Fedor: Checkmate
by cyph on Jul 30, 2009 1:40 AM EDT
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5 million per fight, 30 over 6. That is a lot of money. However, M-1 and Fedor won't take it. Why? The reason is that M-1 global has spent millions trying to build their brand. They have the M-1 Challenge series as well a new reality TV show "Fighting Fedor" on the way. Where will their revenues come from now that Affliction is gone? Affliction has been footing the bill the past few years, but now that Affliction is gone, they need another company, a company with deep pockets and great exposure. Enter the UFC.
Co-promotion with the UFC will help fund M-1 in their expansion projects and their quest to build a brand that rivals the UFC. However, the biggest benefit with UFC co-promotion is the exposure to the US market as well as worldwide. The co-promotion with the UFC will instantly put M-1 on the map with casual fans. This is why Fedor and M-1 will refuse the 30 million contract. M-1 needs the UFC to survive. Fedor is part owner of M-1 and he has put much of his money in this venture. Without co-promotion, M-1 will die as they wither away bleeding money slowly.
Most fans think Fedor doesn't that know he's being used by M-1's Finkelstein. Fedor is a guy who plays chess in his spare time. This man is no mental midget nor is he Mike Tyson. The man is not an imbecile. Fedor knows what he's doing and he knows every move M-1 is playing. This is the endgame for him and M-1. Without co-promotion, the millions Fedor has plowed into M-1 will be for naught. This is why he's gambling away his 30 million contract for a chance at saving his beloved company.
Unfortunately, he's miscalculated. He's miscalculated his worth. He may be considered the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world, but he is but one fighter in one weight class. There are four other champions in the other weight classes who are as popular or even more than he. Without Fedor, the UFC will go on. Without the UFC, Fedor will have nothing except the shell game of M-1.
The best thing for the UFC to do now is walk away. They should wait until M-1 crumble under its own ambition for world expansion and catch Fedor when co-promotion is off the table; no M-1 means no co-promotion. Fedor has played his last gambit out of desperation, but he's massively miscalculated this time; he's sacrificed his queen only to be checkmated in two.
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Now you're actually making sense
And I agree w/ this. Fedor is making a mistake in not accepting an deal such as the one he was offered. However let me reiterate that this STILL does not cloud his past accomplishments.
I agree this doesn’t cloud his previous accomplishments. It does make him irrelevant from here on out if he doesn’t sign. No one with any sense is going to care about him two years from now if he hasn’t fought in the UFC. I’m with cyph. Checkmate. Dana has gone way above and beyond Fedor’s actual worth to the UFC, and he’s off the hook forever with fans begging him to sign Fedor. If that isn’t enough, then Fedor can crush cans in oblivion. There’s no one left to fight that’s going to keep him #1 for long.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Jul 30, 2009 2:15 AM EDT reply actions
Sadly, I pretty much agree
Although there are about a half a dzen guys he could fight to keep him contention, he really needs to just sign w/ the UFC and end all this melodrama.
This man is no mental midget nor is he Mike Tyson.
Tyson’s surprisingly smart at times. His favorite book is Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Shameless self-promotion! http://twitter.com/scb0212
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Jul 30, 2009 2:51 AM EDT reply actions
Maybe so. But the version Tyson is reading ends “and then they lives happily ever after”…
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 5:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Great read. Rec'd
Hopefully, Fedor realizes this before its too late and all of his mystique and talent has faded away.
by filipinomix2oo0 on Jul 30, 2009 3:32 AM EDT reply actions
if he wants to fund m1, he could fund them using that 30million..
No one is stopping fedor from doing that.. He is also free to wear as much m1 apparel as he wants to.. He can still fight sambo.
I don’t think it’s all on fedor. He’s free to do as he pleases with that money. I still think most (but not all) of the blame goes to m1..
#m1globalsucks (make it a twitter trendingtopic!)
It’s not about funding M-1, heck they even managed to get Zuffa to agree to pay them directly, it’s about using the UFC to build the M-1 brand. We’ve gotten to a point where none of this is actually about Fedor anymore it’s 100% about M-1 trying to build a brand and that is just nuts. It’s the equivalent of RC cola trying to get their company name slapped onto the side of Coke products, I just can’t see it ever happening because it just doesn’t make any sense.
by who me on Jul 30, 2009 7:00 AM EDT up reply actions 5 recs
GREAT analogy :)
"The latest Brett Favre summer saga apparently has come to an end. The 39-year-old reportedly informed the Vikings on Tuesday that he will not come out of retirement for a 19th season."
The greatest news I've heard all year!
“There are four other champions in the other weight classes who are as popular or even more than he. Without Fedor, the UFC will go on.”
i would argue that the other four champions and the 5th champion Brock are way way way more popular than fedor…affliction crumbling is proof positive that fedor is not a star in the eyes of the normal mma fan. he is the best hw out there but ppl have no clue who he is and ppl pay for ufc events not fights. ufc event has 3 or 4 fights that the casual guy would like to see. you put fedor on a card and some other unknowns on a card and even tho hes the best ppl wont buy. this is mma not boxing, u want my 50 bucks there better be more than one fight that interests me
"The most used phrase in my administration if I were to be President would be "What the hell you mean we're out of missiles?"
The Glenn Beck Program, January 12 2009
Is M1-global really all the bad?
Hear me out here… Repeatedly over the last year/years people have been bashing the imbecile Finkelstein and M1-global. But look at what they have accomplisehd so far?
1) Millions for Fedor (by signing with Affliction)
2) Co-promotion with Affliction (Alliction was left with the bill)
3) Increased name-recognition in the States through Affliction
4) Lots of M1-global events in Europe
5) Fedor free agent after the demise of Affliction
And most importantly:
6) A super-duper mega-fantastic offer from the UFC, which they probably NEVER would have gotten if Fedor had signed with UFC two years ago.
That being said, I believe they may have overplayed their cards this time… But what if Fedor suddenly caves and takes the current UFC-offer? Finkelstein would still be a somewhat questionable human being. But as a manager? No.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 5:22 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I think we just hate M-1 for driving such a ridiculously hard bargain, when we really want to see Fedor in the UFC. If they take the deal, then okay they’ve come to their senses. At that point, I’d be willing to give them credit for making Dana bend over backwards, which no one’s previously done to a significant degree. But personally, I think the UFC’s offer is too much. I’m thankful they’ve done everything they can to get Fedor in the octagon, but this deal is unprecedented x5, and it’s a big risk. Fedor’s the only guy I’d put as the favorite vs. Brock, but it’s nowhere near a sure thing. What if Brock beats him down in two rounds? Suddenly you’ve got a 30 million dollar fighter who you’ve gotta build back up vs. Randy, Nog again?, Herring again? There’d still be interesting matchups for sure with Carwin, Velasquez and the like, but most American fans barely know who Fedor is. The size of the UFC’s offer could come back to haunt them a bit when negotiating with GSP, Anderson, Penn, Machida, and anyone else building a big name for themselves. Anyway, Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor when he’s been refused the first. So sign the friggin’ papers already, or GTFO
This goes back to previous debates about whether the obsessive message board fan base should be catered to, as opposed to simply pursuing a mass market strategy for the UFC’s development. Clearly Dana and the UFC are paying attention to the fans “onboard”, but if Fedor were to lose to Brock, a lot of newer, or more casual fans would probably wonder what the big deal with “this Russian guy” was…
by Kwisatz Haderach on Jul 30, 2009 5:53 AM EDT up reply actions
On a side note… Notice how good the refusal of M1/Fedor makes UFC look? If I were Dana/Fertittas I would be overjoyed by Fedors refusal to sign.
If I get to choose between competitive division and one “who`s the best of them all”-fight, I prefer the former every time.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 7:19 AM EDT up reply actions
That’s a bit of a false dichotomy. The UFC has already built the competitive division, not having the big fight doesn’t harm or help that. I think Dana and the Fertitas really wanted Fedor in the UFC as it most likely would have been good both for their business and the sport. It doesn’t really hurt the UFC to not have him, but I think the terms of the contract they offered him offer a window into just how good they thought this deal could have been for them as well.
What a deflating anticlimax this turned out to be.
It ends in an armbar or a strangle regardless.
Yeah you’re right. The UFC comes out of this golden if Fedor doesn’t sign. If he does sign, they better hope he smokes Brock to make this all worthwhile. But either way, this really does settle all the family business (pardon my Godfather references, but I just watched the trilogy again last week, and all this madness in one week has that feel!). There’s definitely the sense of a new age dawning here, with Affliction dead, and the ball in M-1/Fedor’s court. Fedor was the last of the Pride holdouts, at least the really big ones, and from now on, into the foreseeable future, the UFC is going to write the history of the sport.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Jul 30, 2009 8:26 AM EDT up reply actions
UFC made an offer they knew would be rejected
I thnk the UFC offered this ridiculous offer and leaked the information out to the presses precisely because they know Fedor would reject it. They knew it was a ridiculous offer, but based on past negotiations, they already know that without co-promotion, Fedor would reject it. If Rome is right, and UFC 100 did 1.7 mil, how much more buys could Fedor possibly offer that’s worth 5 mil a fight plus PPV for M-1?
UFC played Fedor like a fiddle on this one.
by cyph on Jul 30, 2009 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
This^^ I believe.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Fedor looks like shit today, that’s for sure.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 30, 2009 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions
1. Finkelstein said in an interview that Fedor gets $300k a fight, M-1 gets the rest (including all sponsorship money). It wasn’t millions for Fedor it was millions for M-1 (which is one of the issues people have with this).
2. Once again great for M-1 but not so sure how this is great for Fedor (and it definitely did nothing for Affliction).
3. Yes and No, he’s still not very well known in the US at all.
4. Lots of M-1 global events in Europe paid for by money Fedor made in Affliction. Did those events make money? How much of M-1 does Fedor own? Is if worth Fedor dumping the vast majority of his earnings into propping up?
5. Is he? For all we know he’s stuck in contract limbo because of the collapse.
6. The last UFC offer was one of the most lucrative offers the UFC had ever offered too. Even Fedor’s camp has said the UFC offered the most money(Fedor lost money going to Affliction). I’m sure the UFC would of negotiated on the terms then too but I would also bet that the sticking point then was co-promotion too. Co-promotion is the kind of issue that is obvious going in is never going to happen, it’s intentionally injecting a poison pill into the negotiations by demanding something you know they will never give. So yes the UFC offered a major contract but they may of well offered Fedor all the tea in China and the keys to Fort Knox because the co-promotion demand makes it all utterly meaningless.
by who me on Jul 30, 2009 6:55 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
yes. thank you for saving me the time needed to type all that..
now guys,
by Anton Tabuena on Jul 30, 2009 7:07 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
Or… thanxm1global!
Feed Fedor Cans!
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 7:23 AM EDT up reply actions
"Like a ballet of violence clothed in fine Brazilian silk." ~ MMASuPreMaCy
by Benicio on Jul 30, 2009 6:54 AM EDT reply actions 4 recs
Or maybe he´s just thinking about Baby-Fedor?
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 7:25 AM EDT up reply actions
Yup. Or at least he could be, since M1 fckd him. Hope they used protection.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 7:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Yup.
(Or at least he could be, since M1 fckd him.)
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Jul 30, 2009 7:34 AM EDT reply actions
No Guarantee
I don’t think Dana offers it to Fedor again. If Fedor comes back and says he’ll take the deal, I think Dana takes that as either a sign of weakness or desperation. or Dana is just a little irate that he offered the sweetest deal ever and Fedor spit in his face. We all know Dana doesn’t take no too well. I think the terms and the amount of money changes. Either way, Fedor should have taken the deal.
Slightly off topic, but the "leak" of the offer was an absolutely brilliant move on Dana's part
In one day Dana managed to sway hardcore opinion from “why won’t the UFC sign Fedor”, to “why won’t Fedor sign with the UFC”.
By giving away everything but the kitchen sink Dana looks reasonable and ailienates Fedor within his fanatic hardcore base. Now if Fedor never caves, Dana can say he did everything he could to get him in the UFC and Fedor is the one with the tarnished legacy.
"Brock Lesnar is a Bi-Polar Bear" and Kevin Lole called me a "clapping seal"
Yep, and you have to wonder if the UFC is too concerned to even get him. He isn’t a draw in the US at all; outside of the hardcore anyway. The UFC would have to drop a lot of marketing cash to get people pumped about him. And now they don’t have to worry about him derailing the Lesnar money train.
Yep, and you have to wonder if the UFC is too concerned to even get him.
Unfortunately, that is how I am starting to feel. Now that the initial shock of the gargantuan offer has worn off a bit, I find myself conflicted. Is this Dana being Dana and wining the war of public opinion or am I just such a Fedor homer that I am looking for any excuse to hold on to my fan boy fervor?
and thats a great point about Lesnar. Brock can now sit behind the UFC castle walls and never have to worry about the Fedor question.
"Brock Lesnar is a Bi-Polar Bear" and Kevin Lole called me a "clapping seal"
Dana would be stupid not to release it.
His intentions can be questioned regarding the release, but I for one am happy it has been. I wouldn’t want to wonder if the UFC could have done more to get Fedor. Now I can rest knowing they did absolutely everything they could.
Can you imagine what the poeple would be saying about Dana if we didn’t know the details of this contract? ‘Dana didn’t try to do enough to sign Fedor, etc.’
Instead it will be ‘Dana just wanted to win a publicirty war’
Assuming this contract is true, of course.
'He built his whole reputation as a waffle house chef. They’ve been serving him up ham and eggs with a side of canned tomatoes' - Don Frye on Fedor Emelianenko
by Well Read Idiot on Jul 30, 2009 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions
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