It is being reported that a hand injury may hinder the proposed WAMMA heavyweight bout between champion Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.

The report said Emelianenko has been dealing with the lingering injury and it’s severity makes it very unlikely that the Russian will be ready to compete by the October 11 fight date.

It is not known whether or not his hand was injured before, during, or after his July 19th bout with Tim Sylvia or whether the injury was re-aggravated sometime after the fight.

For now, it seems as if Affliction is going to be replacing the headliner with a bout between Andrei Arlovski and fellow top heavyweight contender Josh Barnett.

Both fighters are coming off impressive victories at Affliction’s debut event on July 19th. Barnett avenged a former loss to Pedro Rizzo with a 2nd round KO and Andrei Arlovski had a great night as well with his 3rd round KO of Ben Rothwell.

Emelianenko had expressed a desire to compete two more times before the end of 2008. With the newly acquired injury concerns surfacing, along with Fedor’s plans to compete in Japan on a New Year’s Eve fight card, chances are the next time the WAMMA Heavyweight champion competes here in the states will be in 2009.

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As expected, Fedor Emelianenko "Trump-ed" his opponent Tim Sylvia in terms of salary for Affliction’s debut event "Banned" on July 19.

According to FightLine.com, the newly crowned world heavyweight champion made out with $1.6 million for his 36-second destruction of Sylvia in the main event.

Today, Fightline.com had that news substantiated by Larry Pepe of ProMMARadio.com. According to Pepe, the bonus was 1.3 million dollars, putting Emelianenko’s final take at 1.6 million dollars. That’s quite substantial.

MMA fans were taken aback when is was initially reported by the California State Athletic Commission that Fedor’s salary ($300,000) was half a million less than that of his opponent Tim Sylvia ($800,000).

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If there was any question before last night of Fedor Emelianenko’s status as the #1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world, it was answered last night.

Fedor stormed through #4 ranked Tim Sylvia in the main event of last night’s Affliction "Banned" show and captured the first-ever undisputed heavyweight championship of the world in a mere 36 seconds.

It was one of the most impressive displays of mixed martial arts that I have ever seen. Sylvia only managed to flick one jab out before Fedor completely swarmed him with a melee of punches that toppled the 6′8, 260lb giant. All Sylvia could do was try to keep his composure and weather the storm - or, rather, tsunami.

Once Sylvia was on the ground, he crumbled. Fedor took his back, sunk in the hooks, and by that point the party was virtually over for "The Maine-iac." Emelianenko locked in the rear naked choke and Tim quickly tapped. It happened so fast that I was still typing the play-by-play while Fedor was celebrating his victory.

If you could have polled the 13,988 in attendance at the Honda center immediately following Fedor’s 36-second destruction of Sylvia, they all would have probably been thinking the same exact thing - Is this guy human? Good question. Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia was thinking the exact same thing at the post fight press conference:

"[Emelianenko] hurt me right away and submitted me," Sylvia said. "The guy’s a stud. I don’t even think he’s human."

Sylvia also talked about the fact that Emelianenko hits like a freight train. Few know how to cope with the power that Fedor has in his fists, not to mention his hand speed, which could be compared to that of Vitor Belfort in his hey-day.

"That guy hits hard," Sylvia said. "I’ve never been hit that hard before."

For fans of MMA, the question of who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world will always be debated. But for "The Last Emperor," none of that matters. He made it clear in last night’s post-fight interview that rankings don’t matter to him. This is what makes him the champion that he is; this is what makes him Fedor Emelianenko.

After months of confusion regarding Fedor Emelianenko’s status with M-1 Global, a decrease in his pound for pound ranking due to inactivity and several rumors regarding his next opponent, we actually may have a fight on our hands.

It looks like free agent Fedor Emelianenko may be fighting "The Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia on July 19. Emelianenko confirmed the fight with Sherdog.com today, Tuesday April 8.

"[Sylvia] is a good fighter, a strong fighter, the former UFC heavyweight champion, which is important," Emelianenko said via telephone from Stary Oskol, Russia. "I am looking forward to fighting him and training hard for this fight."

Update: While negotiations are under way for this bout, Fedor’s manager, Vadim Finkelstein, wanted to make it clear on the m1mixfight.com site that bout agreements have not been signed for the reported July fight.

Here is what Finkelstein had to say about the fight.

"At the moment we can’t certainly say the bout will take place come July because the contract is not signed. However, the both parties are involved in the negotiation process and we are about to break the finishing tape although we haven’t come to an agreement concerning every detail as of yet."

While details are scarce, Sherdog.com apparently found out through sources that the bout between the two top ten heavyweights will most likely headline a card that is scheduled for the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.

The event is rumored to be promoted by the clothing brand, Affliction and will air on Cuban’s HDNet Fights. Affliction had previously been linked to Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions which had a rumored event date of June 28 in Las Vegas. That card has since been cancelled.

Fedor has received tons of criticism from fans and fighters alike regarding his lack of activity over the past couple of years. Tim Sylvia even had a few words to say regarding this issue calling the “Last Emperor” a p**** during an interview a few months ago. His last fight was somewhat of a joke as he took on a fighter in Hong Man Choi that had exactly one pro mma fight under his belt. Sylvia will be Fedor’s first ranked opponent since he fought Crocop almost three years ago.

Tim Sylvia recently decided to leave his home at the UFC to sign with his manager, Monte Cox’s, new MMA promotion, Adrenaline MMA. Sylvia had a total of 13 fights in the UFC losing only four of those. The former UFC heavyweight champ most recently lost to Minotauro Nogueira at UFC 81 via guillotine choke in the third round. Many people think Sylvia is underrated as a heavyweight and at least think Tim will make this bout with Emelianenko a war.

According to ESPN Fedor Emelianenko will be leaving the M-1 Global organization some time during the next week.

The article states that divorce negotiations between the heavyweight star and M-1 are ongoing now as we speak. Emelianenko’s agent, Apy Echteld confirmed the news with ESPN and stated "Officially, yes, Fedor will be a free agent".

This of course increases the chance that we might just see an Emelianenko vs Couture showdown sometime in the near future. For this to happen Fedor and Dana would of course have to squash their ongoing verbal battle of he said she said and re-open negotiations. Previous negotiations lasted almost a full year before eventually falling apart due to a quarrel between the two sides.

Also standing in the way of this potential dream match is the Randy Couture contract dispute with Zuffa which is still ongoing and probably will continue for months to come.

Regardless of the Couture situation Dana White says that he is willing to work with Emelianenko on a possible deal.

"Absolutely, 100 percent, in a heartbeat," says White. "People think he’s the best—I don’t, not even close. But if it’s somehow possible, I would make it happen."

A match between "The Natural" and Fedor Emelianenko would clear up a lot of dispute over whether Fedor is the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world. Fedor has recently been knocked down in many p4p ranking lists including mine due to his inactivity in the past two years and for not facing top level competition. A definitive win over Couture would definitely resolidify his presence as the #1 heavyweight in the world for sure.

For more details and to read the original article visit ESPN.