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Sports Illustrated's Josh Gross published a report in the wake of that citing a source saying the two sides aren't close to a deal, and our good buddies over at MMA Junkie backed that up this morning with similar claims.

The Times can also confirm that it has talked to a source with ties to Fedor who says a deal between the heavyweight regarded as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter and the world's top promotion is very unlikely.

That source said a deal is unlikely to happen because of the amount of money Fedor makes on pay-per-view fights in Russia. Another major sticking point is Fedor's manager, who owns M-1 Global. He insists that any fight with Fedor be promoted in full or co-promoted by M-1 Global -- and that's something the UFC has never been down for in the past.

Fedor was to fight Aug. 1 against Josh Barnett as the headliners of the Affliction: Trilogy card in Anaheim. But a failed drug test for Barnett (the second of his career), allegedly for a banned anabolic steroid, resulted in his license being pulled by the California State Athletic Commission. That meant the fight with Fedor was off, and it left Affliction scrambling to find a replacement. Without a suitable one, the event was canceled.

The next day, Affliction scrapped its fight promotion business altogether and went back to just being a clothing company, hooking back up with the UFC to be one of its major sponsors after more than 18 months of bad blood between the two parties.

A source close to Affliction, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times that Affliction lost in the neighborhood of $2 million from the cancellation of the card. That source said the card was canceled because it would be too costly for the company to change out all its promotion and advertising for a new Fedor opponent. The source also said Affliction was highly concerned over the amount of refunds it would likely have to give out for the pay-per-view buys it had already sold at $44.95 each.

When Affliction folded, Fedor became a free agent. UFC president Dana White said after UFC 100 in Las Vegas on July 11 that he fully intends to get Fedor to the UFC and to make a fight between him and heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar happen.