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Joe Rogan Reveals MMA Great Was Never Signed By The UFC Amid Security Threats & Dangerous Negotiations
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Get to know Paul Kelly betterPublished18 Apr 2025
UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan has revealed that Dana White was forced to give up on an all-time great MMA fighter after dangerous negotiations and security threats.
Joe Rogan Reveals MMA Great Fedor Emelianenko UFC Deal Collapsed Amid Dana White Security Threats
Not only is Joe Rogan famous for his popular podcast the Joe Rogan Experience, but he is also a UFC colour commentator and has been since the very beginning of the organisation.
Rogan has a great relationship with UFC President Dana White, with the pair being side-by-side all the way thought the UFC’s journey to the biggest MMA organisation in the world.
Over the years, all of the best fighters in the world have ended up signing with the UFC. Nowadays this is less know, with the premier MMA organisation more known for nurturing talent from the beginning and developing it over time.
However, that wasn’t always the case. For years the UFC were known for signing top talent, particularly during their golden era. White and the UFC were absorbing promotions left, right and centre.
Although this was the case, they were never able to sign arguably one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time – Fedor Emelianenko.
Emelianenko is one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ that never came to competing in the UFC. The legendary Russian fighter is quite possibly one of the greatest heavyweight’s in MMA history, but never proved it in the UFC.
In his first 30 fights, ‘The Last Emperor’ defeated every man put in front of him from 2000-2009. He remained undefeated, bar getting stopped on a cut on one occasion.
Although he is one of the GOAT’s of MMA, UFC President Dana White never captured his signed. One reason for this is because of dangerous negotiations and huge security threats outside of the octagon.
Rogan: ‘These Were Dangerous People… It Got Crazy’
One of the main reasons that Fedor Emelianenko never signed for the UFC was due to ‘unreasonable’ negotiations, security threats on Dana White and simply dangerous and confrontational talks.
The famous podcaster and popular UFC commentator revealed in a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience that Emelianenko was controlled by some gangster-like Russians, who were very confrontational:
“Fedor was controlled by some Russian people that were very rough men – gangster-type characters,” Rogan explained on his podcast.
“They had a bunch of negotiations with the UFC but they were very unreasonable demands. They wanted to own a piece of everything.
“Negotiations were very intense and very confrontational; they got bad. Dana [White] had to up his security. These were dangerous people, it got crazy,” concluded Rogan.
Despite his accolades, ‘The Last Emperor’ never fought in the UFC. In his twilight years, Emelianenko fought in other MMA organisations such as Bellator and Strikeforce.
Fedor retired from MMA amassing a record of 40-7 (1 NC). A total of 31 of his 40 wins came via knockout or submission, before his retirement from MMA after losing to Ryan Bader in February 2023 for the Bellator Heavyweight Title.
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