M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelstein recently issued the following statement regarding UFC president Data White’s remarks concerning the possibility of a Fedor Emelianaenko vs Randy Couture fight in the UFC.
Dana says UFC’s doors are wide open. Maybe they are. But these doors also shut tightly once the fighter signs with the organization. Randy Couture came back to the UFC and what now? Instead of fighting the best in the promotion he has to fight a young upstart with 2-1 pro-record. Couture might not survive all the three contractual fights. I’m afraid that’s being made in order to finish the star which is Randy and not let him fight Fedor.
I said it many times – we are ready to make this clash happen in any shape of joint event. This bout is the most anticipated event in the world of MMA. But Fedor will not sign to the enslaving terms of the UFC contract while UFC won’t agree to make compromise.
Why would Fedor need to prove anything to anybody? He’s already defeated 4 ex-UFC champions and twice UFC Interim champion in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
According to White there are guys better than Tim Sylvia. Well, who are they? Looking at the world rankings one can conclude it is Fedor himself, Couture whose situation I discussed above, then it’s Nogueira, Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski. To face off with Josh or Andrei there is no need for Fedor to come to UFC. He’ll fight them at Affliction.
I truly believe Dana White did more for MMA than anybody else, but at the moment he is the one who hinders the sport’s progress. He seems like a man with a big tasty pie who’s afraid that someone comes and bites a piece of it.
All we want is mutually beneficial cooperation but the old conditions offered by UFC are simply unacceptable.
Vadim makes clear and sensible points and its looking more and more that we probably never will see the Couture vs Fedor matchup anywhere now that Randy is back under UFC contract.
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Good Read.
” truly believe Dana White did more for MMA than anybody else, but at the moment he is the one who hinders the sport’s progress. He seems like a man with a big tasty pie who’s afraid that someone comes and bites a piece of it.
All we want is mutually beneficial cooperation but the old conditions offered by UFC are simply unacceptable. ”
wow.
informative
as long as the ufc has all the mma power the dont have to listen to no one,good for the ufc bad for mma
So what.. should they SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND Richard? It’s just not FAIR right, and life is all about FAIRNESS right?
I don’t agree with Zuffa all the time, but hey they put on some darn good shows.
I do agree with Mark and Richard on the sponsorship side, they need to loosen it up or compensate the fighters for lost revenue, because they are basically ticking off fighters like GSP and limiting the fighters’ ability to make double or triple their revenue without it costing the UFC a dime.
I’d have to disagree. The UFC built their brand, you want to fight somewhere else, leave and fight. It’s not that hard. Oh wait, you want the stardom of being in the UFC? You want to get the pay and bonuses offered by the UFC? You want work for a company you can be pretty sure isn’t going to go under if Randy TKO’s Brock Lesnar? It’s the UFC. :P Everyone else has tried cross-promoting, non-exclusive and everything else. What does it get them? Nothing? All the other organizations are done. Maybe the receipe for success is exclusivity. One thing that Vadim fails to mention is how he broke M-1 from being competition from the UFC. What about the fact that since Fedor is so good he should be past fighting circus bears on NYE in Japan and no one is going to be beat him in Combat Sambo?
Maybe he just doesn’t want to fight 3-5 times a year. That’s what the UFC would book his *** to fight. :P
i think the only problem with fedor actually signing his contract was he wanted to participate in the sambo championships in russia and the ufc didnt allow it .
UFC doesnt want to sign you, they want to OWN you, signing away your likeness rights, non-compete clauses, right to first refusal, resigning time delays, and a TON of other crap.
Fighters dont want to sign their life away like that man, they wanna get paid to fight and thats it. I dont blame Fedor for not signing those BS contracts, Fedor always signs one fight deals these days, one fight, one night one paycheck, see ya later..
its like a hooker without a pimp