Fronted by Luke Thomas.

Something about Fedor's relationship with M1 just doesn't sit right with me. They use Fedor as a major gambling chip to further themselves as a promotional entity. I do wonder if at some point Fedor could leave them, or if he has some iron-clad prisoner contract that ties down for the rest of his fighting days.

Regardless of all that, this interview contains a lot of critical information regarding how real the possibilities of Fedor fighting Couture in the UFC are. Turns out it's possible internationally and domestically, as Joost implies that Fedor's contract with Affliction contains clauses that would allow him to pursue the fight with Couture:

Q: From what UFC says, it's still trying to work things out with you guys. How much of a possibility is that at this point? 

Raimond: Who knows? What that will do for a possible bout between Fedor and Randy, that's very difficult to say at this point in time. The only thing I can say from our side is that we are open and willing to work with any organization to make that fight happen, and we've also expressed that to the UFC. Irrespective of who the organizaton is, we're willing to work with anybody to do that. 
The contracts that Fedor has at this point in time would allow for such a fight to take place, and specifically the Randy fight, so we're free to make that happen if the opportunity presents itself. 

USA Today Interview with Joost Raimond