Alejandro A. Alvarez / Philadelphia Daily News
Friday, Aug. 7, 2009 | 11:30 a.m.
UFC 101
- What’s next for Silva?
- Penn delivers encore performance
- Champs put on dominant display at UFC 101
- Tale of the Tape: Breakdown & Picks
- Fighters, Philadelphia fans weigh in
- Breaking down UFC 101: Penn vs. Florian
- The new and improved Kenny Florian
- Even champions need comebacks sometimes
- Breaking down UFC 101: Silva vs. Griffin
- Griffin returns to comfortable role as underdog
- Silva already putting on a show
- Road Blog from Philly
- Fighter says struggles only made him stronger
- Las Vegas fighter will battle in home state at UFC 101
- All-Star Victorino welcomes UFC to Philadelphia
- Philly native pumped for UFC's first event in hometown
- Complete UFC 101 coverage
While the majority of UFC news from the “City of Brotherly Love” caters to tomorrow’s UFC 101 event, UFC president Dana White still can’t stop talking about Fedor and his deal with Strikeforce.
The UFC’s main man says he still can’t understand why Russian star Fedor Emelianenko didn’t want to be a part of the UFC.
"If I was sitting on Fedor's lap that deal wouldn't have got done," White said after Thursday’s press conference. "Didn't matter. The deal was not going to get done. We went in there to do a deal, they didn't."
White said it wasn’t about the money as reports suggested Fedor could have made $30 million for a six-fight deal.
"It's definitely not about money, it's definitely not about contracts,” he said. “What's it really about? I don't know, I don't get it."
Emelianenko responded to White’s accusations on a conference call Thursday, saying the UFC president disrespects his fighters and disputed the actual numbers in the UFC’s contract offer.
"From my viewpoint, the UFC does not have the proper attitude to fighters," Emelianenko said.
"The UFC attitude towards fighters is not a good one. They don't treat them like human beings. And I don't like their policy. The offer that we got was one kind, and then on the Internet they published really different numbers. The offer they gave us was really miserable."
While White has always been cordial with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, unlike his dealings with other MMA promotions such as the recently folded Affliction, he said if it comes down to it the UFC would fight the promotion he dubbed “Strikefarce.”
“They should have stayed the way they were," White said.” If you want to fight me, we'll fight. You know how that goes. And we know how it ends."
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