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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Fedor Emelianenko's MMA return will air on Spike, but it won't actually be for Bellator MMA.
Though there was some confusion during the announcement of his return on Saturday's Bellator MMA/Glory "Dynamite 1" event, Spike is simply a U.S. television partner for Nobuyuki Sakakibara's new, as-of-yet-unnamed promotion.
Bellator MMA President Scott Coker talked about the move after Saturday's event, and made it clear their side hasn't signed Emelianenko at all, and thus never actually negotiated with him.
"We never discussed anything financial with him or any negotiations," Coker said in an interview with MMAFighting.com's Luke Thomas after the event (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com). "We proved that, right? We knew [Sakikabara] was in dialogue with Fedor, so when the contract got signed, we never said anything but we knew it was going to be on Spike TV.
"It is a win-win for Sakikabara to have Fedor and it is a win-win for Spike TV to have Fedor."
Sakakibara's new promotion will run their first event on New Year's Eve in Japan, with Emelianenko headlining the card. Spike will air the event on tape delay in the U.S., and Bellator MMA will offer up some fighters to take part in the card as well.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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