After Affliction’s sudden, immediate, largely hilarious demise in the world of fight promotion (no worries, meatheads, you can still wear those silly shirts with the skulls and stuff on them), all eyes were immediately trained on human/wolverine hybrid Fedor Emelianenko.
(FEDOR FACT: punching people in the face is awesome.)
With his stature and the seeming dearth of serious UFC competition for fellow destruction machine Brock Lesnar, it seemed like Emelianenko was a natural fit for moving to the UFC. As a matter of fact, the LOS ANGELES TIMES cited sources close to the situation in a report that Fedor would be signing with UFC by Friday.
Um, about that. Whoops.
MMAFIGHTING.COM was in on Fedor’s press conference this afternoon, and things went south in a hurry for Dana White and UFC fans:
The only official news coming out of Wednesday’s conference was that the fighter has signed to headline the upcoming EA Sports MMA videogame[…].
Yes, that would be the same EA Sports that Dana declared war upon earlier. Recall, if you will, that White threatened to blacklist anybody who signs with EA over UFC. Fedor either doesn’t think White’s serious or doesn’t think UFC’s in his future. Ever.
Past that, Emelianenko and his management declared that they were keeping options open with multiple fighting circuits, including Strikeforce and, yes, UFC. Best of luck on that front, seriously, because you’re so boned on this one, guys.
But most of all, statements during the presser indicated that Emelianenko was interested in growing MMA worldwide and being the top fighter in whatever league. On both fronts, there was a considerable lack of optimism that UFC was the best way to make that happen. Shame, really, because as long as White keeps blocking any and all co-promotion, we’re probably never going to see Emelianenko and Lesnar fight while both are in their prime. All over something as silly as money.
2:00 am on July 30th, 2009
I used to love fedor, but tuurnning down 30 million is stupid. hes never gonna see that kind of money again
9:49 am on July 30th, 2009
You obviously have a hard on against dana white wich is fine but this is really about fedor ducking true competition. YOu couldn’t tell me the last card m1 global promoted. This who co promotion nonsese is a joke of a bunch of russian maffia nobodys trying to latch onto the ufc brand for legitimacy. Fedor is paid by thgovernment so he doesn’t care one way or the other but intil heaces real competition instead of washep heavyweigghts you really can’t compare the guy to the other greats. Man up fedor and fight 4 fights in ufc remove doubt and then be done with it. Strikeforce won’t pay and fedor has been the death knell for any other oganization (pride, bodog, now affliction)you can’t build around him.
10:15 am on July 30th, 2009
Good lord, who is the real competition. Brock Lesnar? Who the hell has he beaten. Fedor has beaten 5 times the number of UFC champs that Lesnar has. The reality is that Dana needs Fedor MUCH more than Fedor needs Dana. Without UFC, Fedor still retires a legend. Without Fedor, Dana never had the best.
11:23 am on July 30th, 2009
Who has Lesnar beat?
Yeah Herring, Couture, and Mir (twice) could never match Fedors recent (2 1/2 years) run of TUF fighters consisting of the 185 middleweight Lindland, the clown Hong Man Choi, The Ray Mercer exposed Tim Sylivia, and glass jawed Andrei Arlovski.
Fedor was ONCE the best, now he’s afraid to fight the best, or even the good.
as for your 5 times the number of UFC champs fedor has beaten compared to Lesnar comment….your math skills suck worse than your mma knowledge.
12:02 pm on July 30th, 2009
Fedor is a great fighter
martini pukas stated ” Turning down 30 mil is stupid” no it is not, heres why
1. there are people in Japan that will give him 30 mil to fight there.
2. he lives in Russia 30 doesn’t mean that much when 10 mil can get you everything you could ever need there.
3. 30 mil is just a first offer from the UFC ( never take the first offer)
4. fedor knows, how many times will they parade the same 5 fighters out to fight each other, they need a big name and a fresh face ( thats why the UFC was happy to see lesnar)
5. who else would you pay to see Lesnar fight?..the same old guys
6. Fedor likes fighting in Japan,where they appreciate fighters, who really needs a las vegas casino arena filled with drunk skanks and guys in tight affliction shirts and von dutch hats booing because the fight went to the ground,
7. Vadim, Fedors Mgr knows Dana needs Fedor, the UFC needs Fedor.
Plus it will be nice to see a fighter without one of those played out gay tribal tattoo’s in the octogon.
12:07 pm on July 30th, 2009
sorry, i do think fedor is best in the world until proven otherwise, but the clock is ticking and FAST on that shit.
he beat has beens cro cop and noguera 4 and 5 years ago. that is an eternity in mma terms. he hasnt beat anyone world top tier since. sorry, sylvia, arlovsky and coleman arent shit.
i think he’d simply rather ride the rep he largely built 5-10 years ago than climb in against a guy 50 lbs heavier and get chumped…
1:43 pm on July 30th, 2009
Last I checked, Dana doesn’t need Fedor, although it would definitely help his weakest weight class. The UFC and Dana are doing pretty darn well without Fedor. If anything, I have to question how much he (Fedor) wants to fight a guy like Lesnar. Sure, he’s beaten some former UFC champs, but lets not kid ourselves, Arlovski and Silvia were never really feared, they were just the tallest midgets in the HW class.
2:43 pm on July 30th, 2009
Howie, you need to really stop and look at the global picture of MMA, youre so pro UFC is everything, you cant see the bigger picture,
Its like a guy from forks bend south dakota saying USA is number one, well if thats all you know and you haven seen anything else then I guess it is #1 ……for you, but dont try to convince others the UFC is the end all be all thats just all YOU know.
In japan M1 attract 30-50,000 people at an event still, and remember MMA in Japan is far older than just the 100 shows the UFC has put on,
You say the UFC is #1 then why cant the UFC sell out the staples center? or the Honda center without giving away 4000 comp tickets to fill seats through websites and radio stations?
And you said ” The UFC and Dana are doing pretty darn well without Fedor.” REALLY?….lets see what you have to say when its, Faber vs Brown 3 and penn vs GSP 3 rampage vs Forrest 3, just like Lesnar vs Mir 2, all these fights are retreads and the UFC knows this, thats why Lesnar a guy with 5 fights was the headliner of UFC 100, thats why Dana creamed his jeans when he Gomi signed with the UFC,
whats the next UFC fight matt hughes and trigg 4