Emelianenko has gone from “a farce,” to “a joke” to, in a UFC conference call last Tuesday, “completely fucking irrelevant.”

The reasons for their negotiation impasse -- at least the ones we know about -- are many. Vadim Finkelstein, Fedor’s chief manager, wants the UFC to co-promote with his company, M-1 Global; Fedor’s asking price is somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million dollars; Fedor must be allowed to compete in combat Sambo tournaments while under UFC contract. The UFC does not agree with any of these provisions -- it wants Fedor exclusively for three fights, and no dallying with Sambo.

But things have changed a lot since this week. Randy Couture has re-signed with the UFC, and the discourse over whether Couture and Emelianenko will ever fight has shifted from Couture escaping his contract to, once again, Emelianenko’s ability to strike a deal with Zuffa.

"I don't know if Fedor cares about his legacy, or how important it is for him to beat the heavyweight champ of the UFC," White suggested. "If any of that stuff matters to him, then he should fight here.”

White also repeatedly stated that Emelianenko is under contract, prohibiting a UFC deal. He believes Affliction will fold soon, and Emelianenko will have no choice but to accept the UFC’s terms. However, a source FCF spoke to who is familiar with the Emelianenko negotiations said that the UFC is well aware that his contract provides for a fight outside of Affliction. Could White be trying to shame Emelianenko’s managers into signing with his organization?

In what might be considered an open letter to the UFC president, Finkelstein fired back at White and addressed the sudden change in the free agent landscape via the M-1 Global website. Previously, Finkelstein has used the website to tip his hand to the UFC and keep the dream of a Couture/Emelianenko fight alive. But this time, Finkelstein seemed more resigned than encouraged.

“As for [Couture’s] potential bout with Fedor -- all the MMA fans are eager to see this happen,” Finkelstein wrote. “The statements mister White still makes about Fedor alert me. It looks as if White is reluctant to let the best fighter in the world fight the UFC symbol. I’m afraid we’ll stumble upon the bricks of the UFC monopoly and the negotiations will lead nowhere. This fight the fans await might never materialize.”

Finkelstein blasted White for putting Couture against Brock Lesnar.

“Apparently Dana plans to destroy Randy by signing him to three bouts,” Finkelstein continued. “White believes that Couture won’t pass through the hard trial without loss, so that eventually the champion will stay with the UFC. Randy is 45 and he defeated a lot of great adversaries, but now he is set to face some upstart athlete who Dana intends to turn into the national star if he pulls the victory against the long-time hero. All this reminds me of the Pride situation when the organization was bought out with the sole goal of completely destroying it.”

Despite speculation that Emelianenko’s American representatives are in active talks with the UFC to bring Emelianenko for a single fight, Finkelstein thinks there is too much bad blood between the factions.

“It looks like there will be no Randy-Fedor fight ever although we are eager to make it happen, both fighters are eager to get it on,” he said.

If history is any indication of the future, Finkelstein has a right to be discouraged.