Emelianenko joins Strikeforce

Fedor Emelianenko and his manager shunned what was probably a much more lucrative deal from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to sign with Strikeforce.

Perhaps the best heavyweight mixed martial artist in the world, Emelianenko will debut with the upstart organization in the fall.

Finkelchtein, the manager of Emelianenko and president of Russian mixed martial arts organization M-1 Global, insisted that his company would have to co-promote any UFC show featuring Emelianenko.

UFC president Dana White made it clear that never would happen.

Instead, M-1 Global will join with Strikeforce to co-promote fight cards involving the Russian star.

“I am very happy and excited about the upcoming collaboration with Strikeforce,” Finkelchtein said in a news release. “We are very pleased that we found a reliable partner, and I feel that Strikeforce and M-1 can support each other on many things. This will create big opportunities for both parties to test their fighters against worthy opponents.”

Emelianenko’s initial appearance on a Strikeforce card will air on Showtime and will be his first time fighting in a cage. His past fights, contested mostly in Japan, have been in a ring.

His first opponent is undetermined, but Strikeforce has just three logical candidates under contract: Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem.

“I am looking forward to going back to work and fighting at the highest level,” Emelianenko said in the news release. “Strikeforce is a topflight promotion that houses some of the greatest fighters in the world. I am prepared to fight any of them.”

White was critical of Emelianenko’s decision.

“He is a (expletive) joke,” White said in a text message. “(He) opted to not fight the best in the world and took less money 2 fight nobodys.”

“I feel sorry for the real fight fans. I wanted to make the deal, but it takes 2 and it is very obvious Fedor doesn’t want 2 fight the best and doesn’t give a (expletive) about the fans.”

• FULL WEEKEND — Both of Zuffa’s mixed martial arts organizations will host events this weekend on opposite sides of the country.

UFC 101 will air live on pay per view Saturday from Philadelphia.

World Extreme Cagefighting will host WEC 42, which will air on Versus (Cable 67) on Sunday from the Hard Rock Hotel.

WEC vice president Peter Dropick said it is probably not the last time both organizations will have a card on the same weekend.

“We’re excited to have a great weekend of fights,” he said. “We’re expanding to have at least 10 fights next year. UFC’s in the mid-20s now, so it’s inevitable we’ll be coming up again back to back at times.”

The situation was not intentional, however.

“A lot of it had to do with the available dates with the Hard Rock and Versus,” Dropick said.

The WEC card is headlined by a bantamweight title bout between champion Miguel Torres and unbeaten Brian Bowles.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.