EA Sports MMA cover athlete signs with UFC rival

Last week, Electronic Arts announced its cover athlete for its mixed martial arts game, EA Sports MMA. The lucky fighter was Fedor Emelianenko, an MMA heavyweight and judo/sambo specialist ranked best in the world by enthusiast site Sherdog.com.

The news appeared to contradict reports that Emelianenko was close to signing a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts league. That's because last month, the UFC's outspoken president, Dana White threatened to slap a lifetime UFC ban on unsigned fighters who agreed to appear in EA Sports MMA. The UFC game license is exclusively held by THQ, which has enjoyed triple-platinum success with its first MMA title, the well-reviewed UFC 2009 Undisputed.

Now, it turns out that reports of Emelianenko being on the verge of signing a UFC deal were greatly exaggerated. Today UFC rival Strikeforce announced it had signed a multi-fight deal with the brawny Slav, nicknamed "The Last Emperor." Under the terms of the agreement, Emelianenko will headline world championships in conjunction with M-1 Global and appear on Strikeforce specials on the Showtime cable network this fall. (Showtime is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS Corp.) Emelianenko currently holds a 30-1 record as the WAMMA heavyweight champion.