I've argued for a while that Fedor's previous failure to draw on PPV had to do with the lack of effective marketing around him and not with any inherent resistence to Fedor on the part of American MMA fans.
I refuse to believe that the archetype Fedor represents -- the implacable, seemingly unfeeling, and virtually invincible Russian -- isn't still planted deeply in the American psyche.
Obviously a match against Randy Couture -- aka "Captain America" -- is the fight that will be the great story to sell, its a classic Capt. America vs the Red Skull (yeah yeah I know the Skull's a nazi and not a red, but the image works).
Television will be the key to that great story reaching enough casual fans to make Fedor vs Randy a ppv hit. But today's LA Times story on Emelianenko shows that the print media is already showing more interest in Fedor than in any other foreign fighter.
As Luke pointed out , Jeff Osbourne is warning Affliction that they're on the road to ruin by overpaying Fedor without the capacity to promote him. But if they can hang on long enough to put together the Randy vs Fedor fight pictured above....and IF Kimbo Slice draws on CBS and IF that spurs ESPN to start covering the sport and IF and IF and IF....
Ok, so don't hold your breath, but its still fun to think about and in the meantime, even if Affliction does die after one show, I'll still be stoked to see Fedor vs Sylvia.
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