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EA Sports MMA cover athlete signs with UFC rival

Last week, Electronic Arts announced its cover athlete for its mixed martial arts game, EA Sports MMA. The lucky fighter was Fedor Emelianenko, an MMA heavyweight and judo/sambo specialist ranked best in the world by enthusiast site Sherdog.com.The news appeared to contradict reports that...

Last week, Electronic Arts announced its cover athlete for its mixed martial arts game, EA Sports MMA. The lucky fighter was Fedor Emelianenko, an MMA heavyweight and judo/sambo specialist ranked best in the world by enthusiast site Sherdog.com.

The news appeared to contradict reports that Emelianenko was close to signing a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts league. That's because last month, the UFC's outspoken president, Dana White threatened to slap a lifetime UFC ban on unsigned fighters who agreed to appear in EA Sports MMA. The UFC game license is exclusively held by THQ, which has enjoyed triple-platinum success with its first MMA title, the well-reviewed UFC 2009 Undisputed.

Now, it turns out that reports of Emelianenko being on the verge of signing a UFC deal were greatly exaggerated. Today 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.) Emelianenko currently holds a 30-1 record as the WAMMA heavyweight champion.

121 Comments

  • Incrediblyreal1

    Posted Dec 31, 2009 12:25 am GMT

    I'm excited about this game. EA Sports makes good games. I hope they put a lot of effort into this. WAR EA SPORTS

    Fedor by Armbar!

  • The_Dragon000

    Posted Aug 9, 2009 9:11 pm GMT

    Pride FC folded years ago so did elite xc and shoxc and Affliction all of those folded so i think were looking at either a M-1 Challange game or a stike force game... i doubt it will be pride elite xc shoxc or dream

  • ProVail

    Posted Aug 7, 2009 10:37 pm GMT

    I like Pride fighting better because its in a square boxing ring and they can knee to the head and stomp people out plus Fedor and his brother Alexander Emilianenko are both in Pride.

  • XxTerryH15xX

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 5:46 pm GMT

    maybe this guy didnt know about the ban? not his fault IMO

  • XxTerryH15xX

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 5:42 pm GMT

    maybe this guy didnt know about the ban? not his fault IMO

  • savoie10

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 12:59 pm GMT

    Fedor and his legacy won't be that great if he doesn't at some point join the UFC and fight there.

  • ThaKilla13

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 8:45 am GMT

    @Chesucks true true , i'm just gutted by fedor not joining UFC , i'm not gonna say hes dodging becasue i know he holds shares in m-1.
    But i rather fight heavyweight / LHW in Undisputed because of the hard hitting in the classes.
    EA MMA wil be good but sadly not a lot of mainstream fighters in it for EA.

  • chesucks

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 7:15 am GMT

    @ThaKilla13, do some research on DREAM's roster, not just heavyweights, deep lower weight classes.

  • ThaKilla13

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 4:05 am GMT

    @chesucks ye i'm imagining and what ? Hong man choi ? :p Mark hunt :p ? this game better be AAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING gameplay because it's strength isn't it's roster.
    That being said : EA does have one of the beter customization

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Aug 5, 2009 4:30 pm GMT

    @TheMayor88, I see where your coming from, but I don't think it is Brocks' fault either that he outweighs Frank by 30 - 40 lbs., maybe the UFC should incorporate a super heavyweight division, but I doubt that would happen. I also think you are right about Nick Diaz, he is destroying the competition in Strikeforce! He walked through Frank Shamrock and toyed around with Scott Mitchell, maybe a Nick Diaz vs Cung Li (I think thats his name) would be a good matchup. In my preference, I enjoy watching UFC better than any other division, simply because of the presentation,caliber of fighters, and rules / regulations. Now I do enjoy watching Strikeforce as well as WEC, but I think the UFC is the best.I also think Brock didn't deserve a title shot yet, but I think the public wanted it, so that's what the UFC setup.

  • chesucks

    Posted Aug 5, 2009 3:03 pm GMT

    DREAM and Strikeforce have officially announced an alliance!. Imaging the playable characters in EA Sports MMA.

  • parhar67

    Posted Aug 5, 2009 1:11 am GMT

    evildead doesnt care what other people think yet he comes back and tries to convince evreyone hes right....why? because he cares

  • GhostfaceL94

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 10:18 pm GMT

    Respect CrazyRabbi big respsect.

  • Stone_Coldberg

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 9:40 pm GMT

    Evildead is pretty much like the freezer in this forum cause everyones putting their meat in him and it was started by Crazy Rabbi. Lets face it LilEvil. You lost! Stop pretending that you're gonna make a come back cause you won't.

  • Slangin5

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 9:33 pm GMT

    evildead7, you did post that twice cause the other got deleted. I don't know about the rest of you but I know my post got reported so not only could evildead7 not beat CrazyRabbi or any1 else in this argument but he went out like a wimp. lol Don't care about checking spell check on here but anybody that like MMA but talks all the crap you did about UFC sucking is just pain stupid.

  • evildead7 posted Aug 4, 2009 7:50 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    evildead7

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 7:50 pm GMT (hide)

    Well lets see my first post got 8 thumbs up so I guess that means some people on here agree with me. Others have posted thoughts on here that are similar to what I have said as well, hmmmm.....guess that means a few agree with me. However I couldn't care what you or the rest of you goosesteppers think.

  • parhar67

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 7:42 pm GMT

    evildead7 You should care about approval ratings that thumbs up and down. It means no one agrees with you. Whats even more sad is that your the only one giving yourself a thumbs up. Nobody agrees with you that means you WRONG. You say UFC sucks lol. Thats like saying the NFL sucks but the XFL was aweesomeeeeee!!!!!

  • parhar67

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 5:20 pm GMT

    MicFury

    You must of been the only person giving your money to pride....why the reason its buried 6 feet under ground where it belongs

  • TongLong

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 4:56 pm GMT

    @JKehr

    Fedor is at 30-1, and a loss to Lesnar who is at 4-1 would put Fedor's career into the toilet? Think about what you've typed...

    So far, Lesnar has beaten Frank Mir and Randy Coture (who is in his 40s, gave up a ton of weight in the fight, and whose best days are WELL behind him), not bad for a new career. Fedor has been around a lot longer and fought some of the biggest names in MMA and K-1. I think Lesnar has the potential to push the heavy weight division in a new direction, or possibly test its limits, but it will come with time. Lesnar is obviously physically gifted, and has the mental toughness and focus to really take in and do what he needs to succeed in MMA, and it will be interesting to see how long he can keep it up and where he will take it, but comparing Lesnar who has pounded out a couple of cans to Fedor is ignorance, and shows how successful the UFC is at brainwashing its flock of fans into thinking it's the only show around.

  • CrazyRabbi

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:48 pm GMT

    @RightOn44

    "Evildead7's approval rating is less than George W. Bush's! Look at all of his thumb downs. lol Maybe that should tell him something, like he's an idiot."
    Now that's funny and it shows as this post got a good rating which means people liked it, even though EvilDead doesn't care what people think... clearly, it proves that it was funny unlike the "jokes" he tries to use.

  • CrazyRabbi

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:47 pm GMT

    "First, it's top dog due to a very successful marketing team and a heavy handed president."
    Right, it has nothing to do with it having the already proven top fighters in the world... not at all, no!

    "you are a fangirl"
    It takes real geanus to come up with these insults folks, obviously George Carlin has been reincarnated.

    "Fedor at least acts like a champion"
    By dodging the best? Still trying to find out why others and I think you're stupid... hmm, strange.

  • CrazyRabbi

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:46 pm GMT

    @EvilDead7

    "I hope he never joins UFC/WWE. That organization is a joke"
    Right, the top MMA company in the world by far with reported net worth in the billions is a... joke... right. lol

    "Seriously, how do you become UFC heavyweight champions with a 4-1-0 record. That is a complete joke."
    Exactly, cause we all know that if you beat Couture and Mir you're obviously nothing. Fedor should stay away from the UFC, 90% of the fans didn't want to see him there anyway... haha, what a joke...

  • Inconnux

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:29 pm GMT

    pride didn't go out of business, it was bought by the UFC and then shut down because the UFC didn't want any competition. Many of the Pride fighters were UFC fighters but didn't like the way Dana White was running the UFC when he took over from the previous owners.

  • Stone_Coldberg

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:28 pm GMT

    MicFury, UFC is far from garbage. I refuse to believe you even like MMA cause every other company freaking blows.

    EvilDead, I see you're still getting owned by Rabbi like always. LOL You try to hard to sound intelligent but I'm not buying it.

  • CrazyRabbi

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:19 pm GMT

    @evildead7

    Looks like somebody else shut you up this time... that's good cause my zipper was stuck anyway. You lost, every single post against me, people even came out and said this. Nobody laughed at any of your lame insults. Alot of people commented on how you don't know MMA which I already knew by the BS you claimed. I told you that you couldn't beat me and will never beat me. For every1 that was payin attention to this moron knows what I'm talking about. Anybody who claims Strikeforce is awesome and UFC sucks clearly doesn't believe that but hates things that are popular cause you were probably the male version of Drew Barrymore's character from "Never Been Kissed"... somebody popular destroyed your live so you lash out at the top MMA company that is UFC and other popular things cause you think you have the power to stand on your own 2 feet now and want to believe you're better than the people who once burned you. You may have had that chance but anybody that said the dumb things that you did doesn't deserve redemption. People voted you down and me up for a reason... you don't get it but everybody else does so take your Trench Coat Mafia wannabe self and aim the gun where it should be aimed... at yourself, not other people. Us and the UFC aren't to blame for you being a miserable failure at life. You're done, bye bye.

  • TheMayor88

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:15 pm GMT

    Its only a three-fight contract so were on average talking about a year. Nick Diaz in strikeforce is on his third fight this year and his first fight in strikeforce was in April i believe. The negotiations with start again once that contract is up.

  • TheMayor88

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:12 pm GMT

    @godzillavskong the heavyweight division anywhere is pretty bad. Lesnar has nothing in my eyes. Mir beat him first, it took him three rounds to beat Herring, and he was grabbing the fence with Couture, on top of that he's close to his expiration date. Then Lesnar v Mir 2, Lesnar weighs 285 and Mir weighs 245. where is there any right in that? He is winning on pure size alone. When he wasnt taking Mir to the ground he was getting kneed in the jaw horribly. And you cant deny that Dana plays favorite with him. how many people have you heard of getting a title shot being 1-1 in the ufc? If he was same weight as everyone else, he wouldnt be anything because he has no technique

  • assasain47

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 2:11 pm GMT

    ha sure pride is better then UFC...thats why there top dog in the MMA sports ring...oh wait...thats right they went out of business...must of slipped my mind.

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 1:50 pm GMT

    @parhar67, I agree with you. St. Pierre is by far the pound for pound best in MMA. He dominated the Pitbull with a torn groin and tossed Matt Hughes around in their second fight like he was just toying with him. I also think Torres from WEC is the most exciting MMA fighter!

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 1:42 pm GMT

    @Micfury, how is the UFC garbage? Most of the best fighters are on the UFC's roster, whether they are paid lots of $$ to sign on or if they've been there from the start, so it seems to me like they have the best fighters and a lot better production value. I never liked Pride's setup with the ring and all, but I did like the fact that if they weren't engaging they were yellow carded and fined. I know Dana can seem like a douche and the UFC doesn't give a big percentage of its' purse to its' fighters, but if it wasn't for the UFC their wouldn't be any Strikeforce. Ever since Zuffa bought UFC they turned it from a brawling spectacle to worldwide recognition, and therefore opening the door for more companies like Strikeforce.I love the UFC,Strikeforce,WEC,M1, and Pride, so I say the more the merrier!

  • chesucks

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 1:23 pm GMT

    Crock Lesnar doesn't deserve to fight Fedor, there are others who have earned that privilege.

  • dirty_scorpion

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 12:55 pm GMT

    Well now atleast we can see Fedor vs Overeem in the future

  • wwonka666

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 12:38 pm GMT

    I love Strikeforce, but cannot help but think of the match we will now never see. Brock Lesnar VS this Fedor guy. It saddens me and makes me happy all at the same time. I don't see much competition in Strikeforce, but who knows that may change now that they have signed Fedor and hopefully while they are still in their primes in the next five years or so, we will see Lesnar destroy this guy because Brock is a beast and even though most people will disagree, he deserves everything he has gotten because he has a strong work ethic and is a top notch athlete regardless of his history with WWE.

  • evildead7

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 12:12 pm GMT

    couldn't agree with you more MicFury.

  • MicFury posted Aug 4, 2009 12:09 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    MicFury

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 12:09 pm GMT (hide)

    UFC is garbage. Their "Production" consists of the same black & white clips of street thugs talking trash and bad hip hop. UFC has no class, no prestige and is a joke. I never laughed so hard at UFC fanboys when Rampage showed up and killed Chuck Liddell. Thankfully, we were at a bar so I could actually rub it in. Pride was leagues ahead of UFC.. RIP Pride.

  • MadGamer132

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 11:25 am GMT

    why if dana says a ban dana sayid that. oh freaking well.

  • Nieley

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 10:55 am GMT

    These are all facts. Most of you are idiots
    1. UFC Is clearly the best MMA organization in the world. 2. Shedog.com and most other sites do not have Fedor as the best pound-for-pound fighter. (http://sherdog.com/news/rankings/sherdogcoms-pound-for-pound-top-10-18571)
    3. Sherdog.com and most others do have Fedor as the best heavyweight. (http://sherdog.com/news/articles/2/Sherdog-Official-Mixed-Martial-Arts-Rankings-18558)
    4. It is too bad that Fedor is not in the UFC, but he has nothing to proof. He has fought some scrubs, but he has also fought many more of the best fights in the world than Brock. - Fedor: http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Fedor-Emelianenko-1500
    - Brock http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Brock-Lesnar-17522
    5. Who knows Brock may become the best ever and maybe today, but he still needs to fight some good fighters. Beating Randy at any age is impressive, but he was 44 and had not fought in over a year. 6. There are some really big heavyweights coming up that will be interesting to see how Brock does against. - Shane Cariwin - http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Shane-Carwin-14013 (11-0 in UFC)
    - Shane and others (http://www.mma-zone.com/2009/looking-at-the-ufc-heavyweight-picture)

  • Stone_Coldberg

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 10:55 am GMT

    evildead7, I see why ur hated. R u even a fan of MMA? Doggin UFC like you do cause if you think their production is horrible, which it's not, then you must think that Affliction, Strikeforce, Dream etc... are God aweful! Seriously, don't kid urself man. Maybe you should stop talking cause ur given Crazyrabbi more fuel to burn you with.

  • SamMcK1664

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 10:44 am GMT

    LOL Fedor as a contestant on TUF, I can just Imagine that one. I wonder who the team captains first pick would be Wes Sims, Kimbo or Fedor.

  • parhar67

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 10:35 am GMT

    GSP pound for pound is the best all arond fighter. He destroyed BJ penn who is arguably the best ju jitsu artist in the world with amazing boxing skills. He also beat Thiago Alves who was also supposed to be the guy to take the belt off his waste. Only other fighter that can compare is Silva. Fedor is good but hes never once fought in the UFC and evreyone knows thats the grand daddy of all fighting companies. They should have tried to get him on the UFC show this season with Kimbo (who by the way i dont think will make it far in that show) That would of been amazing to see.

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 10:32 am GMT

    Why doesn't EA just go with the Strikeforce or Sherdog brand and be done with it?

  • BigBacon87

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 9:58 am GMT

    Sherdog is full of it. GSP or Anderson Silva pound for pound best fighter. Not Duck Dodgers, I mean Fedor Emelianenko. Im guessing this game will blow anyways. They just blew a chance to make a decent GI Joe game, and lets not forget why Dana White was so pissed in the first place, these jokers scoffed at MMA when they were approached to build a game so they can go f themselves I won't buy it even if it is good. Undisputed is pretty sweet anyways and next year will only be better.

  • dog-tags

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 9:55 am GMT

    fedor needs to grow a pair and get with the ufc . . . strikeforce=ugly step-sister of mma

  • Inconnux

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 9:52 am GMT

    Yes Nukku you are the only one who thinks Fedor is Garbage... he is by far the most dominant heavyweight alive today. He has made former UFC champs and top contenders look like noobs in their prime. If you didn't see it, he took apart Tim Sylvia in less than 1 min... wasn't even close. As for him not signing with the UFC, he still is on contract with M-1 for a couple of more fights, so M-1 holds all the cards... Fedor couldn't sign without express permission from M-1. Wait until his contract runs out and then perhaps he will be in the UFC.

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