Shortly after signing a contract to fight Fabio Maldonado in the main event of Fight Nights Global in June, Fedor Emelianenko revealed that it is quite possible that he will compete in the UFC in the near future.

Emelianenko, who will fight in Russia for the first time since 2012, suggested during Tuesday's Fight Nights press conference in Moscow that his management was already in negotiations with the UFC and that they would discuss a potential match-up against Werdum. When asked to expand on his comments during an interview, Fedor obliged:

"We are continuing to negotiate with the UFC," Fedor told sovsports.ru. "We did not put a cross on the organization. The probability is very high [that I will fight there]."

This is far from the first time that Fedor has made such claims about a potential run in the UFC. He even claimed that he is more likely to fight for the UFC than for M-1 Global, his former home and management team. Fedor also added that he had already informed the UFC that he would accept a rematch against heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum. However, his former manager later responded that if Fedor legitimately wanted to fight in the UFC, he would have already done so.

According to UFC heavyweight Alexey Oleinik, UFC officials informed him that they offered Fedor more money than Rizindid, yet he opted to join the upstart Japanese promotion at the time.

Fedor is scheduled to meet Maldonado in the main event of Fight Nights Global on June 17 in St. Petersburg.