Fedor Emelianenko

By FCF Staff

Just a few days out from Fedor Emelianenko’s June 17th bout with Fabio Maldonado at EFN 50, the legendary heavyweight is reporting that talks between him and the UFC have been progressing.

Since Emelianenko announced he was ending his retirement last year, the Russian star has repeatedly expressed an interest in fighting for the UFC, and has confirmed negotiations are ongoing. The former PRIDE champ appeared on “The MMA Hour” on Monday, and relayed the following about talks with the UFC (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“Right now, I’m much closer compared to when I just came back to MMA,” Emelianenko said. … “Yes, we did receive an offer. But there are some finer points that we wanted to discuss.”

Emelianenko also acknowledged that following this weekend’s fight, his next bout could take place under the UFC banner. The 39 year-old fighter returned to the ring in December for Rizin FF, and stopped Jaideep Singh in the opening round.