Fedor Negotiation Status

[Duckman]

This (from figure four weekly) sums up why none of this makes any sense:

Walking away from UFC over a split demand and signing with Strikeforce is mind-boggling. Let's say that Lesnar vs. Fedor did 1.5 million buys, roughly what UFC 100 did. That's about a $75 million gross. UFC will take in approximately $30 million of that. Fifty percent of that is $15 million. Now, there is no guarantee they'd do 1.5 million buys. Let's say they only did 1 million. In that case, M-1's 50 percent split would get them about $10 million.

When UFC wouldn't give this to them, they walked away. However, had they taken the original offer, which was believed to be $5 million for the Brock fight with a cut of PPV revenue, that's around $7 to $8 million, which is either very close to or about half of what they would have gotten to co-promote. As sweet as that deal was, they still walked away and instead took a deal with Strikeforce which, as Dana noted, in a million years isn't coming up with close to $8 million for one fight. It is believed, though not confirmed, that Showtime/CBS will kick in $500,000 of a total $1 million payout for each fight."

You ask me?  This whole think smacks of them wanting to keep him out of the UFC for fear of him being shown up by younger talent and ruining the mystique that surrounds his name.  He's had no really big profile fights in American because as Cory says UFC is the highest profile promotion going.

If I didn't know any better I'd say this is fuck all to do with co-promotion or money and all to do with protecting a guys name and ducking big fights.

Peace

Sambo

[Adam Wrong]

Sam I think has hit the nail on the head. I have only ever seen Fedor fight men either drifitng between weight divisions or men that were good in the UFC... several years ago. They may actually be trying to protect him!

[Cory]

I'm actually quite appauled that you'd say hes ducking big fights.

....look at his last three fights.....BEFORE Fedor Fought them,

Barnett.....ranked #2 HW in the world.
Arlovski....ranked #3 in the world.
Sylvia.....ranked #6 in the world.

I think ducking is a very ludicrous thing to say. It's poor management, through and through.

[Duckman]

Come on now, Arlovski was MASSIVELY over hyped with a glass jaw.

Silva is total crap too.  He hasn't been a top ranked fighter in ages from what I can tell.

I've been doing a lot of research on Fedor to see what all the fuss is about and I can't see him facing anyone of real note or standing since Cro Cop in 2004.

His record recently looks like a boxer who is trying to pad out his wins to keep a good looking record while not fighting any young up and coming contenders or any properly established heavyweights.

Now I know my knowledge is limited, but unless someone can explain why Silvia, Arlovski and Barnett are considering top fighters considering what I've seen of them all has been incredibly poor, then I think Fedor or more likely his management team, are not putting him at risk against top line fighters.

Hell, they never even got that Coture fight that was supposed to be the big deal for Fedor.

If a fighter or any sportsman wants to fight, or play for another team etc, they're going to do it no matter what.

Peace

Sambo

[Cory]

It's before they're fight with Fedor that most of their crediblity went down to the floor.

The fight against Barnett.....I as well as most MMA 'analysts' have Josh Barnett as the #2 HW in the world today....he's arguably the best wrestling in MMA today, and if he get's on top of you, the first is basically over. Barnett is another guy that the UFC has been dying to sign to get to fight Brock....and now with his downslide, they might just have their chance.

When Fedor fought Arlovski....Arlovski was the best contender outside of the UFC. He was a boxer who did have a poor chin, but was #3 in just about everyones rankings across the board, as the only way to beat Fedor is the catch him with one quickly, and Arlovski probably had the best chance out of any HW at the top (amazing boxer) to do that. Some say he was beating Fedor in the fight before he did the stupid flying knee and got leveled.

When Sylvia fought Fedor at the first Affliction show...diehard fans know that Fedor was going to kill him, but first time viewers knew him as the 3x UFC Heavyweight Champion...and Fedor as some fat guy from Russia. Sylvia was just outside of the top 5 HW rankings when this fight took place, and JUST lost his UFC HW title....so it wasn't like he was as he was today...he just lost his UFC Heavyweight Title to Nogueria...so he was still in fighting shape.

Since Pride was defunct Fedor has only had one joke fight against Hong Man Choi.

Matt Lindland at one point was #3 in the HW rankings when he fought Fedor back at BoDog.....he was an olympic calliber wrestler and has an amazing ground game...winning in the Abu Dhabi many times....so maybe he doesn't have the face value, but hes a legitimate contender for Fedor.

Really, If I had to pick 3 fights (contracts worth now) of Heavyweights for Fedor to fight, and comparing the UFC to Strikeforce....they're really isn't much of a gap, and this will be currently.

UFC- Lesnar, Carwin (Velasquez), and Couture
Strikeforce- Overeem, Rogers, and Werdum.

I'd give Lesnar the edge out of the championship fights....but Overeem striking is phenominal and if he can finally fight, it'll be a fight I'd love to see for sure. Rogers over Carwin, simply because Rogers is a smoother/quicker puncher than Carwin, with maybe not as much power, but hell land more shots, and you need to pepper Fedor with a bunch of shots...ala Fujita in Japan. Werdum and Couture are about the same....Couture is skilled and its a dream match, but he showed against Lesnar that he is basically done....while Werdum is a submission machine who is younger and quicker making the third fight neck and neck.

Now It would be moronic to say Fedor can be fine outside of the UFC...because after his three fights...unless he gets Barnett, there is no one else, and he'll have to go to the UFC where the bulk of the talent is.

[Nick]

Honestly now that I think about it, I think Fedor had no intention of signing with UFC in the first place. The negotiations were just a way to dangle a carrot in front of Dana's face and keep him jumping. Reason being? Dana has talked more shit about Fedor than any other free agent in existence. Tito and Kimbo didn't even get it this bad. Every time Fedor's name was mentioned in a press conference, Dana used it against Fedor and would publicly bash him on his gut or the fact he's yet to face proven fighters. There's an open letter Fedor wrote to Dana in 2008,(way before the majority of the Dana shit talking), where Fedor calls out Dana saying that he knows he's talking smack and to put his money where his mouth is and put him up against Nogueria to see who is the best. I'll see if I can find that letter and post it on here.

To a Christian with good morals like Fedor, he refuses to just forgive Dana because the bald asshole is throwing a stack of money in his face. Fedor lives a modest lifestyle and is very well off as it is, so money is not an issue. It's respect and promoting a company he has 20% ownership of. While Kimbo and Tito may be able to smile with shit eating grins after Dana throws some cash at them, Fedor refuses to give in to Dana's demands and thus the only way he would sign for UFC is co-promotion, which makes perfect sense if you're aware of Fedor's contractual status. With 4 fights still on his M-1 contract, and a very strong friendship with Vadim Finklestein, there is no way he could get cut from that contract without a lot of court time between both parties. Strikeforce, being they're on great terms with EA Sports and are co-promotion friendly, were the obvious logical step to break Fedor into the American market.

I don't think Fedor is afraid of anyone or anything. I don't think his management is trying to keep his undefeated streak going. I simply think he is bound to his contractual obligations and self respect, two things that matter more than being the undisputed #1 Heavyweight in the world. I'm not too worried about this deal...with Overeem, Werdum, Rogers, Del Rosario, and Gracie all signed to Strikeforce, there's going to be some great tests for him. Not only that, bu this contract with Strikeforce is truly open, meaning he can have that fight with Barnett in Sengoku if he damn well pleases.

[Cory]

Im thinking the Barnett fight will happen at the New Years Eve show if Barnett can fight. (if he has his license)

(Is Fedor still the Wamma Champ?)

[Nick]

Sengoku has already talked about doing business with Barnett. I doubt Dream will use him, but who knows. And yes, even though WAMMA is practically defunct Fedor is still their champ.