News from the forefront of negotiations between Fedor Emelianenko and the number of suitors in the sweepstakes to obtain the PRIDE Heavyweight champion has been limited to this update from Adam Swift at MMAPayout.com:

The never ending story that is the Fedor Emelianenko sweepstakes continues after the collapse of M-1 Global with no end in sight. EliteXC reportedly made a four fight, seven figure offer, however, the sides appear to be far a part on terms with Gary Shaw's statement that Fedor wants $2 million per fight. The UFC is also reportedly interested, but the two sides remained far apart last year despite prolong negotiations.

The deal between Fedor and EliteXC was reportedly between $350,000 - $500,000 per fight with an added pay-per-view bonus that was likely based on buys according to MMAjunkie.com. Fedor was said to have been wanting at least $2 million dollars per fight, which sparked a lot of criticism throughout the MMA community as to who could actually afford such a high salary for a fighter who is an unproven PPV draw. Both sides are believed to still be talking, but I'm very hesitant to think that ProElite can pull this off.

First and foremost, Fedor's pay-per-view potential is minimal at best right now. The only thing that ProElite will be able to offer is a fight on network television with the CBS deal to get Fedor media exposure. If he can garner a casual following and have an impressive win, could he see big PPV numbers? Doubtful. Fighters like Liddell and Couture have created huge numbers due to their long withstanding exposure to the fanbase over time and having a track record of great battles over their careers.  Hardcore fans may see Fedor as having those qualities, but not in front of the much larger American casual fanbase.

Secondly, two million dollars per fight is steep for any promotion in the business and drastically hurts the bottom line once an event has taken place. The UFC is really the only promotion out there that could take such a hit from their revenues and still come out on top. ProElite would literally sink their event into the red by giving Fedor that much cash per fight.

Will we see Fedor in the States anytime soon? Unless he sees some drastic changes in the offers he is getting, I'm very pessimistic in his chances of coming to a U.S. Based MMA promotion. The biggest problem is that Fedor and his management don't realize that he can only be paid what promotions are willing to give him. I imagine they may be playing the whole “offer and counter offer” game right now to see where that level is. If that's the case, it could very well be a matter of time before we see Fedor in the UFC or EliteXC.