Fedor Emelianenko at center of a mixed martial arts Cold War

Amid questions about his reasoning for not joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship and finding himself in the next-best organization on its next-best television network, Fedor Emelianenko stared pointedly at his interviewer.

Piercing blue eyes glare forward. Lips burned by icy Russian winters flatten in a cold, expressionless face scarred by fighting.

“I’ve seen that look,” said Steve Bash, a Los Angeles representative of Emelianenko’s promotional company, M-1. “It’s like he’s killed before.”

Picture that expression on one end of a negotiating table opposite the true kings of mixed martial arts, UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta and President Dana White, who has referred to Emelianenko’s negotiators as “crazy Russians.”

This is the financial Cold War of mixed martial arts, the equivalent of the Pacquiao-Mayweather divide in boxing.

For now, the 33-year-old heavyweight Emelianenko (32-1 with 16 submissions and nine knockouts) is preparing for the second bout in a three-fight contract with San Jose-based Strikeforce after talks with UFC failed in 2009. On Saturday, he will fight Fabricio Werdum (13-4-1) of Brazil on Showtime in the main event of a card at San Jose’s HP Pavilion.

There was some tension between Strikeforce and M-1 earlier this year, with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker telling The Times that Emelianenko was engaged in a holdout (also known as a request for more money). Showtime’s Vice President of Sports Programming Ken Hershman then entered the stalemate and helped mediate the holdout.

But Emelianenko comes to the Werdum fight in need of a dominant outing after his struggles against Brett Rogers, in which Emelianenko suffered a gash on the bridge of his nose in the first round and also got his head bounced atop the canvas by Rogers’ thunderous blows.

The Russian heavyweight shrugs off the drama of the Rogers fight. “During my training, I try to work in all positions, to feel comfortable in all positions,” he said through an interpreter last week in an interview with The Times. “There was nothing scary to me [in the Rogers fight]. I don’t remember such moments.”

Emelianenko rallied to beat Rogers by a second-round technical knockout.

The fighter says what previously turned him off from a possible UFC deal is that “money does not decide everything in this life.”

The subjects that turned Emelianenko away from UFC, he said, were driven by the company’s desire to maximize its profits instead of making the deal a priority. Clearly, UFC wasn’t going to let M-1 join as a co-promoter on Emelianenko fight banners, as the Russians requested.

But Emelianenko said he was left frustrated by the UFC’s unbending policy to force an automatic contract renewal for fighters who win or retain a championship belt. “The UFC said to me, ‘Sooner or later, you’ll come crawling back to us.’ There’s no understanding in that, being told, ‘You’ll come back anyway and accept our conditions.’ I don’t like hearing that.”

Emelianenko’s answer is that he’s earned more respect with his staying power while UFC heavyweight champions have shrunk in defeat. “During my career, there’s always been people they’ve wanted to see me against: Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture, Frank Mir, and now Brock Lesnar,” Emelianenko said. “The UFC champions, they change.”

Now on a 28-fight unbeaten streak, Emelianenko says he possibly could retire at the end of this current Strikeforce deal.

Next week, Emelianenko’s possible dream opponent — UFC heavyweight champion Lesnar — returns to the octagon after a yearlong absence caused by an intestinal infection. Lesnar will take on unbeaten Shane Carwin.

“I’ve heard about this fight,” Emelianenko said, barely letting a smile crease. “When I get back home, I’ll see if I can watch this fight.”

Says Lesnar of the Russian: “Greatest champion ever of all time. In his own little world.”

It’s smack talk that deserves an ending, should Emelianenko dispose of Werdum and conquer the current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem later this year.

“Understand very clearly,” Emelianenko said of Lesnar. “That match won’t be possible for at least a half a year. Today, there is no opportunity to have such a fight.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com