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Dana White: Referee willing to let Fedor die on UFC Fight Pass, may sign him anyway

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White is still interested in signing former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion and longtime white whale Fedor Emelianenko.

That might come as a surprise when you consider how mightily "The Last Emperor" -- once hailed as the greatest heavyweight to ever compete -- struggled to overcome Fabio Maldonado, a middling light heavyweight boxer cut from UFC for losing multiple fights.

But whatever reservations White had about the fading 39-year-old Russian, who came out of retirement last December to recycle a kickboxing can on the Japanese circuit, yielded to the number of subscribers booting up UFC Fight Pass to watch Emelianenko compete.