[NCRadioMan]

Anderson Silva has signed to box Roy Jones Jr.

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson The Spider Silva (24-4) has made it clear that he plans on retiring from the UFC once his contract expires. As of now, Anderson has four fights with the Ultimate Fighting Championships, the most recent on August 8th in Philadelphia against contender Forrest Griffin.

However, according to Anderson himself in a recent conversation with Fighters Only Magazine, he has no intentions of retiring from hand-to-hand combat altogether once hes through in the Ocatagon.

Its been talked about for close to a year now and Silva has recently confirmed that there is no question about it; hes going to box Roy Jones Jr. As a matter of fact, contracts have been inked and its only a matter of time from here.

It is undoubted that I will face Roy Jones, revealed Silva. We have talked too much, have signed some contracts and we want to make it the sooner the better. Its not for money or spotlight, its for my desire.

I watch Roy Jones since he competed as an amateur and in the Olympic Games. Im looking forward to this fight to put in the ring everything I know, to show my students in the future that I understand what I may say over this or that and dont seem a pirate parrot.

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M-1: No Fedor in UFC Without Co-Promoting

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Fedor Emelianenko, the top-ranked heavyweight in the world, will not fight in the UFC unless Dana White and company agree to co-promote with Emelianenkos partners at M-1 Global.

M-1 Global CEO Vadim Finkelstein made that clear Wednesday at a news conference in Anaheim, Calif. Finkelstein confirmed that M-1 Global had negotiated with UFC officials as recently as Tuesday.

We are open, Finkelstein said. We do want to work with the UFC. We do want to work with other promotions.

Finkelstein said the UFC made a new offer to Emelianenko, and M-1 Global made a counteroffer. However, Finkelstein said Emeliananko would not proceed without a co-promotional effort between M-1 and the UFC where they shared expenses and profits.

Finkelstein also communicated that the UFC's representation in the media of his negotiations with the organization has not been accurate. He said Emelianenko has been made completely aware of any deals, past and present, that have been offered.

"I have 100 percent faith in Vadim and M-1 Global," Emelianenko said.

M-1 Global also pressured the UFC by saying they are in talks with other shows, including Strikeforce.

We're not going to wait, Finkelstein said. We have to move forward. It might be that very soon we will be able to announce a deal with another promotion. I'm going to tell you that we're only going to work under co-promotion conditions.


Interesting. Dana would be an idiot not to co-promote with M-1. I can see M-1 and Strikeforce becoming a major, major player.

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Aleksander Emelianenko Blames Fedor's Manager
By Raj Giri | July 28, 2009
FightLine.com Staff

Aleksander Emelianenko Blames Fedor's Manager For Fedor Not Being In The UFCAleksander Emelianenko, brother of Fedor Emelianenko, feels that Fedor's manager, Vadim Finkelstein, is the reason why the UFC and his brother can't come to terms on a deal. Aleksander believes that Finkelstein is only interested in pushing his own business projects through his brother's fights.

"You can deal with UFC, I know that they have flexible contract system," Aleksander Emelianenko told Sports.ru. "All these talks about 'strict' contract terms with signing with UFC, come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his owns business projects through Fedor's fights"

Fedor appeared to be headed to the UFC in June of 2007, however negotations failed after Finkelstein demanded that the UFC work with his Russian M-1 Global promotion and permit Emelianenko to compete in combat sambo tournaments.

The UFC has since stated that they may allow Fedor to continue to compete in sambo to sign him. However, Finkelchtein still wants Fedor's fights to be co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global, a term virtually guaranteed to not be accepted by the UFC.

This is the moment of truth that the UFC has talked about," Finkelchtein told Mixfight.ru over the weekend. "We want to talk to the UFC about having Fedor compete against some of their fighters, but only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global.