Friday, 31 July 2009 16:17
by Dallas Winston

The UFC's fearless leader, Dana White, held a press conference today to relay some big news. This was the highly anticipated event where the announcement of the signing of Fedor Emelianenko was hoped to be revealed, but White only lamented about the impossibility in coming to terms because of the insistence by M-1 Global for the UFC to co-promote a show. Dana said the UFC gave way on every term except co-promotion, which would never happen.
The press conference revealed the return of two big names in MMA, both of whom are not strangers to the UFC. Dana renounced the heated rivalry between he and Tito Ortiz, and said they had come to terms; and although they may disagree in the future, they would work things out amicably. Tito said he was in negotiations with Strikeforce, but opted for the UFC because he felt Babalu and Frank Shamrock were the only viable options, and he didn't consider them top competition. Mark Coleman is a potential for his return fight sometime in the near future.
The other significant addition is "The Phenom", Vitor Belfort, who was set to face Jorge Santiago at 185 lbs. on the expired Affliction card, and then was vying to step up and face Fedor Emelianenko after Barnett dropped out. He will jump back into the frying pan at LHW by fighting Rich Franklin to headline UFC 103. The originally announced UFC main event was a rematch between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin, but due to poor receipt of the fight by the fans, Henderson was nixed for Belfort.
Finally, Dana disclosed that ESPN would provide television coverage for their brand in the UK, which is one of the UFC's fastest growing markets.

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