Sherdog’s Top 10: Canceled Fights

---

6. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture

Unlike the other entries on this list, all-time greats Emelianenko and Couture never actually reached the point of signing bout agreements and scheduling the fight.

Still, talk of their meeting popped up consistently throughout 2008, and the desire to fight Emelianenko was one of the major reasons behind Couture’s attempted departure from the UFC and subsequent failed legal battle.

In October 2007, following his win over Tim Sylvia to claim the heavyweight title and a defense against Gabriel Gonzaga, Couture announced he was leaving the UFC despite still having two fights left on his contract. Low pay, relatively speaking, was one of Couture’s complaints, but another was the UFC’s failure to sign the world’s consensus top heavyweight for a title fight.

Those two issues were not entirely unrelated. Emelianenko was the biggest possible fight at that time at heavyweight and possibly in MMA as a whole; Brock Lesnar did not sign with the UFC until later that month, and even then, he was 1-0 with a win over Min Soo Kim and little indication he was a future championship contender. Emelianenko, on the other hand, was undefeated for seven years and had beaten the cream of the crop. In addition to offering a substantial personal challenge, that was a fight that would be sure to sell.

Couture’s legal battle with the UFC took up most of 2008, and while the two legends met for a photo shoot and bout negotiations went on for most of the year, potentially in the brand-new Affliction promotion, nothing final was ever announced. Of course, the UFC won the court case, Couture re-signed for three fights and Emelianenko went on to sign with Strikeforce. Leaving aside the delectable technical matchup of two all-timers, Couture-Emelianenko was a fight that would have held tremendous historical significance, and it is a shame it never came to pass.

Number 5 » Super Men