5 top fighters who the UFC were unable to sign to deals

#2. The UFC failed to sign Gina Carano

Gina Carano was MMA's original female superstar, but Dana White failed to sign her to a deal

Prior to the rise of Ronda Rousey, who would go onto become one of the UFC’s all-time greatest drawing cards as bantamweight champion, the biggest female star in MMA was undoubtedly Gina Carano.

‘Crush’ rose to fame in the late 2000’s, first in the ill-fated Elite XC promotion, where she defeated the likes of Kaitlin Young and Tonya Evinger to quickly gain massive popularity with the fans.

Once Elite XC closed its doors, Carano joined Strikeforce, but only fought under their banner once, suffering a loss at the hands of Cris Cyborg in the first female MMA fight to really go mainstream, some four years before Rousey arrived in the UFC.

However, following this loss, Carano stepped away from MMA altogether, choosing to pursue a career in acting instead.

When she starred in movies like Fast & Furious 6 and Haywire, it seemed unlikely that she’d ever return to fighting. In fact, that reportedly almost changed in 2014.

That July, UFC president Dana White suggested that he was in talks to bring Carano into the octagon to fight Rousey in what would’ve been a genuinely huge clash and that there were few hurdles to cross other than to meet with her lawyers.

However, the deal never went through and Carano instead returned to Hollywood. In 2019, ‘Crush’ revealed that while she had met with White and Lorenzo Fertitta, she’d asked for at least six months to prepare for a fight with Rousey and the UFC president was simply too impatient to wait.

Whether Carano would’ve succeeded in the octagon, particularly against Rousey at that time, is another thing entirely. However, the fight would undoubtedly have been a major seller for the promotion, meaning that ‘Crush’ should be considered a major missed opportunity.

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#1. The UFC failed to sign Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko remains the greatest fighter to never fight in the UFC

Naturally, the biggest star the UFC has never been able to sign to a deal is former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. ‘The Last Emperor’, who is currently competing in Bellator MMA, remains the greatest fighter to never set foot in the octagon.

Fedor shot to fame with PRIDE in the early 2000’s, where he defeated the likes of Heath Herring, Mark Coleman, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop to establish himself as the world’s best heavyweight.

When the UFC bought PRIDE out in 2007, though, they were unable to come to terms with Fedor. That was largely due to his insistence that they co-promote with his manager’s promotion, M-1 Global.

Instead, Fedor essentially fought for the promotion’s biggest competitors instead, joining both Affliction MMA and Strikeforce, where his lengthy unbeaten run finally came to an end at the hands of Fabricio Werdum in 2010.

From there, Fedor went onto retire in 2012 following three final victories in Japan and it seemed like any idea of him entering the octagon was over.

However, when he announced his intentions to return in late 2015, rumors abounded that he was finally ready to come to terms with the world’s biggest MMA promotion.

Unfortunately, though, the same issues reared their head. After fighting in Japan, he ended up doing what he’d always done, joining the UFC’s biggest competitor in the form of Bellator MMA.

At the age of 45, despite being on a two-fight win streak, it’s likely that Fedor will hang up his gloves for good in the coming years and will remain the biggest star to never fight in the octagon.

Who is to blame for ‘The Last Emperor’ never entering the UFC? To tell the truth, both sides are. In reality, the only people who’ve suffered from their failure to cut a deal are the fans.