M-1 Global seeks top fighters to matchup with their star, Fedor Emelianenko, and looks towards a future rematch with  Fabricio Werdum and a fight with Josh Barnett according to mmamania.com.

"At this moment, for us, the key thing is the level of the opponent, and not how much we get paid...We had concurrent offers with other DREAM fighters, but this is not for Fedor's level, and we didn't want to have a fight with mediocre fighters, taking a step backwards. We want to be taking steps forward and we will follow this in the future," Vadim Finkelchtein, M-1 president, said.

Emelianenko recently snapped a three fight skid with a unanimous decision over UFC veteran, Jeff Monson, at M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson held in November. Looking ahead, Finkelchtein wants to see Emelianenko fight at least three times in 2012 with planned events in Russia, Europe and the United States.

However matching up "The Last Emperor" has been a tall task. This is due in part to the UFC's signing of the few top level heavyweights that were previously not with the promotion, Alistair Overeem and Werdum to name a few.

"We really want to get a rematch with Werdum, but he is locked up in the prison called UFC, and because of that arranging for him to fight Fedor would be very difficult...There are many other good fighters, whom we are considering. For instance, Josh Barnett. We need to wait for the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament to end and then we can see how likely it is that we can arrange a fight," Finkelchtein said.

Emelianenko is currently matched up with former Olympic Judo gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii, at Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoko 2011 scheduled on New Year's Eve.

On paper, Emelianenko is a heavy favorite when he fights Ishii who is still relatively new to the sport, sporting only six MMA bouts compared to Emelianenko's 37.