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EA Sports MMA signs Fedor Emelianenko

Top heavyweight fighter joins Gegard Mousasi and Renato Sobral as first announced contenders in publisher's upcoming brawler.

EA Sports has landed a heavy right hand in its ongoing, and increasingly hostile, feud with the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts league and THQ. With EA Sports announcing its entrance into the MMA genre during this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, the publisher revealed today that it has signed Fedor Emelianenko to headline EA Sports MMA upon its release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2010.

Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko

Emelianenko is the top-ranked MMA heavyweight in the world as rated by enthusiast site Sherdog.com. The 6-foot, 231-pound Russian specializes in sambo and judo fighting techniques and currently holds a 30-1 record as the WAMMA heavyweight champion.

The Russian heavyweight will be joined by light heavyweights Gegard Mousasi and Renato Sobral, who are poised to throw down in a Strikeforce title fight on August 15. The 6-foot-1-inch and 185-pound Mousasi has melded Dutch kickboxing and judo to achieve a 25-2-1 record. Sobral, who is the current Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, has used grappling and submission techniques to power to a 35-8 record.

Today's announcement thickens the plot surrounding recent statements made by UFC president Dana White. The outspoken White has actively courted Emelianenko to join his organization and is rumored to be close to signing a deal with the fighter, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Earlier this month, though, White stated that the UFC was prepared to dole out lifetime bans to all unsigned fighters who agree to be a part of Electronic Arts' upcoming MMA game.

EA Sports plans to announce more fighters for its MMA debut leading up to the game's release next year. Notably, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia told MMA News in June that he and fellow ex-champ Randy Couture had both been signed to appear in EA's game. Couture emerged from retirement last year to sign a new, short-term contract with the UFC.

[UPDATE] It turns out that reports of Emelianenko being on the verge of signing a UFC deal were greatly exaggerated. On August 3, UFC rival Strikeforce announced it had signed a multi-fight deal with the brawny Slav, nicknamed "The Last Emperor." Under the terms of the agreement, Emelianenko will headline world championships in conjunction with M-1 global and appear on Strikeforce specials on the Showtime cable network this fall. (Showtime is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS Corp.)

83 Comments

  • masterman626

    Posted Jul 31, 2009 9:12 am GMT

    @Lexxzilla Just to clear up my comment, no way in hell is Kimbo a legend i think the way my comment was structured kinda left that open for interpretation. but no i was just saying if Kimbo doesn't get picked up by UFC it would be a great pick up for EA. and just in case u thot kimo was a typo that was for kimo leopoldo from the early UFC tourneys and pride. Speaking of pride i wonder if UFC will do anything w/ that licence?

  • wwonka666

    Posted Jul 31, 2009 3:19 am GMT

    Blarqfarg or whatever your name is, you completely missed my point. I was trying to say that boxers get millions for a one fight and it's not even that entertaining. I love MMA, but I loved Shoelitexc and now whatever there calling it. I said they should do away with federations all together and they would all get bigger paydays. I just don't like Dana White, I live in Las Vegas and read all kinds of crap about him all the time in the paper, he just doesn't seem like a guy who cares about the fighters, just the bottom line. Also, I hate EA too, so what's your point. And at whoever says Brock is gonna lose to Fedor, it could happen, but don't underestimate Brock's power. I ordered the UFC 100 just to see that fight and he was incredible as I was the only Las Vegan in the room cheering for him and I will continue to cheer for him because he is an athlete of top calibur regardless of if he competed in Sports Entertainment prior to going into MMA. He obviously thought it was a joke too that's why he turned down his own jet and millions of dollars to pursue something he enjoyed.

  • GhostfaceL94

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 6:25 pm GMT

    @JUSTBLAZE_928
    Uhhh, both Nogueras brothers are one of the best fighters in the world. But I don't know which Noguera your talking about cuz they're twins and the only difference are their middle names (Rodrigo, Rogerio). But im pretty sure the better Noguera lost to Fedor, that would be Rodrigo "Big Nog" (31-5-1). ESPN, Sherdog currently rank Fedor as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter.

    As for brock, if he does get a good trainer and gets better at skills, I think he'll be a force to reckon with.

  • JUSTBLAZE_928

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 5:53 pm GMT

    @ GhostfaceL94 Thank you for further proving my point you named the only "BIG" names hes defeated which arent very big. Tim Sylvias past 3 fights have went for a combined 82 seconds because hes a bum he lost to 48yr old Ray Mercer! Then Andre Arvloski who is a respected fighter has never EVER had a chin on him and hes well past his prime. Nogeria Isnt too bad but hes nothing compared to his brother Minotauro and IS NOT one of the best BJJ in the world at heavyweight that belongs to Frank Mir. Out of all those fighters the best is By Far Cro Cop who lost to Fedor but had a severe leg injury. You are right about on thing though Brock is Young for the sport but thats the scary part he learned from his loss and defeated somebody who is a good boxer and has outstanding ground game right now everybody is on the Fedor Bandwagon because hes 32-1(1 loss due to a bad cut) which is funny because theres alot of good fighters who could do that if they fought nothing but bums but not him he wants to stay undefeated by fighting lame fighters if you know anything about MMA you would know that taking a loss is very beneficial for a fighter because it makes sure they keep getting better Example GSP and Brock who are both dominant champions

  • TongLong

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 5:05 pm GMT

    For those of you not familiar with Emelianenko, his fight with Choi is far from his best. Check out his fight with Kevin Randleman or Kazuyki Fujita to see him make UNREAL combacks, or for hard fought wars, his second fight (the one without the fight stopping cut) with Big Nog (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) or his fight with Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic! Just a side note, I remember reading that Fedor idolized Mark Coleman back in the day, so when he fought him, he didn't want to hurt him, so he finished the fight by armbar

  • FighterHayabusa

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 4:58 pm GMT

    Fedor probably got big money, $1-5 million. Makes sense for him. He was never in the UFC, so I don't think the ban threat counts. Dana probably went nuts with that threat to discourage guys from taking EA pay outs to join their game. Many guys would sign for $500k-1 million. Hell, depending on how things were going, many would sign for $250k and fight the rest of their careers in other organizations.

  • xenoman6485

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 4:04 pm GMT

    hey ufc fans dont be mad u wasted ur money on the UFC game.. all im just glad is that there might be some k 1 fighters in here now. and oh yea FEDOR #1 !!!!!! buy the game and never buy ufc games

  • NuKkU

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 4:02 pm GMT

    man fedor is dumb he basically sold any chance that he was going to fight for the UFC

  • danxxx

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 2:57 pm GMT

    stupid M-1 wont let fedor go to the ufc......ggrrrrr

  • OverkillAzault

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 1:48 pm GMT

    Does EA finally recognize MMA as a sport ??? EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport. We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.'"

  • MOBS

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:43 pm GMT

    Youre forgetting EA is making this game, EA , who was so sorry and pathetically incompetent at making football games that they had to buy an exclusive contract with the NFL rather than make a better game than Visual Concepts NFL 2k 5 . This MMA game will SUCK hard , no doubt. EA is allergic to hard work and quality control . EA Chicago made their only good game in 5 years, Fight Night rnds 2 and 3. What did EA do as reward??? Shut down EA Chicagos studio and fire every one in it, so the franchise cant go any further and develop and evolve. Itll fall flatand stagnate like Madden did for years,.

  • AngryFingers

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 9:50 am GMT

    I feel all of ya. THQ ruined that UFC game and it was no where close to how a real MMA fight looks like.

  • parhar67

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 8:24 am GMT

    Fedor shouldnt have that loss on his record....it was a cut and he wasnt hurt himself. Anyways this game should be good. I heard EA will alternate evrey year. This year they made fight night next year will be EA MMA then the year after fight night again and so on and so forth.

  • Xaviersx

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 7:58 am GMT

    The game may technically be a very good game, despite the lack of some familiar faces. Likenesses being bought and owned by a number of gaming franchises aside, the moves and technics are hardly patented and tied to an individual or business. What EA lost with the UFC dispute is personality recognition, but with how big the sport really is, EA could market in a number of regions without much loss, it's just bad the blood spilled in this situation between the publisher and the sports franchise, and mostly how it entangles the fighters. Oh well, for those looking for a good game from EA, hope they code well.

  • DPhunkT

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 7:37 am GMT

    Fedor is awesome. Thanks to gamespot for putting up the youtube link of one of my favorite fights!

  • bebull1

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 7:06 am GMT

    il get it but il prob we waste of money.

  • jqm1978

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 5:49 am GMT

    IF EA can get Cung Le in this game, I will pre-order.......

  • blargafarg

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 2:38 am GMT

    Regardless of people thinking I'm siding with Dana White, I do agree that I hope the game is good. I don't think it will be good because MOST UFC fighters won't sign with it, but I enjoy UFC 2009 so why wouldn't I enjoy another good MMA game?

  • HAZE-Unit

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:44 am GMT

    Fedor in EA's MMA wow thats major win for EA, I hope the game will be on par with THQ's UFC.

    And because of Fedor that means EA will bring the ring experience.

    I can't wait to see some videos for the game.

  • totaleklypse

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:42 am GMT

    as a ex fighter i will say this. every fight is risking your life. one hit in the wrong place can kill someone. in many ways you train to NOT do that. to know the limits. i find the arguement over the risk to be baseless. all i really have to say about it.

  • BladedNuiasnce

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:39 am GMT

    That makes it official, this game is sell like hotcakes, That give birth to more hotcakes!

    I cant wait to see Dana White eat his words when Fedor gets signed to the UFC anyway... Money grubbin *sshole!

  • blargafarg

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:24 am GMT

    undertakerk5 Posted Jul 30, 2009 7:08 am GMT blargafarg wrote:"And they're not "risking their lives." No MMA fighter has ever died. There's a reason that fights end the moment someone is knocked out/can't defend themselves. And 99% of injuries that MMA fighters get are training related."

    http://blogs.chron.com/fighting/2007/12/fightrelated_injuries_claim_th.html Sam Vasquez passed away after being critically injured in a sanctioned mma bout. If your going to defend The UFC and Dana White so intensly dont make lies to support your arguments and show respect for fighters who are injured or killed in the sport.


    First off, I wasn't aware. Second off, your link doesn't work. Third, how did I disrespect that guy? Fourth, where have I defended Dana White? I flat out said "OK, let's not even bother arguing the Dana White angle because that's something that can't fully be answered without knowing him personally. It's all guessing." All I did was refute that things he said that were flat out untrue, such as "UFC probably has a bad health plan" which was literally based on nothing.

    Not making lies. Part ignorance on my part, I'll admit. But my point still stands. Alright, one fluke death happened. ONE.

    And a guy died in 2005 from fatigue after playing World of Warcraft for 50 hours straight. Doesn't mean that WoW players are "modern day gladiators who risk their lives for our amusement." The entire point I was making is that he was acting like MMA fighters die in the cage all the time. They don't. So him comparing UFC fighters (people who get a beating) and gladiators (slaves who ALWAYS DIE) are the same and deserve the same treatment is still laughable.

  • romavictor

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:01 am GMT

    SAY bye bye to that LOSER Brock Lesner and say hi to the new champ Fedor!!!! This guy is going to shut down the heavy weight division!!

    personally Brock should have never gotten a title shot anyways, just because he was a lame fake wrestler and had 8 13yr old fans Dana though it would be good for business. I cant wait to see Fedor chew up that ogre Brock and spit him out!!!

    GO FEDOR EMELIANENKO!!

  • Gigas_Yuu

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 11:37 pm GMT

    Haha everyone knows Dana White is a hothead, but this isn't his fault at all. It's M-1 global and the retards controlling Fedor. It also doesn't help that Fedor is roughly a 20% shareholder of M-1, but get this: In order for Fedor to fight in the UFC M-1 has stipulated that they have to get a cut of the UFC PPV's overall revenue, and basically they pay for nothing and get to put their own stupid tag in a UFC ring. Who else does m-1 have besides Fedor? Some freaks?

    They are dirty leechers who want publicity more than anything. Let Fedor do this EA game. Anything M-1 global touches turns into garbage anyway, and its latest victim was Affliction. Blame Barnett, or blame the M-1 curse and greed. Let them hand feed Fedor cans.

  • undertakerk5

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 11:08 pm GMT

    blargafarg wrote:"And they're not "risking their lives." No MMA fighter has ever died. There's a reason that fights end the moment someone is knocked out/can't defend themselves. And 99% of injuries that MMA fighters get are training related."

    http://blogs.chron.com/fighting/2007/12/fightrelated_injuries_claim_th.html Sam Vasquez passed away after being critically injured in a sanctioned mma bout. If your going to defend The UFC and Dana White so intensly dont make lies to support your arguments and show respect for fighters who are injured or killed in the sport.

  • Sepewrath

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 11:04 pm GMT

    Well well, lets see if Dana White blacklist the person he wants to use to sell the UFC's biggest heavyweight fight ever. Or if White as expected shows that he is indeed full of crap and all he cares about is money.

  • XJohnnyBoyX

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 10:56 pm GMT

    I'll put money on it that if Fedor is wanted to fight in the UFC no matter the cost, Dana would sign him even though he's the poster boy of the EA game.

  • Twin-Blade

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 10:50 pm GMT

    I love the UFC, but I'm kind of tired of White getting his way all the time. Fedors sticking it to him I think. I like how he isn't bowing down.

  • blargafarg

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 10:25 pm GMT

    Edit: no MMA fighter has ever died from FIGHTING.

    "Because if you went to EA first, THQ wouldn't or shouldn't have been the second place you shopped to. Activision and Ubisoft would have been much better second choices than THQ. Of course, if you wanta crap licensed game, I guess THQ would be your second choice after EA turns you down."

    He never said THQ was the second place he went. He said that they asked for the game to be a part of EA Sports, and they said it wasn't a real sport. That's the entire purpose of the vendetta, Dana White being mad that EA wouldn't consider it a sport and THEN making a game after THQ's was successful.

    For all we know, EA AGREED to make the game and just not under EA Sports. For all we know, Ubisoft and Activision both had meetings with the UFC about making the game. Even if Ubisoft and Activision both denied the UFC, Dana White is only mad that EA Sports first insulted MMA, and THEN tried to make a game. Maybe if Activision or Ubisoft tried to license UFC fighters for a game then White would mention it. That's not the point of the argument between Dana and EA, you're just so focused on bashing Dana White that you don't care if your points make sense.

  • blargafarg

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 10:19 pm GMT

    wwonka666 Posted: "Wow, Fedor is likely spitting in the face of that arrogant bastard Dana White. I see Federations being the problem holding MMA back from greatness. There are different governing bodies of Boxing and it was the most lucrative sport for many, many years. The Fighters need to band together and create their own federation with promoters similar to boxing and they can ultimately receive more lucrative paydays rather than let UFC get the lions share of the profits. These men are modern day gladiators who risk their lives to entertain us and I bet UFC doesn't even have a decent medical plan. You go Fedor, don't ever fight for UFC because UFC isn't MMA, the fighters are MMA. "

    Haha what? OK, let's not even bother arguing the Dana White angle because that's something that can't fully be answered without knowing him personally. It's all guessing.

    The average UFC fighter gets about $50,000 for ONE fight, and that's just if they lose. It's around $100,000 a fight if they win, and they get bonuses up to an extra $50,000 a fight for Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night, or Knockout of the Night. Considering the average UFC fighter (going without training injury) fights around 4 fights a year, that's anywhere from $200,000 a year to $600,000.

    No medical plan? You're literally basing that off of NOTHING. What's your basis for thinking that there's no medical plan? Just to have another made up argument? Why WOULDN'T there be top notch medical coverage? The entire organization depends on people being in top physical condition! What logical basis do you have for thinking they wouldn't want the fighters in the best possible medical condition?

    And they're not "risking their lives." No MMA fighter has ever died. There's a reason that fights end the moment someone is knocked out/can't defend themselves. And 99% of injuries that MMA fighters get are training related.

  • wwonka666

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:52 pm GMT

    AndyRaeside Posted Jul 29, 2009 4:02 pm PT I'm fully behind the president of the UFC, Dana White, on this one. If he went to EA Sports a year or two ago and said "Hey, we wanna make a UFC game, you interested ?" and they told them to get lost then why the hell would he let his organisation run off to them now.

    He stuck his neck on the line getting the game made in this economic climate and now that its a sucess, along comes the massive cash cow that is EA Sports looking for a slice of the pie with their own MMA game.



    Don't believe the hype, nothing that comes out of Dana White's mouth is true and or ethical. He is so arrogant and isn't telling the story the way it probably happened. He probably didn't even go to EA himself as he claims, he sent a company representative who probably put a spin on the story because of other interests (like he got some percs from THQ to let them make the game). Because if you went to EA first, THQ wouldn't or shouldn't have been the second place you shopped to. Activision and Ubisoft would have been much better second choices than THQ. Of course, if you wanta crap licensed game, I guess THQ would be your second choice after EA turns you down.

  • lerhone

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:50 pm GMT

    i really wanted to see fedor vs Brock but this only seems to further solidify the notion that fedor only fights bums by making sure he cant fight in the ufc this makes hi look scared

  • wwonka666

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:39 pm GMT

    Wow, Fedor is likely spitting in the face of that arrogant bastard Dana White. I see Federations being the problem holding MMA back from greatness. There are different governing bodies of Boxing and it was the most lucrative sport for many, many years. The Fighters need to band together and create their own federation with promoters similar to boxing and they can ultimately receive more lucrative paydays rather than let UFC get the lions share of the profits. These men are modern day gladiators who risk their lives to entertain us and I bet UFC doesn't even have a decent medical plan. You go Fedor, don't ever fight for UFC because UFC isn't MMA, the fighters are MMA.

  • ThAdEa82

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:34 pm GMT

    1:59

    steady steady minosteady skastodinominotiriodada AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!1

  • TongLong

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:27 pm GMT

    @Shigroth

    I love the avatar, maybe Sakuraba will sneak his way onto this game, and we'll be able to play an MMA game that represents an INTERNATIONAL line-up of fighters! I can't stand EA, but I hate the UFC even more, so I hope this game is fantastic!

  • GhostfaceL94

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:15 pm GMT

    @JUSTBLAZE_928
    Brock Lesnar is still young for the sport, he needs to develop more skills. He just uses his own 265 pounds of pure sheer muscles to go on top of fighter and beat the living sh** out of them. I think he'll likely lose to boxers and fighters who have great takedown defence.

    Here's some fighters who lost to Fedor:
    Renanto Sobral
    Antonio Nogueria twice (one of the best BJJ in the MMA world)
    Mirko Flipovic
    Tim Sylvia
    Andre Arlovski

  • 8732_YoungJeezy

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:03 pm GMT

    JUSTBLAZE_928 I agree with you 100 %

  • Shigroth

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:57 pm GMT

    I just hope EAs game is playable so I have 2 MMA games to play

  • JUSTBLAZE_928

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:57 pm GMT

    Hes a good fighter but he gets no respect in the UFC from other fighters and whether people like it or not UFC is the biggest stage for MMA right now considering Affliction just folded last week. I think Fedor would be Couture but hes never faced anybody with as much strength and as good of wrestling skills as brock. Whats funny is most of the people that are big fans of Fedor cant even name 10 fighters hes fought or even 5 BIG names that hes fought.

  • DubYew

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:48 pm GMT

    At least there will be one venue for Fedor to fight Couture...

  • GhostfaceL94

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:15 pm GMT

    Best Fighter

  • Polemarchus

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:03 pm GMT

    EA blew their chance when Dana White came to EA to do a game about one or two years ago. EA would not give him the time of day and said that "MMA was not a sport." EA deserves all the trouble they are having. And as long as Fedor is controlled by the "Russian Don King" he will never be truly tested. Becuase of this I think he is no longer the best pound for pound. He is the best heavy weight of MMA. But you are only the best if you fight the best. UFC has the best fighters and is one of the few MMA organizations that is actually making money. The UFC (and Zuffa) has done more for the sport of MMA than anyone else could have. Any MMA fighter would give anything to fight in the UFC, (not to say that some are happy were they are at). EA blew their chance but at least EA will have competition, which they have not had in the realm of sports in a while. Of course I agree that the UFC game had it's issues that will hopefully fixed for the next time and the competition will help.

  • jrabbit99

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:56 pm GMT

    go EA!!!

  • KoolzKatz

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:53 pm GMT

    Time to put up or shut Dana White , lets see if u got the guts to ban Fedor from the UFC and put a halt to the potentially biggest money making match in UFC history, Lesnar v. Fedor

    Come on Dana White, u talk the talk lets see if u can walk the walk.

  • Lucidmike78

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:41 pm GMT

    Fedor looks like Matt Sera in this video fighting a heavyweight.

  • TheMayor88

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:41 pm GMT

    1.) EA's game WILL be better. Undisputed 09 is robotic and you can tell the people who made it don't watch UFC, MMA for that matter. 2.) UFC and MMA are two different things. MMA is the sport, UFC is trying TO BE the sport itself. 3.) Fedor is the man and not thinking of anyone in UFC he can beat whoever and anyone in UFC brings no threat. 4.) EA will get those UFC fighters by any means and Dana White cannot do that to their fighters, he will just lose
    5.) THQ vs EA Sports? Really? THQ is about to be demolished!

  • GameFan1983

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:04 pm GMT

    and I really wish to see Fedor get a lose in his record before he retires, no-one should walk away as "undefeated" PS. that lost against the japanese dude doesn't count

  • GameFan1983

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:01 pm GMT

    lawl! finally haters got chance to kick fedor's ass in a video game.

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