It’s as close to being official as we’ve ever gotten! (Rubbing hands together deviously.)
hate to be glass half empty, but I’ll suspend belief till the press Conference Friday.
Can’t say I’m not a little hopeful though.
Do you think Fedor is going to reveal it in his press conference tomorrow, or will he wait for the UFC to disclose?
its not ment to be!
Tuesday July 28, 2009 8:40PM; Updated: Tuesday July 28, 2009 8:46PM
M-1 Global says Fedor, UFC not close to a deal
By Josh Gross, SI.com
Denying a published report Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times, M-1 Global officials told SI.com that Fedor Emelianenko and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are not close to finalizing a deal that would bring mixed martial arts’ top heavyweight in the Octagon.
“I can give you a guarantee it’s not accurate,” said Apy Echteld of M-1 Global, a St. Petersburg, Russia-based promotion and management company of which Emelianenko is an equity stakeholder.
According to the Times’ report – which referenced an unnamed source unaffiliated with the UFC and “with information about the negotiations” – UFC president Dana White was set to announce the signing of Emelianenko on Friday. The source also said negotiations between the top MMA promoter and the Russian champion’s camp were “very civil,” and that both groups were discussing details on the pending public announcement.
Echteld declined to comment on negotiations between M-1 Global and the UFC, which are rumored to be taking place Tuesday in Los Angeles. He pointed to a press conference Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif., for “important” news on Emelianenko’s fate.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/mma/07/28/Emelianenko.Octagon/
M1 deny it.
Aleksander Emelianenko on who’s the real difficulty behind the deal.
“You can deal with UFC, I know that they have flexible contract system. All these talks about “strict” contract terms with signing with UFC, come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his owns business projects through Fedor’s fights”
I am TOTALLY confused. TOTALLY.
Honestly, if Fedor’s management fucks it up this time – because I’m sure the UFC is bending over as far backwards as they reasonably can this time around – then Fedor ought to shit-can that fucking Finkelstein guy so fast . . .
Not to be a spoilsport to the whole concept, but after reviewing Fedor’s record again, I’ve reconfirmed my opinion that Fedor does not need the UFC to cement his legacy. What’s he going to do? beat Brock Lesnar a 3-1 fighter and prove that he is indeed the greatest heavyweight ever. Please.
[quote]slimjim wrote:
Not to be a spoilsport to the whole concept, but after reviewing Fedor’s record again, I’ve reconfirmed my opinion that Fedor does not need the UFC to cement his legacy. What’s he going to do? beat Brock Lesnar a 3-1 fighter and prove that he is indeed the greatest heavyweight ever. Please.[/quote]
It’s not likely that Fedor’s legacy will change if he goes to the UFC, even if he loses to Brock. But what we are looking for are great fights and this indeed will happen if Fedor goes to there.
I agree that Fedor’s legacy is cemented, but the best HW’s, apart from Overeem, Werdum and a couple of others are all in the UFC at the moment. While Fedor vs Overeem and Fedor vs Werdum would be great matches, I think Brock presents the greatest challenge to him at the moment.
Couture would be a good fight too, a rematch with Cro Cop’s always tempting, Carwin, Frank Mir, etc… there are a lot of possibilities. I hope it happens but I don’t think M1 will give up their golden hen easily, something Aleks quite rightly commented on.
I am really, really sad right now. Wow, this sucks major ass. All I can say now, is that Fedor is making a major mistake by allowing his management to do this, and this is going to tarnish his legacy, at least to me. Seriously, I’m crushed. This deal was ridiculously good.
Wow that deal is incredible, I’m sick of this Finkelstein bastard, M1 wil never be a serious organization.
hmm…weird deal. i was under the impression that Fedor has had some decent payouts, like $1 million his last couple fights, but this seems to be a good deal. the only thing i really question is the likeness rights, and all that crap. the UFC has been a bunch of jackasses about the sponsors for fighters and likeness rights, so until they choose to give fighters a salary, i think they’re full of shit.
however, i could be completely wrong, but i think Fedor gets how much money this is. he’s bascially a couple years from retiring, so i assume he wants to have all his rights to make money after he’s done fighting, and not waiting for some UFC contract to expire when everyone forgot who he was.
the other issue i see is if he’s able to make all these concessions, how many other fighters will?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Fedor is still contracted to fight at least one more time for M-1. If so, this isn’t soley Fedor’s call on whether or not he gets to accept an exclusive fight contract with the UFC
[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
I am really, really sad right now. Wow, this sucks major ass. All I can say now, is that Fedor is making a major mistake by allowing his management to do this, and this is going to tarnish his legacy, at least to me. Seriously, I’m crushed. This deal was ridiculously good.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/7/29/968573/report-what-the-ufc-offered-fedor#comments [/quote]
If accurate, that just shows the typical Russian greed/corruption seeping from M-1/Fedor’s management. They can’t generate that revenue on their own and Dream or Strikeforce can’t offer anything financialy or competition wise close to UFC. I don’t think UFC can or will offer anything better. Fedor does not need to fight in the UFC to make his legacy, but if he wants to keep fighting MMA with credibility he needs to fight in the UFC.
This deal went beyond what I imagined the ufc would be willing to offer. It almost seems like fedor is determined not to fight there.I think that any org that agrees to these terms can count on some massive counter programming from dana, and even beyond that there arent many hw’s that id pay too see him fight.
[quote]Nikiforos wrote:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/mma/07/28/Emelianenko.Octagon/
M1 deny it.
Aleksander Emelianenko on who’s the real difficulty behind the deal.
“You can deal with UFC, I know that they have flexible contract system. All these talks about “strict” contract terms with signing with UFC, come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his owns business projects through Fedor’s fights” [/quote]
It sounds like aleks would be receptive to an offer from the ufc. If he got his visa issues cleared up id be pretty pumped too see him in the octagon. With that 30 mil they could probably sign him, vitor and mousasi;or just sign all the relevant hw’s out there and let fedor rematch zulu.
The thing is, Fedor is taking a stand against the promotional monopoly that the UFC has on MMA stateside. He is one of the few fighters that could do so, and is apparently willing to take a hit in the pocketbooks to do it. He’s easily the most dominate fighter we’ll see for a long time given the maturation of the sport and the elevated level of competition that mainstream interest has generated. While I am a bit saddened that we may not get to see Lesnar v Fedor, it doesn’t hurt my feelings in regards to his overall standing of all time fighters. This is a man who cleaned out the Pride heavyweight division when it was recognized as the greatest in the world. He has no need to fight a 4 and 1 fighter to prove that he is the greatest. If anything, Lesnar needs Fedor to validate his position more than Fedor needs Lesnar.
[quote]Nikiforos wrote:
I agree that Fedor’s legacy is cemented, but the best HW’s, apart from Overeem, Werdum and a couple of others are all in the UFC at the moment. While Fedor vs Overeem and Fedor vs Werdum would be great matches, I think Brock presents the greatest challenge to him at the moment.
Couture would be a good fight too, a rematch with Cro Cop’s always tempting, Carwin, Frank Mir, etc… there are a lot of possibilities. I hope it happens but I don’t think M1 will give up their golden hen easily, something Aleks quite rightly commented on.[/quote]
Couture needs to retire or juice up again, he looked skinny and slow in the last fight…I realize that Lesnar will make most of the HW division looks skinny and slow, and every time Randy loses we’re calling for his retirement, but Randy did not look like he was good to go in that fight and he can’t fight forever is alls I’m saying.
Other than Mir and Lesnar, the other fighters in the UFC are potentials. None of them have taken the step up in competition to prove that they are ready to challenge for a title. Kongo gets dumped on his ass at will. Carwin and Valesquez still have holes and are relatively unproven. Gonzaga got wasted by Carwin. Interesting matchups no doubt, but they are more ‘let’s see what happens’ than ‘oh wow, that’s an incredible matchup.’ So basically we’re waiting around to see if Fedor fights Lesnar and then Mir? That’s what all the clamoring about Fedor’s supposed ducking is about?
MMA Weekly’s top ten HWs, not all in the UFC:
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/topten.asp?articleid=16&zoneid=15
Fedor is going with EA’s MMA video game:
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=9252&zoneid=2
[quote]slimjim wrote:
Nikiforos wrote:
I agree that Fedor’s legacy is cemented, but the best HW’s, apart from Overeem, Werdum and a couple of others are all in the UFC at the moment. While Fedor vs Overeem and Fedor vs Werdum would be great matches, I think Brock presents the greatest challenge to him at the moment.
Couture would be a good fight too, a rematch with Cro Cop’s always tempting, Carwin, Frank Mir, etc… there are a lot of possibilities. I hope it happens but I don’t think M1 will give up their golden hen easily, something Aleks quite rightly commented on.
Couture needs to retire or juice up again, he looked skinny and slow in the last fight…I realize that Lesnar will make most of the HW division looks skinny and slow, and every time Randy loses we’re calling for his retirement, but Randy did not look like he was good to go in that fight and he can’t fight forever is alls I’m saying.
Other than Mir and Lesnar, the other fighters in the UFC are potentials. None of them have taken the step up in competition to prove that they are ready to challenge for a title. Kongo gets dumped on his ass at will. Carwin and Valesquez still have holes and are relatively unproven. Gonzaga got wasted by Carwin. Interesting matchups no doubt, but they are more ‘let’s see what happens’ than ‘oh wow, that’s an incredible matchup.’ So basically we’re waiting around to see if Fedor fights Lesnar and then Mir? That’s what all the clamoring about Fedor’s supposed ducking is about?[/quote]
I don’t think he’s ducking anyone… let’s not forget he is a co owner of M1, our Fedor. I just don’t think there’s a need to portray him as this noble soul who is fighting the UFC evil empire… he is doing business, just like the UFC.
If anything, the UFC are the ones who really bent over backwards to make the best fights happen.