Fedor Emelianenko fought Antonio Silva on Feb. 12, 2011, under the Strikeforce banner as part of the promotion's heavyweight grand prix tournament.

But had M-1 Global not been so "difficult to deal with," there's a chance they could have met for the EliteXC heavyweight title three years prior to that fateful winter night in New Jersey.

That's according to former EliteXC head honcho Gary Shaw, who tells Fight Hub TV that "no fighter" was worth the money M-1 was asking for the former PRIDE champion's services.

"I did try several times to get Fedor to come to EliteXC, but the numbers they were asking, there's no fighter who was worth that. I wasn't willing to meet their demands. I thought M-1 was very difficult to deal with. It wasn't only Fedor. They wanted to be the co-promoters and the managers and they wanted you to put on so many Russian fighters of theirs on every show. Nobody's worth that price. Maybe if Fedor would have had the right management from the beginning, he might have been in the UFC and been a huge star."

More from Shaw, including his thoughts on "The Last Emperor's" release, after the jump.

Emelianenko opted to join Affliction MMA and Silva went to Strikeforce (with a brief layover in Sengoku) following the dissolution of ProElite.

When the two heavyweights finally did collide, "Bigfoot" emerged victorious after doctor's deemed the Russian cyborg unfit to continue.

But would the results have been any different in 2008? We can only speculate -- and we should -- in the comments section below.

Sound off!