St Paul's Rogers to fight Russian superstar Saturday

We are just days away from a Minnesota heavyweight fighter stepping into the cage to headline one of the biggest shows of the year, but this time it isn't Brock Lesnar and the UFC everyone is talking about.

It is Strikeforce and St Paul's very own Brett Rogers.

This Saturday night at 7 p.m. on CBS (Channel 4), live from the Sears Centre Arena outside of Chicago, Rogers faces off against the greatest heavyweight fighter of all-time, Russian sensation Fedor Emelianenko.

I had planned to write a profile piece this week on Rogers to give people some insight into who this gigantic man is. Rogers is truly a great story, but a much better writer than me already covered that last week. I suggest you read Patrick Reusse's column on Rogers right here for a great look at the quite giant.

Instead, I'm going to use this space to answer the questions I get asked the most that you won't see in the newspaper and other mainstream articles.

The first question I always get asked, of course, is "who is this Fedor guy?"

Born in the Ukraine and raised in a mining town about six hours south of Moscow, the man know as the "The Last Emperor" is a 33-year-old heavyweight fighter with an impressive record of 30-1 with one no contest. His only defeat came because of a cut from an illegal elbow just seconds into the start of his fifth fight way back in 2000.

Fedor rose to international prominence in MMA in 2002 when he signed with Japan-based PRIDE Fighting Championships, which at the time was the biggest MMA company in the world.

During his time in PRIDE, Fedor dominated the best heavyweights fighters in the world, including former UFC Heavyweight champions Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman and future UFC interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who won the title when he went to UFC after the collapse of PRIDE in 2006.

The second most asked question is always "if he's the best, why isn't he in UFC?"

The short answer is that, according to UFC President Dana White, Fedor's management team has demanded UFC co-promote any shows with Fedor on it with their M-1 Global promotion. This would have given Fedor's management a 50-50 split on PPV revenues, and to retain international rights to video tape distribution rights. While it is not a perfect analogy, the easiest way to describe this would be if Hideki Matsui's manager demanded 50 percent of all ticket sales and the rights to all Yankee's broadcasts outside the U.S. when he signed with the team.

UFC would love to have been able to sign Fedor. A matchup between Brock Lesnar and Fedor would have been one of the biggest shows in UFC history. From all reports, UFC offered Fedor unprecedented amounts of money to sign with them. But Fedor instead chose to sign first with Afflicition and then with Strikerforce, where he wouldn't have to face as high of quality opponents as he would have in the UFC.

Next: "What is Strikeforce?"

Strikeforce is a MMA promotion owned by the people who own the San Jose Sharks. While nowhere near as big or well known as the UFC, they are considered to be the number two promotion in the U.S. right now due to their television deal with CBS and Showtime. Unlike other MMA promotions that have come and gone the past few years, the people at Strikeforce know how to keep their costs in-line and deliver quality fights, a formula that gives the best chance to compete with UFC long-term.

Finally, the most important question is, "can Brett Rogers defeat Fedor?"

Can he? Absolutely yes. Will he? Honestly I don't know. There are so many variables involved that either man winning wouldn't surprise me. For Fedor, the biggest question is what kind of shape will he show up in. Fedor hasn't had a really challenging fight in over three years. His last four fights have lasted a combined total of 8:42. Three of those fights were against former UFC fighters well out of their prime, former Heavyweight Champions Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, and Matt Lindland, who is only a middleweight. Brett Rogers is the most challenging opponent that Fedor has fought since he went to a 20-minute decision against Mirko Cro Cop in 2005.

For Rogers, there are many questions. The biggest question is the level of competition he has faced. Rogers has never faced anyone at the level of Emelianenko. His biggest career win was last June against Arlovski, who he caught with a punch just 22 seconds into the fight. His last nine fights have been against opponents with a combined record of 72-53, and if you take Arlvoski (15-7) out, it drops to an even more average record of just 60-46.

Whatever condition both men are in when the bell rings on Saturday night, this fight has the chance to be one of the highest-rated fights on television all year, and a victory by Rogers will propel him into MMA superstardom and cement Minnesota as the heavyweight fighter capital of the world.

NOTES:

Kevin Iole from Yahoo Sports reports that Brock Lesnar was diagnosed with mono ealier this week and was ordered not to train for at least a month. The January 2 date for his fight against Shane Carwin is off and the earliest he'd be available to fight is probably March.