Well, it appears that all our hopes and dreams of seeing Fedor Emalianenko in the UFC have been dashed. Actually, our hope of seeing Fedor fight any top level heavyweight competition has been dashed as it appears Fedor has reached an agreement with Russian promotion M-1.
Loretta Hunt at TheFightNetwork is reporting that Fedor has “committed exclusively” to the M-1 Mix-Fight Championship and their new ownership.
Established in 1997, the St. Petersburg-based M-1 held over 30 events under the ownership of Russian businessman Vadim Finkelstein, also the long-time manager of the much-sought-after Emelianenko. Finkelstein is also the proprietor of the Red Devil Sports Club, a facility and team that houses numerous Russian fighters, including PRIDE veteran Roman Zentsov and former UFC middleweight Andrei Semenov.
The source confirmed the new ownership has infused a substantial amount of capital into the organization. Finkelstein and others will stay on to assist in running the company, which will continue to promote under a variation of the M-1 name. The new M-1 will take more of a global stance, and Emelianenko (26-1) will headline its inaugural event as early as January or February, possibly in the U.S., the source said.
Someone really dropped the ball on this one and I have a feelling it was Dana White and the Fertita’s with their insistence that Fedor compete exclusively with the UFC and avoid any Sambo competitions where he is a three-time world champion. Very petty reason to not sign the fighter many people believe is the best “pound-for-pound” fighter in the world. I see why the UFC wants exclusivity, but in this case it appears to have hurt them.
Or not? The UFC will continue to roll and be the top dog in MMA promotions and 90% of their audience won’t care because they currently have no idea who Fedor is. Fedor will drop from the #1 rank because he isn’t fighting high level competition and the UFC heavyweights will slide into the top 3 spots.
Emalianenko has not fought since April of this year when he defeated Matt Lindland in BodogFIGHT. It appears that his next fight will be sometime in early 2008.
Loading ...
well maybe they offered him something that he couldnt refuse…and with all the harsh words and stuff from dana calling them “crazy russians” we should have known this was gonna happen. But hey it is a russion owned organization so maybe they offered him the cream of the crop, maybe something that ufc couldnt offer(which i highly doubt). But then dealing with dana and the fruiter(lol) brothers they probably had something to do with blowing it. But you never know when you deal with all these contract stipulations, and different managment etc………….. Dang it!!!!! I sure wanted to see him fight randy……
[...] Original post by MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis [...]
LLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Craig
Is this Dr J Craig.. or another Craig?
LOL
clearly not me…
Anyways here are a few rumors. TAGG Radio actually first broke this on Oct 4 but I didn’t post anything on it because 90% of what Frank Trigg reports is garbage. Trigg said that the deal with M-1 was worth $10 million.
Another rumor floating around that I’m trying to confirm is that one of the “mystery” American investors in the new M-1 is Mark Cuban. I’m inclined to at least believe in the plausibility of Cuban’s involvement since Cuban did express interest in Fedor and did meet with his management team a few weeks ago
i think fedor should be dropped for the #1 spot if he is gonna go to this **** show
I think were gonna see Fedor taking the Frank Shamrock road, he will lose alot of respect from alot of people. Hes still Fedor tho, and he still deserves his respect as far as im concerned. This is a terrible decision by his management, he will definately make more money this way, no question about that.
The thing is guys…. who is Fedor? what do we know about his personality? hes humble, hes respectful to other fighters, even when he wins, the most you get is a small smile unlike guys like Baroni yelling im the fckn best. Does he even care thats hes considered the best fighter in the world? or is it just a paycheck for this guy? If hes just looking to amass as much money as possible, maybe hes making the right choice.. what does Fedor really want guys?
Good for Fedor if the $ issue is true. The UFC has the same $ available to pay him, if they didn’t do so, shame on them.. and shame on any fans disapproval of him… if any one of us had a “lottery ticket” to fight for 10mil anyone of us would take it I think. Yes, this is a job and a passion, and yes you get paid…. and just like any job, it does matter how much you get paid.
Fedor is worth the money, at any time he could lose his contract and be nothing, that is how the UFC works, look at Franklin right now.. a year and a half ago he was invincible and his contract status was impeccable, his record in the UFC is still one of the most dominant and best numbers wise, yet if he loses to Silva in this fight, White is already talking about his “career in the UFC” being in “limbo”… yeah that is how they operate, you lose a few and your out, unless your titty ortiz.. so good for Fedor, he took the money and ran and I would probably have done the same had I made a reputation for myself like he has done… he has in the eyes of most non-north american mma fans accomplished everything and gone to the mountain tops.. .#1 and the best HW record out there against some of the best.. he has nothing to prove…
[quote comment="10093"]
The thing is guys…. who is Fedor? what do we know about his personality? hes humble, hes respectful to other fighters, even when he wins, the most you get is a small smile unlike guys like Baroni yelling im the fckn best. Does he even care thats hes considered the best fighter in the world? or is it just a paycheck for this guy? If hes just looking to amass as much money as possible, maybe hes making the right choice.. what does Fedor really want guys?[/quote]
this is absolutely true..Fedor in my eyes is probably one of the most humble fighters out there. he said himself, that when he fights..he sees his oponent as someone whose taking food from his child mouth..and he cannot allow it..so he does it for his family. Never have i ever heard Fedor talk **** about any other fighters, , or really challenge ppl…ppl challenge him..and juss like bvrasp said, fedor just basically flashes a lil smile, for the croud and thats basically it..so although this is ********, cause we dont get to see fedor potentially have his way the ufc heavyweight division..whatever..hes got money in the bank, and hes gonna get paid, so to each his own..let him do his thing..who knows this may even cause dana and the ufc to reconsider their offer to him and at a later date , maybe an agreement will be met, and they may make fedor an offer he cannot refuse
Who cares? UFC saves money on a Pride Fighter that would probably just end up losing to some no name guy in a “tune up” fight and Fedor gets $10 Million bucks, which buys many bottles of Vodka.
It’s a win/win situation.
[...] future of Fedor seems resolved. Is Dana White to blame? Luke Thomas is not happy. The MMA Analyst is a little bit excited. Personally, I’m [...]
I agree Kansas, its good for Fedor, but the UFC has the money to pay these guys more, im sure of it. They dropped the ball from a fan perspective, but for maximum possible gain as a business, they want to keep the purses as low as possible for as long as possible. They have gone up drastically in the past 5 years tho, thats for sure, its just a matter of time.
[quote comment="10096"]Who cares? UFC saves money on a Pride Fighter that would probably just end up losing to some no name guy in a “tune up” fight and Fedor gets $10 Million bucks, which buys many bottles of Vodka.
It’s a win/win situation.[/quote]
do you have a big beef with PRIDE or what? and you ask who cares? i care i was kinda hoping to see Fedor fight some of the best in the UFC. and i dont see it as Fedor the PRIDE fighter, i see it like Fedor the Russian fighter. im getting a bit tired of the whole PRIDE sucks thing. most of these fighters were not born and raised in PRIDE and just because they fought in PRIDE doesent mean they suck. did you know that Dan Henderson has only 1 more fight in PRIDE then Rampage and the same amount of fights in the UFC, and they both have more fights in PRIDE Fedor. the org doesnt make a fighter great they let them be seen its up to them to be great.
I’m disappointed with this as I was really looking forward to him and Randy competing. At the end of the day you have to do what is right for your family and I don’t blame Fedor one bit. He gets to compete locally and I’m sure he will be treated like a super hero. I think Dana and his brash negotiating has a lot to do with Fedor’s decision. Fedor’s still not that lod so we may see him in the future but I wish him well. Without any top level competition his stock will fall some but he’s still Fedor and doesn’t have an ego so I doubt this will bother him.
Well dee-zamn….m1 is getting everybody huh? Word is they just signed kimbo slice to a deal…..DOC CAN YOU FIND OUT IF THAT IS TRUE?!!!……But anyway i just dont understand why you wouldnt wanna fight in the ufc..i mean they probably are some selfish buzzards when it comes to letting you fight in other organizations but c mon. I know ufc could have matched what M-1 is giving him. I f not more. Man the randy/fedor fight could have been the REAL drago/ rocky fight…That would have emassed so much money it would have been ridiculous. All of america would have been behind randy for this one. Just picture the ufc promotional event commercial. That alone would have sold over a million lol lol lol. What in the heck was ufc thinking? But idk…u never know what is happening behind closed doors you know.
At first I was screaming at my monitor “NOOOO YOU RUSSIAN *******!! YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE BEST!!! AAAARRRGGG!!!”….but then I really thought about it. If there is one fighter in the world that an organization can built around, it’s Fedor. To be honest I’ve been a little scared by the fact that there is basically one show in town. The UFC sets the standard for all of it now, and that sucks. If I can’t have Fedor in the UFC, then I hope a viable rival to the UFC can be built around him.
Lol…this is so pathetic. I guess it was only a matter of time before another organization “put up” to make the ufc conglomerate “shut up”. I think this is this is somewhat bitter sweet for MMA fans. On one hand, we lose the greatest mixed martial artist of all time fighting the other bests, and on the other hand we see the UFC actually getting slapped in the face because a fighter chose to stand up against their “demands”. If the UFC thinks that they can stay on top forever without any competition, they are obviously wrong..especially now that so many billionaires are getting into the mox with plenty of capital to throw around. Well, I guess the only thing for the UFC to do now is give us the best fight cards we’ve ever seen…Bisping vs. Rashad…mmmmm.
And as far as someone comparing Fedor to Frank Shamrock, that’s just silly..there is NO comparison between the two and I yes I know you didn’t mean in the fighting sense, I mean in any sense. Shamrock was known to burn many bridges back in the days before the days of the modern MMA era. MMA’s popularity now is unprecedented, and being Russian myself…for Dana and his cronies to make such ridiculous comments insulting Russians, it’s no wonder they lost this deal. Let’s not forget that many of the top HW fighters in the world hate Dana White and the UFC, so regardless of all this..Fedor will always have the respect of many fighters and fight fans.
Well I figured some of the best fighters would gravitate towards Fedor, but I didn’t think it would be that fast. 9 months form now we can look forward to Cotoure vs Fedor in Russia. That fight alone will put this organization well on the map.
Randy resigned from UFC. Randy vs fedor match is still possible. It’s a matter of which organisation with plenty of cash can step up to bring to us, MMA fans the greatest fight among MMA greats!
If Mark Cuban is indeed the new owner of M-1, dana is in trouble. Let see how good dana is in fending off competition rather than just buy them up with money (like Pride). This is a good news for fighters but terrible news for dana. Cuban got more cash than dana. It will be a good showdown.
For those of you who didn’t get to read the article about the Fedor deal, here are some of the key parts of the deal, which I think are amazing:
“We have meetings set up with HBO, Showtime and (Mark Cuban’s) HDNet,†he said. “Everyone has made it clear that they are interested. We need to pick the partner that gives us the most exposure.â€
“We’re not going to reserve our fighters to work just for us,†said Cox. “If the UFC gets Randy back and they call and want Fedor to fight, we’ll send him to the UFC.
Maxwell backed that up saying, “In Fedor’s contract with M-1 Global, we have a clause to offer the UFC champion $1,000,000 over and above what the UFC would offer their champion to fight Fedor, and $1,000,000 to the winner of that fight over the general purse for that fight.â€
“I also think that there are a lot of UFC fighters when their contract expires, who will be looking to sign with other organizations that treat them in a different manner. They will want to sign with our organization because of the tremendous respect that they hold for Fedor as a fighter and an individual.â€
Key points:
1) If M-1 gets an HBO deal, that would be an incredible slap in the face to the UFC who couldn’t secure such a deal. Awesome!!!
2) If M-1 offers so much money to the UFC champ
he will come out to face Fedor for a shitload of money and have the risk of being embarrassed, that would be interesting to see how the UFC plays that offer. I sure hope Sylvia would be the champ at that time.