The Frustration of Fedor Emelianenko's Management

Since last Friday's bombshell that Affliction's MMA promotion was folding, M-1 Global's website has been a constant feed of information regarding Fedor's aspirations and the thinking behind what Fedor's management would want in order to put Fedor into the Octagon. The most notable quote that was also posted here recently is from Fedor's manager, Vadim Finkelchtein:

"We are now with Fedor in the U.S. and we hope to make a decision about his next fight within the next few days," Finkelchtein stated. "There are many business meetings and negotiations planned with all the major promotions. We will explore the possibility of Fedor fighting Barnett and will even look into whether the fight can take place as soon as August (since Barnett has not been suspended)."

Finkelchtein also believes that the cancellation of "Trilogy" could be used as an opportunity to jump start stagnant negotiations to bring Fedor to the UFC.

"This is the moment of truth that the UFC has talked about. Fedor and I are here in the States. If they want to come out and fly here, we are ready to conduct negotiations. Of course it still doesn’t imply we are ready to accept any conditions they’ll throw at us. We want to talk to the UFC about having Fedor compete against some of their fighters, but only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global."

Obviously, the most scrutinized piece of this quote talks about Fedor competing in the UFC "only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global". This is the deal breaker, and in my mind, this is the lone reason why Fedor Emelianenko will never step foot in the Octagon.

It's fairly hard for anyone to understand how Vadim Finkelchtein actually believes he has any power in this situation. They do hold the keys to one of the most dominant heavyweight MMA fighters in the world, but the UFC is making massive amounts of money without his services. Furthermore, Lesnar is a huge PPV draw that produces substantial profits for the UFC on top of creating a hot buzz around himself in regards to potentially being an unbeatable heavyweight champion. Why does Vadim continue to try to lure the UFC with Fedor's status?

It's obvious right now that Fedor isn't an immense draw on any PPV card. He doesn't have a UFC marketing team behind him pushing his image to the public, and he'd surely be a solid draw if the UFC had him under contract. With M-1 Global, he isn't going to be that type of draw. This gives the UFC a heavy advantage in the fact that they'll never truly have to worry about any match-up outside of the UFC hurting them with Fedor as a headliner. Furthermore, the UFC continues to be a place where all the best heavyweights continue to aspire to be involved in. Outside of fighting Barnett in Japan or taking on Overeem, Fedor doesn't really have too many more fights to battle outside the UFC.

The most perplexing argument that Vadim makes, however, is that fact that they still want a co-promotional effort from the UFC with M-1 Global. The UFC produces huge PPV buyrates and solid revenue for almost every event they've put on with the exception of some of the UK cards early in their expansion. Is Fedor's value as the top heavyweight actually a fair trade-off for the exposure the UFC would be able to give M-1 Global? No, it isn't at all. It also creates a situation in which the UFC would be helping out a potential competitor, something Dana White would never do. It astounds me that Vadim Finkelchtein actually believes Dana White would be open to the idea.

What will happen? The UFC isn't going to work out a deal with Fedor under the circumstances of a co-promotional effort, but a promotion like Strikeforce would definitely be willing to do so. They would likely be willing to give Fedor non-exclusivity or permission to fight in Japan as they have with several of their fighters. It's really a win-win for Fedor and his management under their known terms. Strikeforce could setup bouts with Brett Rogers, Alistair Overeem, and possibly Fabricio Werdum as well.

Most would say that Strikeforce doesn't have the money to pull off such a deal, and I'd be pretty adamant to agree with that. Scott Coker didn't push Strikeforce to where it is today by making ridiculous deals, but SHOWTIME may put a lot of the money up to bring Fedor to Strikeforce to push better ratings for their cards and potentially create a solid CBS event. It's a possibility for sure. If they did in fact sign Fedor, it really becomes a question of whether Strikeforce could market the show to casual fans in a way that is much more broader than what Affliction ever did. Signs on New York cabbies isn't going to cut it.

Strikeforce is still a tough sell for most fans. A situation in which FEG comes in throwing huge bucks at Fedor is definitely the best possibility, and they could make the Barnett fight happen depending on Barnett's media reaction when he battles it out in IGF on August 9th. The major frustration here is that after the Barnett fight, there really isn't much for Fedor to do in Japan other than possibly take on the forementioned names in Alistair Overeem or Fabricio Werdum on loan from Strikeforce.

In the end, Fedor is likely going to stay out of the UFC due to Vadim Finkelchtein's demands regarding exposure to M-1 Global. It's unrealistic, and I'm fairly certain everyone within the UFC's brass thinks Vadim is "crazy" for even proposing such an offer that obviously helps out their competition. Don't get too excited at the prospect of Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko unless Dana White somehow works out a "miracle" deal.