Fedor thinks so highly of Randy he wouldn't fight him?
Taken from bloodyelbow:
Fedor claims that he never wanted to fight Randy Couture:
“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t entirely excited in fighting Randy,” Emelianenko told Sherdog.com on Tuesday. “I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him. Getting in the ring with someone that, I myself, adore as a person and a fighter, I’m never as interested in getting in the ring with someone I have an emotional attachment to.”
Who would he rather face, Couture or Lesnar? He says:
“I just never think that way,” he said. “I never concentrate on that. My opponent is the opponent that signs the contract to fight me and ahead of time, looking down a list of fighters that are available and trying to figure who poses more of a danger by studying their games –- it’s something I just don’t concentrate on.”
But:
“I would choose Lesnar, mainly for the reason I mentioned before,” said Emelianenko. “I’m very sympathetic to Randy. He hung out together. He got to know each other. I have a lot of warm feelings toward him. Based on that, if I had my choice without any outside forces involved, I would choose Lesnar.”