Emelianenko to the UFC? Major announcement expected Friday

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Emelianenko to the UFC? Major announcement expected Friday

Wednesday July 29, 2009 BY Phil Lowe
The UFC have called a press conference for Friday afternoon where UFC president Dana White will, according to the promotion, “break all the latest news and developments in UFC.”
Although unconfirmed as to what White will break, the LA Times reported late on Tuesday that it will be announced that Fedor Emelianenko has agreed a deal with the UFC.
Talks between Emelianenko and the UFC had taken place last week after the Russian fighter saw his scheduled Affliction Trilogy PPV main event bout with Josh Barnett cancelled, with Affliction closing down their MMA promotion and later announcing a sponsorship deal with the UFC.
The report also noted that Emelianenko, who has also held recent talks with Strikeforce, would likely get an immediate shot at UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in a bout that would almost certainly do huge business on PPV.
But even if Emelianenko does join the UFC, that may not be White’s big announcement.
ESPN executives were at UFC 100 earlier this month as guests of the UFC president and there is a lot of speculation that the UFC could land themselves a network television deal in the United States.
As revealed earlier this month by , ESPN’s new UK television channel and the UFC are expected to announce a UK TV deal ahead of the launch of ESPN on Sky TV and via Virgin Media next week.
Add to the situation talk of Tito Ortiz returning to the UFC and Friday’s announcement (or announcements?) by White should be extremely newsworthy.