“Thank God They Said No” – Dana White Opens Up on UFC’s Massive Offer That Never Happened
Dana White recently opened up on one of UFC’s biggest offers that never happened.
Over the years, the UFC has been home to a boatload of great fighters. However, there have been a handful of legendary names who have not fought in the octagon. One among them is “The Last Emperor,” Fedor Emelianenko. The PRIDE FC great, despite fighting 48 times in his career, never featured in Dana White’s promotion.
He eventually retired in 2023, at the age of 46, and with a staggering 40-7 (1 NC) record, winning several titles across multiple promotions, viz. PRIDE and Bellator.
In the latest episode of The Pivot Podcast, UFC President Dana White opened up on how the promotion could not sign Emelianenko despite the latter being offered ‘so much money.’ White said:
We never got a deal done with Fedor [Emelianenko]. When me and Lorenzo got on the plane and left, we looked at each other and said, ‘Thank god they said no’. Cause, we offered him so much money…
White then added that the promotion wanted to set up a fight between Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar at that time.
We wanted to do him [Fedor Emelianenko] vs. Brock Lesnar at that time…I don’t regret it…
Check out Dana White’s comments below:
The Death That Stopped Dana White from Booking Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko in 2012
Back in 2013, following UFC on Fox 6, Dana White told the media that Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko was a done deal before tragedy struck the Russian’s family. Emelianenko’s father had passed away, and “The Last Emperor” was done, according to White.
No [we were close to signing him] recently, right before his dad died…we were right there. When I was talking about doing that big Dallas Texas stadium show it was going to be Brock Lesnar versus Fedor. Remember when I met with him and I said it didn’t get well? It actually did go well. It went well and then Fedor’s dad died, he wanted to fight Fedor….Fedor was done…
It is worth noting that Emelianenko and Lesnar never crossed paths in other promotions as well.
