Fedor Emelianenko recently annihilated his competition during his Combat Sambo tournament. Jeff Monson just finished dominating the Absolute Division of the NAGA Arnold Classic this weekend. Now both men are looking to get back into MMA action this spring in a fight supposedly held on U.S. soil. In a new interview with MMA Fightline, Emelianenko talks about Randy Couture, Hong Man Choi, and his next fight.

It’s not Randy vs. Fedor, but at least it’s Somebody vs. Fedor.

Monson, the man we dub “Snowman”, might just be the first test for the virtually undefeated Emelianenko since he fought both Mark Hunt and Mark Coleman back in 2006 in Pride. While Hunt was only 5-3 and barely pulling off split decision wins over Wanderlei Silva and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Coleman, however, had wins over Maurico “Shogun” Rua, Don Frye, and many other old-school legends of MMA. He was also recently inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame if that still counts for anything anymore (thanks to Dana White saying that Tank Abbott is next). The fights against the Marks were just two months apart and the results were the same; submission wins for Emelianenko. After defeating Matt Lindland, who many say wasn’t a top contendor because he moved up two weight classes to fight, in April of last year, Emelianenko only recently emerged on New Years to beat the unnaturally huge K-1 kickboxer Hong Man Choi. Some fans rejoiced while others laughed and called it a circus. And who could blame them?

So can all of the name-calling and can-fed accusations finally end for Emelianko? Is Monson, a guy who went on a 16 fight win streak between 2003 and 2006, good enough to satisfy MMA fans who want to see Emelianenko up against “real” competition? Monson does have losses to Chuck Liddell and, surprisingly enough, Forrest Griffin back in 2002, but he also carries a decade of experience.

We’ll soon find out if the fight will be made official and when it will be held. As far as who will be lucky enough to host this - will it be held by EliteXC on prime time television in April? I really doubt that, but it is somewhat amusing to even think about it. Perhaps HDNet Fights will televise the first M-1 production or maybe a Japanese promotion has some crazy idea to attempt another event similar to K1 Hero’s Dynamite!! You know, the the kind of unorganized event you would expect to come out of Japan.

But either way, we can hopefully expect to see a real fight that goes the distance. Then maybe someone can really solidify themselves at the top #1 heavyweight in the world. Or not.

After reading the report on The Fight Network that top heavyweight fighter Fedor Emelianenko signed with Russian fight organization, M-1, it seemed that we would never him fight in the U.S. against our favorite fighters. With the talk of the signing, there was also rumor that an American had purchased M-1, but no other details were given.

With a net worth of $2.7 billion and an interest in MMA, Mark Cuban could very well be the American who is buying out M-1. If so, this could be his big break as he begins to air his HDNet Fights on his own network beginning on October 13th. It’s not easy to be profitable as a small organization on TV (see BodogFight, IFL, ProElite) and this would be a great move for most of us.

As an East Coast MMA enthusiast, the idea of the biggest fight production coming to a neighboring, albeit scary, venue in the near future has me dreaming of the great matchups that could benefit both the casual fan and the devotee. These benefits will certainly carry over to the UFC as well.

With the rumored lineup of UFC 78, it seems that the casual fans are winning so far. With matchups like Ortiz vs. Rashad 2 and a bunch of small name fighters, aside from Karo Parisyan and if you go back far enough, Spencer Fisher; putting most die-hards to sleep, the casual fan will certainly enjoy the cage-grabbing takedowns and one-dimensional primeval ground ’n pound that will erupt during the main fight. This, of course, is aside from the drunkeness and booing that is sure to envelope the mixed crowd in Newark, NJ.

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