Quotes of the Day: Fedor Emelianenko Talks UFC, Mother Russia and Vadim Finkelstein

"I do not consider myself to be the strongest fighter or be a very special person. I just come out to the ring and I do my job. I do my job and do it as well as I can and try hard and I understand that there is my great country which I represent which stands behind me. There are a lot of people who pray for me and that's why I want to be the representative of my country and I never think about ratings. I just want people to remember me as the honest person, the person who loves his country, his motherland and who glorifies the Orthodox Russia."

Fedor Emelianenko talking in a promotional video released by Strikeforce (transcribed by Fight Opinion).

I have several fighters who interest me, and I am following their fights during the year. Randy Couture interests me, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Shogun Rua. I also like UFC's young fighters Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos... I think they are a very talented guys.

...

UFC is a money making machine. The most important thing for this organization is a brand and it's marketing. They have a couple of good fighters and there are also some very good champions; but they are trying to keep everyone at the same level. The most important thing for them is the promotion, not the fighters. I think that they lack a respect for their fighters. As for me, I became a thorn in their side.

We are constantly negotiating, but only during recent time the Americans began to show some respect. The dialogue between us is completely different right now. They are more interested in our opinion.

All I can say is that Vadim Finkelstein is doing well in handling the situation.

Fedor speaking to mixfight.ru, translated by LowKick.com (HT MMA Mania)