M-1 Global reveal no talks have taken place with the UFC over Fedor

M-1 Global officials have today moved to extinguish the rumours that they have been in talks with the UFC over a possible deal for WAMMA heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko, insisting that relations are good with Strikeforce despite recent contract issues.

The following exert is taken from MMAFighting.com and includes information past along from M-1 Global:

1. Fedor isn't fighting on the April 17 Strikeforce card because he wanted to have more time to prepare following the recovery from his hand injury. Hand problems have plagued Fedor for much of his fighting career, and he suffered another hand injury in his win over Brett Rogers in November. M-1 Global says Fedor wasn't able to get in a complete training camp before April 17, and that's why he's not on the card.

2. Whether Fedor will fight Fabricio Werdum on the May 15 Strikeforce card is currently being worked out. Although most people expect that fight to take place on a great heavyweight card that also features Rogers vs. Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio Silva, it's no sure thing that Fedor-Werdum will happen. M-1 Global says we should expect more news on that front later.

3. Everything is fine between Fedor, M-1 Global and Strikeforce. Behind the scenes, maybe there are issues between M-1 Global and its co-promoter, Strikeforce. But M-1 Global isn't going to make those issues public. What they told me is that everything is just fine.

4. Fedor is not ruling out fighting in Japan this year. Fedor is popular in Japan from his days in Pride, and although he hasn't fought there since New Year's Eve 2007, he won't close the door on fighting there in 2010. Dream has made some noises about beefing up its heavyweight division, although it's not clear whether Dream can come up with the kind of payday Fedor would want.

5. Neither Fedor nor anyone involved with M-1 Global has had any recent talks about Fedor fighting in the UFC. They were emphatic about this one. We don't know when or where Fedor is fighting next, but according to M-1 Global, it's not in the UFC.

Fans will have to wait and see whether Fedor returns to action on May 15th to battle Fabricio Werdum or not, although it seems strange to me that he would compete on the same card as Strikeforce heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem and the two not lock horns themselves. Stay tuned to MMB in the coming days and weeks for more on this as we get it.