Sounds like Dana White is trying to cozy up to The Last Emperor.

It is well known that Fedor Emelianenko and the UFC have had a pretty long running adversarial relationship. This past weekend, Emelianenko headlined EFN 50 which was streamed live on fight pass. It was arguable the worst Emelianenko has ever looked in his career, barely scraping out a win over UFC light heavyweight cast off Fabio Maldonado in a fight where everyone but two of the judges saw a win for Maldonado. In the past, UFC president Dana White may have taken this opportunity to cast aspersions on Emelianenko but instead, yesterday he praised the Russian heavyweight's toughness on the inaugural episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast with Matt Serra and Jim Norton (transcript by MMA Junkie).

"They were going to let him die before they stopped that fight, you know that? But a testament to how tough and durable and mentally strong Fedor is, man. He was out. He was out. Literally, when he got back up ... when a guy is on crazy legs the way that he was on crazy legs, and it's not like he was on crazy legs and able to avoid punches after that. He continued to get hit with bombs by Maldonado and he made it through it.

"But I'll tell you this: Those refs were willing to let him die before they stopped that fight, No. 1. And No. 2, Fedor's got a chin and he's a tough guy."

This is a pretty stark contrast from when Dana White famously tweeted out a smiley face after Emelianenko suffered his first loss in a decade at the hands (and legs) of Fabricio Werdum. White's more amiable attitude towards Emelianenko may have to do with the fact that just last week Fedor said he is closer than ever to signing with the UFC.

White wasn't only impressed by Fedor's toughness on Friday, he was also impressed by his ability to draw eyeballs. White says that despite Fedor's age and years off from fighting, his fight on Friday did good numbers for Fight Pass..

"We'll see. We've been negotiating for many many many years. I'll tell you this, Fight Pass did very well with that fight. People do still want to watch Fedor."

And that may well be the determining factor. In the aftermath of the Maldonado fight, many speculated that Fedor's performance may have irreparably hurt his chances of signing with the UFC but that has never stopped them before. CM Punk has no combat sports background and he is allegedly going to fight for the promotion sometime this year. At the end of the day, the ability to draw viewers is the most important fighter skill to Zuffa and for all his other deterioration, Fedor still has that. Maybe we really will see him in the Octagon.

5 MUST-READ STORIES

That means he'll get it. GSP says he wants Michael Bisping for the middleweight title as his first choice for his comeback.

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Big John. Big John McCarthy was selected as the referee for Cormier vs. Jones 2, despite Jones not wishing it so.

Pay that woman her money. Dana White says Joanne Calderwood is about to get paid.

USADA. Carlos Diego Ferreira suspended 12 months by USADA for a failed drug test.

EXTRA CREDIT READING

My apologies but nothing for y'all today.

MEDIA STEW

The win that started RDA's title run. It's remarkable how much better he has looked since even this fight.

Forrest discussing the rankings shakeups after the past weekend.

This is great. "It is a tale of 2 individuals who always want to be touching." Sounds like DC and JBJ alright.

Genki Sudo has moved on to crushing it on the piano.

Apropos of nothing here is a highlight of Jon Jones set to Angry Johnny which was such a dope walk out song. I would pay good money for him to return to using it. Just a perfect pairing of fighter and music.

LISTEN UP

TFATK

All the major points.

Sam Caplan interview.

TWEETS

Hendo is great.

I'm so excited for this rematch.

@danhendo @ufc if your man enough to fight me without your testosterone like last time I'll help you find a new logo. Cheating old bastard. — michael (@bisping) June 21, 2016

DC loves teams that win.

Obviously this is a friendly exchange. But DC beats Stipe.

It didn't go well for us DL.

Perhaps y'all will be interested.

This probably isn't interesting to anyone but me, but I counted the times Letourneau stopped to adjust her top.pic.twitter.com/L9F3SzO47C — Suzanne Davis (@SoozieCuzie) June 20, 2016

That seems difficult.

Rihanna was hanging with LeBron win the Cavs won the title. Now McGregor. Conor done well for himself.

Met @thenotoriousmma #ConorMcGregor backstage last night! So much heart! Thanks for your kind words! A photo posted by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Jun 21, 2016 at 8:43pm PDT

It's real hard to talk shit to a guy when he can just post this picture over and over again.

Cruz only taking a couple weeks off after the Faber win.

Can't wait to have this guy back.

어제자 #어벤져스 #와우 A photo posted by 최두호 (Doo Ho Choi) (@koreansuperboy) on Jun 13, 2016 at 6:40pm PDT

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

N/A





FINAL THOUGHTS

I'm not saying we were responsible Jojo Calderwood a well deserved bonus and a retooling of her contract, but I'm not not saying it either. You kids and your social media backlash supporting Jojo played at least some role in getting Dana White to recognize and address the issue. The M-Rmy is too strong. But seriously, glad Calderwood is getting taken care of and I hope more fighters take a lesson from her. Closed mouth don't get fed.

Until tomorrow, be easy.

If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it.