It appears Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global have come to an agreement to return to the Strikeforce cage, and the former top heavyweight is in discussions to meet Antonio Silva on the Jan 29 card.
Sources close to the negotiations informed MMAWeekly.com that the fight is in the works for the 2011 card, with Fedor returning to action for the first time since his loss to Fabricio Werdum in June.
Since that time, Fedor has been sitting with one final fight on his current deal with Strikeforce as the promotion has been negotiating with his management company at M-1 Global to get an extension done.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has sounded confident all along that they would reach an agreement, and while no information was available about the terms, his potential return in January seems to indicate a conclusion.
Meanwhile, Antonio Silva is coming off a win in his last fight just a couple of weeks ago in Strikeforce, finishing off late replacement Mike Kyle in the 2nd round of their heavyweight match-up.
Silva had been on hiatus since May when he defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski before returning in December to finish Mike Kyle.
The Jan 29 card has been in discussion for some time and while Strikeforce hasn’t made any official announcement, several fighters including Nick Diaz and Jason “Mayhem” Miller are rumored to be on the show.