Nothing bounds him. So I think that would be stupid not to be in negotiations with different MMA organizations. He has time, he has a wide choice so he can choose the contract with the best conditions for him.”

Following the questions of where would he fight, the next obvious question is who would he fight when he returns?

For year’s the ideal matchup for him was Brock Lesnar, but he’s in WWE right now and locked up for multiple years. So does he have his eye set on an exact fighter?

“I think Fedor wants to fight against the best athletes,” the manager said. “I know his fans want the rematches with [Fabricio] Werdum, [Antonio] Silva, [Dan] Henderson. But I didn’t hear Fedor telling me he wanted to fight someone in particular.”