It appears that Jeff Monson has been slated to fight Fedor Emelianenko — for the second time in his career. The first of which occurred during the entire Affliction: Trilogy saga when Josh Barnett was forced off the card and Tom Atencio scrambeled to find a last-minute replacement. Actually, here’s the exact quote from Jeff Monson at the time back in 2009.
“My name’s in the mix to fight Fedor,”
“I’m not really supposed to say, I can say [it] is more than just me saying, ‘I want to fight him,’ though.”
“I think my best strengths are maybe not his strengths. It’d be a tough match, but I think it’s a fight I can win.
“(With the fight) nine days away, I’m ready to fight. I don’t know if anyone is ever really, really ready. But here at American Top Team, I’ll have a good game plan and be ready to go.”
“I’ve never been about the money, I just like to fight. I’m a fighter. It’s what I do for a living. More (money) is better, of course. I have kids. But I just want to fight. If you win and beat Fedor, you never have to worry about it (money) again.”
“I see me choking him, I see me winning. You’ve got to get him on the floor, that’s for sure. … And that’s where I’d end it.”
In 2009, the going rate to replace Barnett and fight Fedor ranged from $600,000 to $1,000,000 (Brett Rogers requested a cool $800,000 to scrap with The Last Emperor). We’re not sure what the price is now, but according to a recent tweet from Jeff Monson, it appears that the rumored fight has been scheduled for November 12th in Russia under the M-1 Global banner. Monson also said that he would wear his ‘Communist’ shirt when in Russia, so we can only assume that many Lulz will be had by The Snowman. [Source]
