What The UFC and Strikeforce Reportedly Offered Fedor
Both the UFC and Strikeforce have apparently made formal offers to top heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, who was left without an upcoming fight or a promotion to call home following last weeks cancellation of Affliction: Trilogy and subsequent collapse of Affliction’s MMA promotion.
Though the UFC’s offer was called “very good” by Fedor’s M-1 Global management on Wednesday, the UFC’s reluctance to co-promote events with M-1 to bring Fedor has caused talks to stall.
Strikeforce’s reported offer, though less lucrative than the UFC’s, is still very good and allows M-1 to co-promote Fedor’s events.
First, the reported UFC offer from the Carmichael Dave Show (via Bloody Elbow):
- The UFC offered Fedor a 6 fight, 30 million dollar contract. That’s 5 mil a fight
- The UFC offered Fedor an immediate title shot
- Lesnar/Fedor would be the biggest PPV in MMA history (we assume), and the UFC offered M-1 Global a cut of the PPV on top of Fedor’s purse.
- Fedor was free to wear as many M-1 logoed items as he wished.
- The UFC also relented on allowing Fedor to compete in combat sambo.
Apparently, for good or bad, M-1 refuses to sign a deal unless the UFC agrees to co-promote.
Next, some updates from Ring Psychology’s Jonathan Snowden on the contract details reported above:
“The actual guarantee offered Fedor was less than $2 million. The other money would only come into play if the PPV’s did extremely well,” Snowden said. “Fedor was not offered a $5 million guarantee.”
- Offer was only for three fights, not six as originally reported.
- The guarantee per fight was *less* than Fedor’s contract with Affliction.
Finally, details on Strikeforce’s offer from Chad Dukes today on the Lavar Arrington Show in Washington (also via Bloody Elbow):
Strikeforce has offered Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 would be for $1 million per fight: $500k from Strikeforce and $500k from CBS for 6 fights (not sure about what happens when he doesn’t fight on CBS or perhaps these are all CBS fights?). Any fight would be co-promoted with M-1 and the contract would be non-exclusive.
At this point it appears Fedor has not yet reached a deal with any promotion, including the UFC and Strikeforce. Though monetarily the UFC’s deal appears significantly better, co-promotion issues remain, while Strikeforce is willing to work with M-1 Global in order to sign Fedor.
MMAFrenzy.com will keep you posted as more information becomes available.
Tags: Fedor Emelianenko
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I am getting sick of this. Either you want to fight the best or you don’t. If fedor wants to fight in the minor leagues for the next 3-5 years against sub par competetion then go for it. He’ll be nothing more than mma’s equivalent of the harlem globe trotters.
Watching him on CBS coming out to “Sweet Georgia Brown” would be well worth what I paid to watch him.
And with that kind of money, you can be abso-effing-lutely sure that all of his fights would be aired on CBS.
you all need to relax. fedor will be in the ufc, let them finish negotiations. the ufc is to smart to let him slip away this time. i trust the ufc brass to do what is right for the FANS!!
exactly hendofan…a true champion would want to beat the best like jordan or ali. His managers just want to live off the ufc cause they know they cant without them. oh well, waste of time thinking he was coming to ufc.
The exposure he’d get by being on CBS would dwarf anything else at this point . The general public has heard of Fedor by now and is interested to see him fight ala Kimbo Slice in his first fight with Elite XC . However the casual fan doesnt shell out for PPV and are content on seeing reruns on regular TV . It’s good for Fedor’s publicity … CBS has a record setting event … and Strikeforce grows that much bigger now .
The problem is the validity of his opponents to the hardcore fan , but the average guy just sees two guys fighting and one just happens to be really really good . Even in the UFC there are only three or four guys who can challenge him .. then its rematches with old opponents .
I agree with you guys..I am also begining to think tha his managers don’t want him to fight better competition because if he loses his forst fight in the UFC then everyone will think that he is not as good as we all thought.
I’m really sick of this. M-1 Global whining about co-promoting is ridiculous. Fedor needs to kick them to the curb, and sign with the UFC. IMO he is without a doubt the top HW in the world, but I think that he needs to be fighting against the best competition in the world as well. All the HW’s in the UFC are not top notch, but overall when you look at the whole HW class, the UFC has the best. I don’t like this free agent talk either. If he signs with the UFC, then he should fight exclusively with them. He will not fight the same level of competition in StrikeForce that he will face in the UFC
Can someone please tell me why the hell Co-Promotion is so damn important to M-1!? Do they get more money? I mean Fedor got offered $30mil!! Fedor is being offered the greatest contract ever with the greatest MMA company and they aren’t doing it because the UFC doesn’t want to copromote, and why the hell would they even want too, they are still the greatest without Fedor
I just hope this is all over soon and all fans can get what they want to see
FEDOR vs BROCK
The issue with co-promotion comes down to this… rights to the tapes generated from the fights and also the UFC won’t allow another promotion to use funds from the UFC to fund their own promotions. This is simply due to the fact that the UFC would essentially be funding the “competition”. M-1 still puts on fights and as long as they do that they are competing with the UFC, even if it is not “big time” competition.
You know what? He’s scared to fight so he makes demands that he knows will stall negotiations. Get this paper champion the hell out of here already.
Agreed
I really don’t think he’s scared to fight, this has just become an issue of money. Who knows what the hell is still to come of this.
His management is scared he will lose decisively…There goes the meal ticket!
I usually stay pretty quiet with the whole Fedor buisness. But
he cant just keep coming up with reason after reason to not fight in the UFC. Its either your a fighter or your not. I doubt Fedor would sign even if the UFC did want to co-promote. Fedor is scared in my mind until he he proves to me otherwise.
I think Dana is doing everything in his power to get this guy, but hed rather burn in heII then co-promote.
Its allways been the UFC. Not the UFC and friends.
dbiz,
As President of my fan club, i’d expect a more thought out in depth theory as to why Fedor hasn’t come to finalize any contracts yet!!! You’re letting me down dude!
Jazzkok, I’ve given you about 10,000 posted words both here and over in the forum as to why Fedor won’t sign, or fight.
Isn’t that good enough for you?
Jazzkok
dbiz is right though! (IMO) PAPER CHAMPION (WAMMA is DEAD!) is correct, the guy is good but for god sake he should have enough money by now. He’s a fighter and fighting the best is what he should do. Yea PPL say it all M-1 stopping it but at the end of the day Fedor has a hefty share load in that company, some of this SH*T must be down to him.
OK, this is from what I have read and what makes sense to me. The co-promotion is all about seeing the fights in Russia. If it is not co-promoted, then his whole country (which he is a god in) does not get to see him fight. Also, he has no rights to his fights without co-promotion. He cannot make a “Best of Fedor” dvd without paying the UFC.
Not exactly. M-1 doesn’t have the exclusive rights to show fights in Russia. They do have a contract to show fights in Russia already but the UFC could strike a deal with a TV company similar to what they have in other countries. Also Fedor could not make a best of Fedor DVD even now unless it was just going to contain his non-Pride bouts. Zuffa purchased all of the Pride assets including rights to the old fights. Only way that DVD would get made is by a a deal with Zuffa anyways.
And like dbiz said…
PAPER CHAMPION.
Case closed…
Yo dudes, only “Clubber Lang” can call someone “Paper Champion”!!
Rogers IS Clubber Lang
I would love to here what fedor has to say.I’m starting to think he’s worried about tarnishing his record or he just doesn’t care.After all he is the great fedor i can’t help but think if really wanted to fight lesner he could make it happen.
Paper champion huh? The guy has only beaten the best any organization has had to offer. He is undefeated! The only loss on his record came from a cut he received in a tournament and couldn’t continue. Theres a reason Dana is willing to pay him 5 million a fight… He’s the best!
Then he should be signing. But he isn’t. that isn’t a fighter, that isn’t a champion. Hell, his belt was a made up belt. Definition of paper champion.
And the organization that made up the belt doesn’t exist anymore.
Yes, paper champion.
Class dismissed.
UFC is best deal just pick it!!
Sick of Fedor business…he needs to sign…
becoming “Farve-esque” isn’t it?
Really sharp point, chrisl.
Amen to that….his name is now “Faux-dor” as far as I am concerned….
You can’t blame Dana for not giving them the co-promoter status they haven’t done anything except waste our time on the net….
Kris- just to elaborate on the Chad Dukes report Showtime is a CBS company.
Showtime and CBS(network) are owned by parent company CBS(corporation, formerly Viacom/CBS). It is hard to determine which CBS, network or corporation, the article is referring to, my suspicion would be network, and therefore would suggest that it would be expected for all of Fedor’s fights to take place on the CBS network.
Generally speaking in contracting deals for rights to air product, showtime brokers the deal, not CBS Cor. Likewise with CBS (Network) and CBS Cor. Additionally, when Strikeforce brokered their deal to purchase Elite XC assets, they also had to independently broker deals with Showtime and CBS (network) for the portions of the company they owned (or rather the debt the company owed), as well as broadcasting rights, not the parent company of CBS Cor. At least, that’s how it read in the media reports I read.
The only reason I’d have a hard time believing he’d be on network would be that one way of offsetting costs by doing what the UFC(and some other orgs as well) do and give some proceeds to the fighter from viewership. Since Showtime is considered “premium cable” and more money is charged that’d be one of the few ways I could see it happening. I just would find it very odd that the very fiscally savvy Scott Coker would put himself so far in the hole before a network telecast even started. Didn’t exactly work for EliteXC, I know Strikeforce is a much better run organization but it’d really disrupt the business model to bring him just for the sole purpose of network.
Strikeforce would only be up for 500k, which I think they could make from being on CBS. Fedor is a great fighter, but he really isn’t that marketable in the US right now. If he was, Affliction would have done better than 300k PPV sales.
I’m sure that if any Fedor fights are on CBS (Network), any money put out to pay Fedor would be more than made up for by the fifteen minutes or so of commercials in between fights.
As a fan i want him to sign with the UFC. its the best deal and both parties will make a ton of money over the next 2 to 3 years. The big deal seems to be M-1 not being able to co-promote. The sport is growing by the day with or without Fedor. But if Dana wants Fedor as bad as he says then why not let them co-promote?!
I would suggest you look back over the hundred someodd posts on multiple threads to find out why the premiere MMA organization on the planet isn’t going to partner up with Fedor’s manager Finkledouchestein and the rest of his jock-sniffing friends…
or for the short version just read my two comments above…haha
I notice Vlad’s last name keeps changing…man really ought to settle on what last name he wants people to write on his burn in h3ll letters from fans of his biggest client…
UFC busted their asses for many years to get where they are now. And some loser company that has achieved nothing in 10+ years wants to be partners with the UFC? This is insulting to the UFC to say the least. And it makes no business sense to Ferritas and Dana. They just need the fighter, who the freak cares what his promoters want? They should get 10% of his purse and that is it.
Besides although I have been an MMA fan for more than 10 years, i believe there is a 50% chance Fedor will get demolished by Brock in his first fight, just due to Lesnar’s sheer size, strength and speed combination. Brock is no Bob Sapp.
Bigmike,you really think the biggest promotion in the world should co promote just to get 1 fighter!!I know it’s fedor but are you kidding me.He’s already getting an absolute great offer.If that’s not enough than he can continue his paper champion conquest elsewere.
At this point “Let FEDOR go, let him fight in another organization because obviously he is not out to prove he is the best. He IMO doesn’t want to fight ESPECIALY in the UFC true contenders at this point!! It is not that serious to be co-promoted by M-1 global that you turn down offers of millions of dollars that are as said as being “very good” just for that 1 reason!!
BUMP it let him go the UFC doesn’t need him, I honestly believe he would just get beat anyway by at least 3 of the ufc guys and at least 2 are not heavy weights {A. Silva and Loyota Machida}!!!! Besides who is left out there to fight WORTH paying for and WORTH left to be considered as a threat??? Once he is beaten he will be alot easier to negotiate with.
you folks ragging on fedor are living in la la land! He is so far above anything the ufc has or has had it’s ridiculous. Dana has consistently low-balled fedor. The last time this crap came up couture threatened to walk if the ufc paid fedor more than he was making, so they low balled him.
white went out and got lesnar because the hw division in the ufc is dismal and he needed a marquee name to run with. Wanna know how dismal the hw division is in the ufc? The guy (lesnar) fights for the title and wins with a total of three fights under his belt. Yeah, some division!
It took fedor 36 seconds to finish off sylvia and less than 1 round to finish off arlovski; both of whom were top ufc heavyweights! the ufc had nothing in the hw divison, and still doesn’t. And because white is more concerned about keeping the $$$ in his own pockets rather than going after THE marquee name in mma, we’ll probably see fedor opt for strike force.
BTW, at this point in time brett rogers is also probably better than anything in the ufc hw division.
“It took fedor 36 seconds to finish off sylvia and less than 1 round to finish off arlovski; both of whom were top ufc heavyweights!”
And it took Mercer 9 seconds to finish Sylvia, and Rogers needed only 22 seconds to finish of Arlovski. And both of those were more impressive wins than Fedor’s. What the hell took the “great” Fedor so long?
And BTW, I’ll put Rogers up against Cain Velasquez any day of the week and twice on Sundays. That’s some G-n-P I’ll be loving.
steve – maybe you should find an “i heart fedor” site to post that sort of stuff if you’re looking for a more sympathetic response.
I’ve posted it before and I’ll keep posting it as long as I keep seeing stuff like, ” dana low-balled Fedor” after offering him 30 extra large, a cut of the PPV paper, SAMBO participation, and all the rest, not to mention referring to Fedor as “THE” marquee name in MMA, when the plain truth is in 2009 Fedor isn’t half the draw Lesnar is in the UFC, which is the creme of the MMA crop. It simply doesn’t matter that Fedor might be more popular in Japan, or Russia, or Outer Mongolia, or in the minds of his supporters and the imaginary M-1 Global empire.
And Steve, heres a “BTW” for you, and you can consider this your MMA lesson of the day, but Brett Rogers, lame-a$$ mohawk and all, would be hooked and submitted by either BigNog or Frank Mir in less time that it takes me to write this and less time than it [probably] takes you to read this.
Not that I’m a Lesnar fan, far from it, but in 2009 way more people know who Lesnar is than Fedor is, for good or ill.
So please remember, MMAFRENZY IS A BIG BOY SITE, AND NOT A FAN BOY SITE.
Thanks.
here we go again…
After reading some of the comments from the Fedorians on this thread its obvious that moms out there are still doing cocaine during pregnancy.
Such a shame.
Now that some funny sh”t right there!
lol
I take offense to that… it was rock concerts and rocky road ice cream for my mom… get it right… haha
Not all Fedor fans are idiots.
He did say some of the comments. You aren’t a true Fedorian, since yours don’t seem to fit their mold.
And speaking of mold…when is Fedor going to dust off the moldy form he showed in Pride?
*ducks to avoid flying flamewars*
Well Dbiz call me old fashioned but I just don’t believe in worshipping a guy who allows his management to put money over quality competition. I love watching him fight but as a lifetime athlete I just believe you compete professionally(in sport) with the best to be the best and you never should compromise that. You get paid to do what most dream of but never accomplish, so if it’s just a hold up over money I automatically lose some respect. No matter if Fedor is considered the best Heavyweight there is, if he doesn’t want to compete with the best because of money he isn’t the best all-around(heavyweight) competitor because that goes to his mental status and that’s part of all-round to me. I don’t care who he has beat and not to mention he isn’t the reigning SAMBO champ anyways. Blagoi Ivanov is, so it’s obvious he’s slipping at least a little.
I’d take a hungry less-talented fighter with fire in his eyes rather than one with dollar signs only. If you(anyone) are a Fedor fan and not a worshipper then you’d still agree. Anyone blind enough that they don’t realize this first really needs to rethink themselves. It may be about money to everyone else but to the fighter it needs to be about competition because otherwise you will not be the best for very long.
And THAT is exactly why you aren’t a Fedorian.
@ chrisl – you get a double dispensation from the usual Fedorian crucification, and heres why:
1) you aren’t a Red Devil fu<ktard by any stretch of the imagination. Yous posts here and in the forum section are always good stuff, regardless of whether or not we see eye to eye.
2) as a SAMBO practitioner, you have unique insights and perspective on Fedor, which is always interesting, informative, and well-worth the read.
Hope that works for you, my friend.
hehehe, nice
FR said ufc offered him all that before this was posted