Fedor Emelianenko, the No. 1 Heavyweight and top pound-for-pound MMA fighter, will make his Strikeforce debut inside the cage later this fall, as the controversy and mystique around him continues to swell.

 

Emelianenko will ultimately find his way to Showtime, possibly as early as Oct. 10, against Brett Rogers, who most recently demolished former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski via TKO in just 22 seconds.

 

Criticism over Emelianenko's decision to sign with Strikeforce and not the UFC continues, because of the lack of depth in Strikeforce's heavyweight roster. Despite having several notable challengers for Emelianenko, the UFC -- which previously had a shaky HW division -- now has the deepest talent pool.

 

Emelianenko, who is undefeated in the past nine years, suffered his only loss due to a TKO caused by a cut. 

 

UFC President Dana White has longed to sign Fedor -- despite his previous comments about Fedor and his "crazy" management team -- and offered a multiple fight contract worth millions.

 

Although Fedor was offered a good contract, including the ability to compete in combat Sambo tournaments, the signing yet again hung up when M-1 brought talks of co-promotion to the table. A part owner in M-1, Emelianenko and his management team requested the ability to co-promote fights, especially when Emelianenko fights.

 

Since the UFC has a policy in place that prohibits co-promoting, Emelianenko decided to sign with Strikeforce, with M-1 and Strikeforce to co-promote events.

 

Now that UFC negotiations have fallen apart, MMA fans are curious to see what’s next for The Last Emperor.

 

Assuming he gets past Rogers' heavy hands, it's unknown who Strikeforce will put in the cage against Emelianenko in the future. Strikeforce HW champion Alistair Overeem has not been in a hurry to defend his title, and may not fight in the United States due to possible performance enhancing drug use, according to many MMA news writers.

 

It will be interesting to see who Strikeforce finds to fight Emelianenko during his minimum three-fight run in Strikeforce, as it's possible several light heavyweight fighters may move up in weight.

 

Do you think Fedor is ducking the UFC, or does he not have anything left to prove?