Dana White says he does not regret failing to sign Fedor Emelianenko to the UFC, despite an aggressive push to land the former PRIDE heavyweight champion.
White and then-UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta flew out to meet Emelianenko and his team after the UFC purchased PRIDE, putting a massive offer on the table in hopes of bringing him into the Octagon.
"We never got a deal done with Fedor [Emelianenko] but when me and Lorenzo [Fertitta] got on the plane and left wherever the hell we were, we looked at each other and said thank god they said no," White said. "Because we offered him so much money. You get in that room, and you’re just trying to get the deal done. We didn’t fly all the way f*ck out here for nothing. Let’s get this deal done."
Emelianenko ultimately turned down the UFC offer and later fought in Strikeforce and Bellator, closing out his career with a knockout loss to Ryan Bader in 2023.
White revealed the promotion had a specific blockbuster in mind if the deal had gone through. "We wanted to do him versus Brock Lesnar at the time," he said, calling Lesnar one of the biggest draws in UFC history.
Looking back, White maintains he is satisfied with how things played out. "I feel like we’ve gotten everything done that we ever wanted to do," he said, adding of the failed Fedor talks, "But I don’t regret it. That’s the only fight off the top of my head I can think of that we didn’t make and we wanted to and we tried to."
