Report: UFC offers Fedor the bank
by Zak Woods on Jul 30, 2009 8:15 AM EDT
in Rumors
Email
Print
Bloodyelbow passes along this report from the Carmichael Dave Show on what the UFC offered Fedor
- The UFC offered Fedor a 6 fight, 30 million dollar contract. That's 5 mil a fight
- The UFC offered Fedor an immediate title shot
- Lesnar/Fedor would be the biggest PPV in MMA history (we assume), and the UFC offered M-1 Global a cut of the PPV on top of Fedor's purse.
- Fedor was free to wear as many M-1 logoed items as he wished.
- The UFC also relented on allowing Fedor to compete in combat sambo.
Apparently, for good or bad, M-1 refuses to sign a deal unless the UFC agrees to co-promote.
Luke Thomas sums this up well, "[T]his is easily one of if not the most lucrative UFC contract ever extended."
Fightlinker takes this to its logical conclusion,
The fact that he isn't going to sign with the UFC tells a major story about his character. Yes, FEDOR'S character. Vadim Finkelchtein is just a mouthpiece. That's like blaming Robert Gibbs for something Obama did. If you don't think Fedor can override anything Vadim wants to do then I don't know what to tell you. Fedor is a grown man who is making a conscious decision to avoid competing with the best fighters in his division.
That's right: Fedor is ducking the UFC. There is no other way around it.
If this ends up being true then I think we can conclude that Fedor is the Brett Farve of MMA.
[UPDATE: Note by Zak Woods, 07/30/09 9:12 AM EDT ]
Sherdog has a response from Fedor's manager,
"Our offer was very simple," said Finkelstein. "We offered to have a co-promotion - two fights, three fights, doesn't matter. And we were ready to invest in that show together and to get the profit together. But the UFC made a different offer that was a very good offer. But the same offer (they made), we can actually make to their champion. We can also offer millions to them and one, two, three, four fights to them."
"If we had such an offer two years ago which we got yesterday, maybe we would be (interested), but not in today's situation -- we cannot accept that offer,"
Disclaimer: WKR classifies this as "Rumor" because we have not seen independent confirmation of these details.
9 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
It’s official. The UFC came to the table with an amazing offer and Fedor and M1 spit in their faces.
It’s time to put this to bed.
FUCK FEDOR!
They are never going to get co-promotion with the UFC and they will never get the kind of money or exposure offered by Zuffa with any other organisation. It makes no business sense and it’s not good for the sport to have arguably the most talented fighter in the world see out his career fighting Japanese freak shows and UFC wash-outs.
I can’t believe that Fedor would rather have it this way. I’ve lost a lot of respect for the guy, as have the majority of MMA fans.
" Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated "
- Hemingway
Madness.
To quote Luke Thomas. That’s just the only way to describe it.
Just woke up from dreaming about the UFC airing Fedor’s highlight reel. Can you imagine what their marketing muscle could do- Fedor would be a household name with as many times as they’d show the Randleplex.
by Nick Becker on Jul 30, 2009 9:56 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Interesting read.
It’s apparent that a lot of people are emotionally invested in seeing Fedor fight the best opponents.
However, I don’t think there’s any particular UFC bias- If Brock Lesnar and the rest of the UFC’s HW Division was with Strikeforce i’d be clamoring for Fedor to sign for them.
Sports fans and journalists want and deserve to see the best fight the best.
by Nick Becker on Jul 30, 2009 10:23 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
let me ask you this
if the EA game is going to be called Fedor MMA a la Madden/Tiger Woods etc.
why should he sign with the UFC if they nix the EA part
watchkalibrun.com
