Cormier: "Fedor Emelianenko would be an average fighter in the UFC"

Former UFC two-weight champion Daniel Cormier believes that famed Fedor Emelianenko could not have succeeded in the American organization in 2009-2011.

"In 2009-2011, the UFC reached out to Fedor, or at least tried to do something. The UFC was interested in Fedor's candidacy for quite some time until he signed with Bellator, after which the issue was probably closed.

"Brock Lesnar? I think Fedor would beat him. However, I don't think he would have been successful in the UFC. Sure, his rejection by the promotion helped the intrigue not die, but the truth is that he wouldn't have been able to handle fighters like Cain Velasquez or Junior Dos Santos. He wouldn't have been able to beat those guys who were at the top of the UFC at the time.

I know you can say he beat Nogueira and Frank Mir. But as great as he was, he would have been an average fighter in the UFC at best at the time," Cormier said.