UFC
UFC QUOTABLES: Dana White says "never say never" on Fedor Emelianenko, talks Alistair Overeem
Oct 16, 2010 - 1:44:02 PM UFC QUOTABLES: Dana White says "never say never" on Fedor Emelianenko, talks Alistair Overeem

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"A lot of people were saying that, 'you must have been happy when Fedor (lost).' To be honest with you, I'm as much of a fight fan as all you guys are," White said on Friday. "You hear me talk about Fedor. I flew to crazy places, made him a very respectable offer to come in and fight. I would have loved to have done him and Brock Lesnar or whoever. I tried to make that fight happen, and they know it, whether they say it or not.

They know what I did, they know where I went, they know what I offered, and they still didn't take the fight. It takes two to make a deal...

I told them, 'you're one punch away from being worth zero or half of what you're worth.' I bet they wish they took it now. The other thing with Fedor is I never say never... There's so many guys that have come into the UFC with a ton of hype and then they lose in the UFC...

Obviously one of the top heavyweights is Fedor, and I would say Overeem, too, and I like Overeem. I've always had a good relationship with him. It's hard to tell outside, and what a lot of people get caught up in is 'oh this guy's out there.' What you have to realize is the guys that fight in the UFC fight the very best in the world three times a year...

I think anybody's a possibility. He's supposed to be their champion. They've had a hard time getting him to fight. Did you ever notice these guys at Strikeforce have a hard time getting their people to come in and actually fight. If that was the case, you guys would never see the fights that you want to see. Especially with as many fights as we're doing, when we sign a guy we want him to fight three times in a year. How the hell is he going to fight somewhere else? It's impossible."

-UFC President Dana White talks to MMAWeekly.com about Strikeforce heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem and the possibility of them coming to the UFC.

Penick's Analysis: The "three times a year" thing for UFC fighters is definitely the goal, even if it's not always the case; but at least in the UFC there are reasons for a fighter to not compete that many times that are inherent to the fight game, e.g., injuries and ailments that force fighters off of cards or delay their return. That's one area where the UFC's fighters have the extra claim to their rankings, because they are constantly fighting better competition on a more frequent basis than anyone outside of the organization. No one can argue that Fedor, Fabricio Werdum, "Bigfoot" Silva, Overeem and Josh Barnett are viable heavyweight competitors, but how often are they getting a chance to prove that in Strikeforce? As for Overeem, if he wins this year's K-1 World Grand Prix, I'd be interested to see if he commits to MMA on a more permanent basis or not with that goal attained. If he wants to commit to MMA, he may find himself in the UFC sooner rather than later.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]