Strikeforce has begun negotiations with M-1 Global to plan the return of Fedor Emelianenko, who could return to Strikeforce as early as October.

“Hopefully we’ll have something put together in the next two to three weeks and we can make a big announcement when the next Fedor fight will occur,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said. “If it were up to me and it were a Strikeforce event, we’d have Fedor fighting before the end of the year. When you have a co-promotion, there are a lot of different needs to fill so to speak.”

Strikeforce was looking for Fedor to meet heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem later this year before Fedor suffered a 69-second submission loss to Fabricio Werdum last month. Coker recently said Emelianenko wouldn’t immediately rematch Werdum and could instead face Overeem in a non-title bout or meet Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva or Sergei Kharitonov next.

Fedor has just one fight left on his Strikeforce contract, but both sides are looking to renew the deal.