Emelianenko and UFC Still Circling Each Other On Contract Terms
Fedor’s Manager Vadim Finkelchtein Says Co-Promotion Key To Any Deal, And That Appears to Be a Deal Breaker
Fedor Emelianenko and his manager, Vadim Finkelchtein, faced the music at a press conference yesterday.
In a report that appeared in the online edition of the Los Angeles Times, Lance Pugmire claimed that contract talks between the Ultimate Fighting Championships and Fedor were in the process of being finalized.
That now seems wrong, or at least premature…
Finkelchtein, however, said once again that co-promotion with his Russian M-1 Global promotion and the UFC was the key to any deal. Finkelchtein said M-1 has done its part to grow the sport by promoting shows all over the world, and that made his company worthy of co-promoting events with the UFC.
“The UFC has their champions; we also have our champions and our representatives,” Finkelchtein said. “We offered to have a co-promotion.”
Finkelchtein noted that the UFC responded “very quietly” to their offer.
Emelianenko came close to signing with the UFC two years ago, but negotiations failed after Finkelchtein demanded that the UFC work with M-1 Global and include a contract clause which would allow Emelianenko to compete in combat sambo tournaments.
Dana White and the UFC have relented on the combat sambo issue, but it’s highly unlikely they would allow co-promotional ventures with M-1 Global.
“The UFC made a new offer that was a very good offer,” Finkelchtein stated.
He added that it wasn’t good enough to ink his fighter with the UFC. Finkelchtein said Emelianenko is also negotiating with Strikeforce.
“We’re not going to wait,” Finkelchtein indicated in regards to seeking a new home for Fedor. “We have to move forward. It might be that very soon we will be able to announce a deal with another promotion.”
That claim is most likely a ploy to put additional pressure on Dana White, but it’s a hollow threat.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, who is known for spending his money carefully, won’t have the funds to sign a star of Emelianenko’s magnitude. If he did manage to come up with the necessary backing, he would also have to fork over for marquee opponents to help pay Emelianenko’s asking price.
Due mostly to his refusal to sign with the major MMA promotion in the United States, Emelianenko, great fighter that he is, lacks the kind of drawing power here which would make him more attractive to promoters.
Sales of Affliction’s two pay-per-view cards combined were less than one eighth of the total of the pay-per-view sales of UFC 100, and a pay-per-view card with Emelianenko as the headliner for PRIDE in Las Vegas in 2006 turned less than 40,000 sales.
The UFC, which plans to put Emelianenko in against heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar immediately after signing him, will lay out big money to promoted the fight, and if PPV buys approach those for UFC 100, it will be money well spent.
A fight between Lesnar and Emelianenko would have repercussions beyond simply one card – it would raise interest in MMA to unprecedented levels and further entrench the UFC as the only meaningful major player in MMA.
The UFC reportedly offered Emelianenko a six-fight, $30 million contract and a share of PPV revenue, and that kind of spending is unheard of from the notoriously tight-fisted promotion.
Turning down that kind of deal would confirm that Emelianenko’s management are indeed, as Dana White has called them in the past, “Crazy Russians.”
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