UFC President Dana White confirmed the release of Tim Sylvia today, but tempered that news by expressing strong interest in signing consensus number 1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.

White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports that he is interested in landing Emelianenko and would attempt to reach a deal with the man, many believe, is the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

White also stated that he would still be open to making a fight between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko.

"We want to make the fights the people want to see," White told Iole. "If there is a fight that we can make for him that people really want to see, then we'll try the best we can to get that done. We'll see what we can do as far as (signing Emelianenko) goes."