Strikeforce heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko has not been released from his contract with the promotion.

Earlier Thursday, Russian website Lifesports.ru reported that the mixed martial arts legend would not have his contract renewed, but BloodyElbow.com has since learned from M-1 Global official Evgeni Kogan that there is no truth to the rumor.

“It’s unfortunate that the site has shown little to no journalistic integrity,” Kogan stated. “This is also not the first time their writers have fabricated a story to create attention. Quite simply, it should be ignored. Should there ever be a change in Fedor’s status, rest assured that M-1 would provide an official position.”

Emelianenko, undoubtedly one of the most recognized figures in the sport, was once considered by many the top pound-for-pound fighter in all of the sport, but a two-fight losing streak has seen him plummet down the ranks. He was defeated by Fabricio Werdum in the main event of their 2010 bout and was then defeated by Antonio Silva nearly one year later in the first round of the highly anticipated Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix.

Currently, the Russian fighter is waiting in the wings as a potential replacement in the tournament. He is expected to return to action this summer.

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Despite hinting at walking away from the sport following his first round elimination in the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix, Fedor Emelianenko is not ready to hang his gloves up just yet.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told Sherdog.com on the latest “Beatdown” show that the heavyweight legend will return to action this July.

Emelianenko, who was touted as the best heavyweight in the world not long ago, agreed to participate in the eight-man tournament, joining the likes of heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, and Josh Barnett, among others. But when he met Antonio Silva in the opening round, Emelianenko was dominated, losing to the Brazilian via technical knockout.

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It would be easy to start this assessment of the news that came out of Saturday’s Strikeforce event talking about Fedor Emelianenko, but that would be a disservice to Antonio Silva.

The massive Brazilian executed a tremendous game plan and showed he belongs in the hunt of the Heavyweight Grand Prix title, working a more technical approach in the opening round and stinging Emelianenko several times before taking him down at the outset of the second frame. From there, Silva put a beating on the iconic Russian, landing hammerfists from mount and cinching in strong chokes a couple different times.

When the round ended, Emelianenko was a mess, his right eye swollen shut and purple welts painting his face, leading the doctor to call an end to the bout. Silva was overjoyed, and showed the utmost respect for his opponent, walking over to kneel at Fedor’s feet before shaking his hand and giving him a kiss on the head.

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We may have seen the legendary Fedor Emelianenko’s fighting career come to an end on Saturday at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva” at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“The Last Emperor” suffered his second loss in a row to Antonio Silva in the opening round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament via doctor stoppage.

The former Pride Champion may have announced his retirement following the loss.

“Something went wrong from the very beginning, and I couldn’t readjust myself. Maybe it’s time to leave,” Emelianenko said in his post-fight interview.

“Yes, maybe it’s the last time,” added Fedor. “Maybe it’s God’s will.”

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The MMA world was turned upside down Saturday night when Fabricio Werdum submitted Fedor Emelianenko at Strikeforce’s Fedor vs. Werdum event.

Fedor had not lost since 2000, winning 27-striaght fights in that span. He was considered by many as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world due to his dominance in Pride, Affliction, and now Strikeforce. Yet, there he was being submitted by Werdum, a man who had never really risen to any sort of iconic status in his career and was largely thought to be a lamb for slaughter to Fedor on Saturday.

The upset has an impact in many ways, but there isn’t anyone happier about it, including Werdum, than UFC President Dana White.

White has been the face of MMA from an organizational standpoint for years now and his company, Zuffa Entertainment, has completely held the top spot in the MMA world.

White has signed all the top fighters and put on all the top fights over the last five years, yet he could never ink the highly sought-after Fedor Emelianenko.

Despite numerous attempts and record-setting contract offers, Fedor would never sign with the UFC because the organization would not co-promote his fights with his management company at M-1 Global. Fedor had the ability to hold power in contract talks because of the status he had reached in MMA through his record winning streak.

The failed contract talks spewed a lot of negativity between White and Fedor, but it also made White look bad. Despite all of his criticisms of Fedor, you knew he wanted to sign him and bring him to the UFC to see just where he stood among the heavyweights in that division.

With Fedor down to two fights on his Strikeforce contract heading into Saturday’s bout, the UFC had one last attempt to sign him over the next year. Now, with the loss, that urgency on the UFC’s part is completely gone.

Not only did Fedor lose, not only did he lose in just over one minute, but he lost to a man that the UFC cut because they didn’t feel he was worth his contract.

Werdum has lost in the octagon to Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos, but he just beat Fedor without landing a strike.

Now when contract talks come around, White can look at know that he doesn’t have to sign him to prove anything. If anything, now Fedor has to prove himself against UFC heavyweights like Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, dos Santos, and Cain Velasquez.

Now White can proclaim he has the top fighters in the world in the heavyweight division and in the pound-for-pound category. Trust me, as smug as it might be to make a big deal out of it in the media, White won’t hesitate to do so.

So while Werdum is enjoying his night of success, White is feeling like its Christmas day.

Strikeforce holds its next big card tonight featuring Fedor Emelianenko taking on Fabricio Werdum. The card features four fights and here are my thoughts on what will happen tonight.

Heavyweight Bout – Fedor Emelianenko (31-1) vs. Fabricio Werdum (13-4-1) – This is the next big bout for Fedor, who is one of the greatest mixed-martial artists of all-time, let alone in the heavyweight division. Werdum is a solid grappler, but he doesn’t have the style to defeat Fedor, as he has not standup and he is slow on his feet. Emelianenko should have no problem winning this fight by TKO in round one or two.

Women’s Featherweight Championship – Cris Santos (9-1) vs. Jan Finney (8-7) – Finney is a game fighter, but she is running into a buzzsaw in Santos, who may eventually become as dominant as any champion in a weight class, men or women. Santos will overwhelm Finney with her strength and her striking. Look for a first round TKO win for “Cyborg” as she retains her title.

Middleweight Bout – Scott Smith (17-6) vs. Cung Le (6-1) – Smith handed Le his first pro loss last December on a miracle KO punch in the third round. Le was dominating the fight up until that point, which is why the rematch is taking place. Le has a better skill set and more tools than Smith, who simply will be relying on one punch to win. Look for Le to fight a smart fight and finish Smith in the third round.

Lightweight Bout – Josh Thomson (16-3) vs. Pat Healy (23-15) – Thomson clearly has the edge in this fight. Healy is an experienced fighter, but that experience hasn’t resulted in a great record. Look for Thomson to control the fight on the ground to earn a decision win in his quest to get back into the Lightweight title picture.

It has been some time since I released a top 10 pound-for-pound list, with my last edition coming all the way back in August of last year. There have been some changes and the bottom of the list was tough to determine, but I feel pretty good about this group. I am basing this list over the past few years and using this criteria to make my choices: Quality of wins (i.e. stoppages), Quality of opponents, Amount of damage taken in fights, and Establishment of all-around skills in the cage. Now that the criteria has been addressed, here we go.

1. Anderson Silva – 26-4 – UFC Middleweight Champion: Silva’s last fight was embarrassing for the UFC, but it again displayed how dominant he is. He literally took two rounds off and still won a unanimous decision and in the three rounds he tried, he landed every shot he threw while dodging every shot Demian Maia threw at him. When he gets challenged, Silva quickly runs through his opponents, like Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin. When guys don’t come at him, like Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, the fights are unwatchable. Bottom line, it is hard to see someone beating this guy and I still think he could step up to heavyweight someday and give Brock Lesnar a run for his money.

2. Georges St. Pierre – 20-2 – UFC Welterweight Champion: GSP hasn’t been challenged since facing Josh Koscheck at UFC 74. The champion has cruised through his opponents and the only complaint against him has been his inability to finish recent opponents. Still, stopping B.J. Penn and dominating Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, and Dan Hardy is pretty impressive and a potential fight with Koscheck again or slugger Paul Daley or even Jake Shields keeps things exciting with GSP.

3. Fedor Emelianenko – 31-1 – WAMMA Heavyweight Champion: You can certainly argue Fedor is the top P4P fighter in the world as he hasn’t lost since 2000 and he has finished his last eight opponents, but the need to see him in the octagon and against some of these newer, fresher faces in the UFC Heavyweight division keep me from putting him on top. Yes, he is the most dominant heavyweight of all time, but Matt Hughes was once the most dominant welterweight of all time, then he ran into the new crop of fighters and things went south quickly. Lesnar, Carwin, and Velasquez are all fights I would like to see Fedor in today to see just where he stacks up.

4. Jose Aldo – 17-1 – WEC Featherweight Champion – Aldo has been on my radar for a while but with the win over Urijah Faber last weekend and the fashion in which it came leads me to believe that this guy is among the best in the world. His explosive striking has allowed him to tear through his last seven opponents. We haven’t even seen his jiu-jitsu, but he is a black belt there under the Nogueiras. It is hard to see anyone taking Aldo out at 145, but as we have seen, there is always a bad matchup for every fighter.

5. Lyoto Machida – 16-0 – UFC Light Heavyweight Champion: Machida is unbeaten in his career and until his most recent fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, he was nearly untouched in his UFC career. Machida has lacked finishing ability until the last year and a half, but he showed that he could be beaten when he fought Shogun. Consequently, that could have been Machida at his worst and Shogun at his best, and Machida still found a way to get the victory.

6. Jake Shields – 25-4-1 – Strikeforce Middleweight Champion: Shields deserves credit for his win over Dan Henderson. He is fighting up in weight and still dominated four-of-five rounds against him. Shields hasn’t lost since 2004, but he still had trouble with his stand up against Henderson and Paul Daley while also struggling at times on the ground with Jason Miller. You have to give credit where it is due, but Shields appears to have an obvious weakness that could cause problems with his venture into the UFC, if that all plays out.

7. Brock Lesnar – 4-1 – UFC Heavyweight Champion: Lesnar doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he has dominated top heavyweights Frank Mir and Randy Couture. The question still remains if Lesnar can beat the young bucks in the division, but that will be answered in his upcoming fight with Shane Carwin. Lesnar is explosive and powerful which gives him the complete package. Lesnar is going to be tough to get to the ground for submission fighters and his hand speed and size will be tough for a striker to deal with as well.

8. Cain Velasquez – 8-0 – UFC Heavyweight Contender: Velasquez has rolled through everyone in his short MMA career, including an impressive knockout of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. An All-American wrestler in college, Velasquez has developed into a powerful striker. His all-around ability will give anyone in the division problems, including Lesnar or Carwin. Velasquez could very likely be the UFC champion a year from now.

9. Shane Carwin – 12-0 – UFC Heavyweight Contender: I struggled with the decision on Carwin because we have yet to see him pushed passed the first round, but that is what ultimately earned him a spot on this list. Carwin has exploded on each of his UFC opponents, including Mir last month. Carwin is a big, burly guy that will be tough to takedown, and his explosive hands make him dangerous on his feet. We saw that he could take a punch against Gabriel Gonzaga, now we see he can man handle a superior grappler like Mir. With Lesnar awaiting him, that fight will likely be about which fighter can land the first clean punch.

10. B.J. Penn – 15-6-1 – UFC Lightweight Contender: Sure Penn just lost his last fight, but it was an off night for Penn while Frankie Edgar fought the perfect fight and still barely won. Penn will get his rematch and then Edgar’s talents will truly be revealed. It is always tougher to beat someone twice. Penn knows how important beating Edgar will be and he should come out with more urgency and explosion. Penn still has the best combination of striking, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu in the lightweight division. His ability to finish guys like Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian, and Diego Sanchez still puts Penn on my top 10 P4P.

Honorable Mention: Rashad Evans (UFC Light Heavyweight), Vitor Belfort (UFC Middleweight), Thiago Alves (UFC Welterweight), Frankie Edgar (UFC Lightweight Champion), Kenny Florian (UFC Lightweight), Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce Lightweight Champion), Dominick Cruz (WEC Bantamweight Champion), Jon Fitch (UFC Welterweight), Junior dos Santos (UFC Heavyweight).

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