I've never been a fan of White's public statements on several issues (EliteXC tirades notwithstanding for the most part), most notably when he is juvenile, unprofessional, malicious and self-involved. But often his utterances are part of his promoter shtick and should always be viewed as such even when they either flat out wrong or dismissive. Unfortunately for M-1, they either don't appear ready to accept this reality or believe they can play it as well as White in the MMA media.
Below is a press release I received last night. It's a "response" from M-1 management to Dana White regarding some of White's statements about Fedor and his management team as well as an invitation to White to meet Fedor before his fight on January 24th.
While White's diatribes and trantrums leave much to be desired, this press release is little more than Jerry Millen attempting to manufacture drama where none exists. He has historically always feuded with Dana and now that he no longer works for PRIDE, he's decided to prolong his personal dispute under the auspices of the M-1 umbrella. I'm not suggesting White's derogatory statements about Fedor didn't stir the pot, but the mature and reasonable course of action is to ignore such nonsense. There's also a pragmatic consequence to this: leaving aside the issue of Millen using M-1 for personal vendettas, it's also quite dangerous to play White's game of issuing taunts, dares, bets or ultimatums. White has far better relationships and reach within the MMA media, to say nothing of his acrid tongue. Goading White is both amateurish and self-defeating.
Memo to M-1: leave boisterous pronouncements and verbal middle finger waving to White. It's his game, he's good at it and it's unbecoming to want to mimic it. Stick to promoting Fedor, MMA challenges and your growing ventures. And please stop allowing Millen to foster a personal dispute with your name and logo. I'm sorry, but you can't win this one, nor should you want to.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -
M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein Responds to Dana White's Name-Calling; Invites UFC's President to meet Fedor at "Day of Reckoning"...
For over a year now UFC President Dana White has used an open forum to label the management of Fedor Emelianenko, led by M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, as "the crazy Russians."
For much of that time, White has influenced the United States media to reflect his beliefs, as Finkelchtein tended to urgent matters of business -- namely promoting his M-1 Challenge and managing fighters such as Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi - instead of engaging in a war of words.
However, during a recent M-1 Challenge event, Finkelchtein responded to White's statements in an interview conducted by M-1 executives Joost Raimond (serving as Finkelchtein's translator) and Jerry Millen (serving as the interviewer).
Thanks to a three-part YouTube series, members of the U.S. MMA media are finally being presented the other side of the story so that they can form an opinion for themselves.
During the interview, Finkelchtein was asked by Millen what he thinks when he's referred to in the press by White as a "crazy Russian."
"Dana White has a tendency towards arrogance and everything not Dana White is either crazy or stupid," Finkelchtein began to respond through Raimond.
"All this stuff about us not wanting to work with UFC is just utterly and completely untrue," he continued. "We've always been completely open to basically working with anybody, including the UFC, because our goal has always been to put the greatest fighters against each other. And if the greatest fighter is a part of the UFC, fine, let's put him up against our best guy and see how they do."
Raimond added that Finkelchtein indicated that the UFC is very protective of their market share but that M-1 isn't looking to take the UFC's "pie" away, that his promotion simply wants to share some of it.
Finkelchtein also responded to a question from Millen regarding comments made by White during a November press conference in Toronto to promote UFC 94. In the interview, which can be seen on YouTube, White responds to a question from a fan regarding Fedor fighting for the UFC by stating at one point that he has never even met Fedor.
White's claim that he has never met Fedor is accurate, but it's also a situation that Finkelchtein is more than willing to rectify.
"The invitation is right there," Finkelchtein expressed through Raimond. "If Dana wants to sit down at the table, he can come to St. Petersburg -- he is very welcomed here. He can meet up with (me), he can meet up with Fedor. It's not a problem at all."
Finkelchtein indicated during the interview that he has traveled to Las Vegas in the past to meet with White. And if White does not have time to travel to Russia, Finkelchtein extended him an open invitation to meet the WAMMA heavyweight champion in Anaheim, California before he competes against Andrei Arlovski on Jan. 24 just prior to Affliction and M-1's "Day of Reckoning" event.
"We're not going to eat the UFC pie, but we want to share," said Finkelchtein. "The invitation stands. They are welcome at any point in time, and definitely at the Jan. 24 event. We'll talk about it (and) discuss it. We're open to any kind of deal."
To watch the interview in its entirety and hear Finkelchtein talk about M-1's origins; what M-1 means to him; MMA's place in Russian culture; his feelings about working with the UFC; whether he's open to a fight in the future between Fedor and UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, please visit the URLs below:
Finkelchtein Interview Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etPY2Gh1Q30
Finkelchtein Interview Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mulgRV9x-v0
Finkelchtein Interview Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7RLaYWMsE