Boxing/MMA Fights - local, national, world

**MikeJones** · July 31st, 2009, 09:05 PM

I dont think Fedor needs to be made. He has a list of who's who in MMA and Sambo that he has defeated. Dana can't do anything for him he doesn't want.

**burton2019** · July 31st, 2009, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by steer

Dana will end up signing Fedor. It may take a bit, but he'll do it. M-1 seems like they are really wanting to step into the UFC.

M-1 wants a co-promotional deal with the UFC and Dana will not give it to them. That is the only reason that he hasn't signed with them yet. It will take a drastic change to get Fedor to the UFC. IMO, he won't be. This "saga" is actually pretty interesting actually. Fedor has a 20% ownership in M-1 Global. They are all about russina mma and wanting to get their name out to the public in the US. Dana will not budge on this. The UFC doesn't Fedor and he really doesn't need them either. Outside of Brock maybe he is heads and shoouldars above any of the UFC heavyweights. He can fight Alistair Overeem, Brett Rodgers, and Fabricio Werdum in Strikeforce or he go to Japan and actually fight Barnett or fight in Sengoku or DREAM organizations. Their is very good money out their for Fedor outside of the UFC. The UFC doesn't Fedor because they are already considered the "top dog" of "mainstream" mma. They have Lesnar, Ortiz, Couture, GSP, Penn...etc... all the worlds best fighters. They will survive without Fedor.

Now, with that said, for us fans, they need to make this happen. If signed, Dana has already said Fedor will fight Lesnar immediately. That's the matchup everyone wants to see. Dana offered to pay him big money for a 3 fight contract, allowed to still do Sambo, and allow to M-1 to have advertising all over the ppv card....and the kicker, he even offered Fedor a percentage of the Lesnar/Fedor ppv IF that card broke the all time high buy rate for a mma ppv. Which I'm positive it would have.

**burton2019** · July 31st, 2009, 09:55 PM

interesting article from Kevin Iole from yahoosports.com

It’s easy to paint Vadim Finkelchtein as the villain in this mess between heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Emelianenko is the free agent heavyweight with the gaudy 30-1 record and small but passionate fan base. The UFC is the world’s finest mixed martial arts promotional company and has roughly 90 percent of the top 100 fighters in the world under contract.

Emelianenko was looking for a place to fight and the UFC wanted to put on what it believed could have become a massive pay-per-view show with a big push by pitting Emelianenko against Brock Lesnar, its silo-sized heavyweight champion.

But no deal was reached despite a lucrative offer from the UFC. Though UFC president Dana White wouldn’t rule it out, chances of it happening in the future are remote.

Finkelchtein is the Russian heavyweight’s manager and, more significantly, the president and co-owner of what purports to be a major MMA promotional company, M-1 Global. Finkelchtein clearly used Emelianenko as a pawn in an attempt to force the UFC to accept M-1 as a partner. All M-1 Global brought to the table was one fighter, even if he is a very good one, which would have made White a moron had he acquiesced to that demand.

If the UFC was in the business of giving 50 percent of its company away every time it tried to sign an elite fighter, it would have been in worse shape a lot sooner than Chrysler.

The reason the deal didn’t get done is simple: Fedor Emelianenko.

Emelianenko’s supporters are going to point the finger at White as the reason a deal did not get done. White, though, agreed to essentially every demand Emelianenko made. He offered to pay him more than he’s ever made. He agreed to allow Emelianenko to fight in combat sambo. He agreed to allow Emelianenko to advertise M-1 on his fight shorts, on the apparel he wore and on banners his cornermen brought with them to the cage.

What White wouldn’t do, though, is give half of his company to Finkelchtein in return for the, ahem, privilege, of promoting Emelianenko’s next few fights.

The demand was kind of like an owner in the Continental Basketball Association demanding 50 percent ownership in an NBA team before allowing his player to sign.

Emelianenko can fight wherever he wants, of course. His legacy, though, took a serious shellacking when he refused to order Finkelchtein to get a deal done.

That would have allowed Emelianenko, who was ranked No. 2 in the most recent Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound Top 10 poll, to end any doubts whether he is as great as his most ardent supporters say or whether he is overrated, as White insists. Rather, Emelianenko acts as if he’s under some sort of spell cast by Finkelchtein. He’s never met White and when Finkelchtein, White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta negotiated via conference call, Emelianenko was on the line but said nothing.

All Emelianenko needed to do to know what he should have done was to look to Tito Ortiz, the UFC’s former light heavyweight champion. Ortiz and White have long engaged in a nasty public feud and they split, seemingly for good, after Ortiz’ contract ran out after he lost to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May 2008.

There Ortiz was, however, on a conference call on Friday all chummy chummy with White. White revealed he had flown to Huntington Beach, Calif., recently and met personally with Ortiz, where they finalized resolved their differences.

Ortiz had dalliances with Elite XC and Affliction and said he was close to a deal to fight for Strikeforce. He referred to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker as “an awesome guy.”

Ortiz said the reason he opted to fight in the UFC is simple: Competition. “Who was I going to fight there?” Ortiz said. “I want to fight the best.”

It’s too bad Emelianenko doesn’t have the same attitude. Had he been outraged by Finkelchtein’s negotiating tactics and insisted Finkelchtein work out the best possible deal, White would have been announcing an Emelianenko-Lesnar bout at his ballyhooed news conference on Friday rather than again railing at Finkelchtein’s bizarre stance.

Finkelchtein released a statement on Friday before the UFC news conference in which he said, in part, “All we are asking is that there is give-and-take in the negotiations and that they are not one-sided.”

But the UFC gave on the money. The UFC gave on the Fedor’s desire to compete in the Russian combat sport of sambo. The UFC gave on allowing Fedor to wear M-1’s logos. Finkelchtein wouldn’t budge on his ridiculous demand that the UFC make him a full promotional partner.

So now, Emelianenko will be a free agent, traveling the world in search of a fight. He could fight Josh Barnett, whom he was supposed to fight on Saturday on an Affliction card until Barnett tested positive for an anabolic steroid and was denied a license by the California State Athletic Commission.

Emelianenko remains highly popular in Japan, where they don’t test for steroids and don’t honor U.S. suspensions. Barnett, who has been caught cheating more than once, could be licensed there and conceivably could fight Emelianenko.

But there are precious few quality opponents for him outside of the UFC. And none of the fights would captivate the world’s interest the way UFC 100 did on July 11.

Emelianenko is largely unknown in the U.S. despite his 30-1 record and long winning streak. The three pay-per-view shows he headlined in this country – PRIDE 32 in 2006, Affliction 1 in 2008 and Affliction 2 in January – sold a combined total of fewer than 300,000 units.

UFC 100 alone sold well over 1.5 million.

Finkelchtein clearly botched the negotiations, but he’s not to blame.

If Emelianenko really wanted to be in the UFC and fight the best competition in the world, he would have made certain Finkelchtein got it done.

If you want to blame someone in this fiasco, blame Emelianenko.

It’s 100 percent his fault.

**Biggin** · August 2nd, 2009, 03:27 AM

until fedor gets out from under m1, which he never will because he is an owner, he will never fight in the ufc ever if they want to co promote
wont happen, ever. period.

the ufc wont help you build the competiton, that would be taking a gigantic dump on business 101.

m1 is to blame, the ufc gave on everything they could.

burton did you see the supposed offer? 30 million was reported by some cbs radio guy on sherdog, fink said it was way less, he said it was less than half, i totally doubt that, i could see 1 mil guaranteed, with at least another 1 wit the ppvs and cuts and such.

the 103 card went from terrible to good, not great or the best, but good.
vitor will eb in his first fight back, itll be a tad different.
and rich beat wandy, which surprised the hell outta me so you never know.

and i wonder which cro cop shows up, the gonzaga foot pretzel or the left leg cemetary haha

**Biggin** · August 2nd, 2009, 05:11 PM

Frank Mir acknowledges getting his ass kicked;

“I think I should have respected the wrestling a little bit more. I really was under the impression that we would fight on our feet a little bit better. I thought he would avoid the ground with me and want to knock me out. The times we were on our feet, I was more successful, but the bad news was that we were only on our feet for about 15 seconds in the round and a half that we fought. I got pretty much owned on the ground. I need to work more wrestling, and I also need to put on a little bit more size.

“I think 245 was a good weight as far as maybe everybody else in the heavyweight division, but fighting Brock, there was too much of a size difference due to the fact that he had great technique also. It wasn't just because of his size that he was able to nullify my technique, but he used his size. He knew how to position his hips, and block my hips, and hold my arm. He did things that I didn't really expect because of his reach. I think I went in with too much of a gameplan, and I wanted it to go one way, and I tried to force it that way.”

via FiveKnuckes

it looks like mir has finally drifted back into reality from that beating. he was very humble in this interview, a drastic change from before the fight. Im glad he acknowledged how lesnar dominated him, and i thought his analysis was right on.

**burton2019** · August 4th, 2009, 03:22 PM

WEC sunday night on VS

Miguel Angel Torres Vs. Brian Bowles
Joseph Benavidez Vs. Dominick Cruz
Ricardo Lamas Vs. Danny Castillo
Takeya Mizugaki Vs. Jeff Curran

**Biggin** · August 4th, 2009, 09:20 PM

haha i was gon make my pics, but you made them for me, i have the exact results

MAT====the shiit, for real

id love to see him add ten pounds and fight Aldo, Brown, or Faber