Boxing/MMA Fights - local, national, world

[steer]

I'm betting that Randy will end up lending a hand in Brocks training. Randy always seems to have a good attitude, and helping hand towards people he see's as "trying to improve"

[burton2019]

The line has started to form behind Brock Lesnar and Fedor Emelianenko has joined it.

The world's top-ranked heavyweight and his team of managers voiced their interest on Tuesday in having the touted Russian meet the newly crowned UFC heavyweight champion in "a co-promoted event between the UFC, M-1, and Affliction Entertainment,"? according to a prepared press release.

Lesnar dropped perennial favorite Randy Couture at UFC 91 last Saturday three minutes into the second round with a glancing right hook to the living legend's neck before pouncing on the six-time champion with a flurry of chopping hammerfists for the stoppage.

Couture (16-9) -- who campaigned for a fight with Emelianenko for nearly a year outside the UFC during a contract dispute -- was down on the scorecards, but gaining momentum after he cut Lesnar over his right eye with an angular punch just a moment before his opponent short-circuited his efforts.

The former WWE champion earned a title shot toting a humble 2-1 professional record, but Lesnar silenced numerous critics who condemned the matchup happening based on popularity more than merit.

"I think Lesnar fought a very smart fight,"? Emelianenko told Sherdog.com on Tuesday. "It was very interesting to watch. I think one of his strengths was that -- I was impressed by his speed in the fight. I think just from watching the fight, each fighter was waiting for the other one to make a mistake and I think Lesnar was very fortunate to have caught Randy and prevail."?


Photo by Sherdog.com


Fedor's focus has shifted
to UFC heavyweight champion
Brock Lesnar.The reserved Emelianenko, who spoke through interpreter Steven Bash from a movie set in Thailand, kept any shortcomings he saw in the 2000 NCAA wrestling champion to himself.

"It was certainly a good start for him, but his successes and failures will depend on who's in the ring with him,"? said Emelianenko. "Whether I get a chance to fight Lesnar in the future or not, that fight will be about me taking advantage of those weaknesses. Any opponent that he has in the future, for them to prevail would be for them to take advantage and capitalize on mistakes that he makes. Like every fighter, he's certainly prone to them and I see that."?

Up until September, Emelianenko and his representatives seemed just as dedicated to a bout with Couture as the 45-year-old champion was himself. Last August, the pair met in Los Angeles to cull their resources in the hopes of greenlighting the proposed mega-fight.

However, Emelianenko's management was unfavorable to the exclusive contract offered the Russian fighter by Zuffa LLC., owners of the UFC, and requested the organization co-promote events with their M-1 Global brand. Zuffa declined the offer.

With a legal stalemate drawing out into 2009 over his own contract, the aging Couture decided to return to the UFC fold on Sept. 2 to face Lesnar instead.

Billed "the fight of the century"? by many observers, Emelianenko-Couture seems unlikely now following Couture's loss to Lesnar. And the uneasiness between Emelianenko's team and the UFC seems to rage on.

"It is the position of M-1 that the UFC has adopted an anti-Fedor policy because multiple attempts to sign him have not been fruitful,"? read the prepared release. "For a company that has tried to market itself as the number one promotion in the world, they are unable to accept the fact that the number one fighter in the world does not reside on its roster of contracted fighters.

"We believe that the UFC has determined that it's much more inexpensive for them to use their marketing resources to use smoke and mirrors to brand a fighter as the pound-for-pound best as opposed to actually paying the pound-for-pound best what he is truly worth on the open market."?

Like his managers, the 32-year-old star seems to have made an about-face regarding Couture, though Emelianenko's next bout has already been decided.

Emelianenko (28-1) faces top-five heavyweight and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (13-5) at Affliction 2 "Day of Reckoning"? on Jan. 24 in Anaheim, Calif. The event will be co-promoted by M-1.

"To tell you the truth, I wasn't entirely excited in fighting Randy,"? Emelianenko told Sherdog.com on Tuesday. "I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him. Getting in the ring with someone that, I myself, adore as a person and a fighter, I'm never as interested in getting in the ring with someone I have an emotional attachment to."?

While M-1 reps predicted Lesnar wouldn't make it out of the first round with the revered Russian, Emelianenko refrained from naming which opponent posed his greatest challenge ?- the experience-heavy Couture or the heavy-handed Lesnar.

"I just never think that way,"? he said. "I never concentrate on that. My opponent is the opponent that signs the contract to fight me and ahead of time, looking down a list of fighters that are available and trying to figure who poses more of a danger by studying their games ?- it's something I just don't concentrate on."?

The UFC and M-1's fundamental disagreement over Emelianenko's proposed contract terms is the most obvious hurdle standing in the way of this bout happening -- that's if you don't count the fact that Emelianenko has nearly ten times as many bouts as Lesnar. The UFC is not lacking for opponents to face the 6-foot-3, 280-pound champion as well.

Regardless, Emelianenko has picked Lesnar out of the heavyweight line-up over Couture.

"I would choose Lesnar, mainly for the reason I mentioned before,"? said Emelianenko. "I'm very sympathetic to Randy. We hung out together. We got to know each other. I have a lot of warm feelings toward him. Based on that, if I had my choice without any outside forces involved, I would choose Lesnar."?

[Monkeyhead]

I don't see the UFC doing business with M-1 and Affliction.

[burton2019]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Monkeyhead</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't see the UFC doing business with M-1 and Affliction.</div></div>



me either

[Monkeyhead]

On a somewhat good note. Dana White says that if GSP wins his fight with Penn, he gets to step up in weight and fight Silva.

[SWVA-Football]

Yeah, I'd love to see the Fedor/Lesnar fight. Two beasts going at it.. but I definitely don't see it happening.

[burton2019]

UFC released Jon Fitch. Josh Koscheck and Cain Vasquez? are rumored to be getting released as well.

[Monkeyhead]

That would be a bad move on the UFC's part. They have to keep Cain Velasquez. He is still undefeated and a huge addition to the HW's.

I know why Fitch is being let go but don't know why they would get rid of Kos. Win or lose his fights are entertaining.

[burton2019]

They want them to sign all their rights away. Read this.






Shockwaves were sent through the world of mixed martial arts on Wednesday night with the news that top welterweight fighter Jon Fitch had been dropped from the Ultimate Fighting Championship following a contract dispute.

Just hours after learning of his release, Jon Fitch spoke exclusively to MMAWeekly.com about the situation that led to the events that have now made him a free agent.

"This is like over the course of two days, three days," Fitch explained about the release. "It had to do with Dana (White) calling my managers and immediately saying, 'we need to get him to sign this contract' and 'it's a big favor to me.' Then we asked him, 'Why do you need this contract signed?'

"Then we finally asked, after reading through the contract, why can't we negotiate for different terms? Because it asked me for a lifetime contract for the video games, so they would have exclusive rights to use our likeness for these video games and we couldn't go and do any other video games ever again in our lifetime."

Before anything was decided, Fitch says his managers tried to re-negotiate a different deal from the lifetime contract, but an ultimatum was soon made.

"So basically we said we weren't cool with that deal and why can't we do it for five or 10 years? Why does it have to be a lifetime deal? Their next response was, 'either you guys are in or you're out' and 'sign this or you're going to get dropped from the UFC,'" said Fitch. "So we hear that and we didn't even think they were serious. Why would you want to release fighters at our level over something like that? Doesn't make any sense.

"Within two phone calls, it got to 'sign this or you guys are out.'"

The American Kickboxing Academy welterweight standout explained that the situation for the urgency of the contract from the UFC might have stemmed from another company, EA Sports, putting out an MMA video game of its own. Apparently the UFC had promised all of its fighters exclusively to THQ, the makers of the upcoming UFC Undisputed 2009 game scheduled for release in spring of 2009.

"We were already promised to THQ by the UFC, even though none of us were under contract (for that), in order to save face, they had to force us to sign this thing," he explained.

He also states that the new video game contract was partially due to the fact that competitors in the UFC were originally given a "merchandising" contract that was shot down after many fighters did not want to sign that either.

"It started with the merchandising agreement," Fitch stated. "The original merchandising agreement they sent out, it encompassed all avenues of all this stuff and everything that falls under merchandise, and they wanted to force us to sign that a while ago. (They wanted) all the guys in the UFC to sign these contracts blindly that gave them all of our rights, image, everything that they could find anyway to market or sell us."

The Indiana born fighter went on to talk about his confusion following a tenure with the UFC that included nine fights, eight of which were wins, and a hard fought five-round decision loss to Georges St. Pierre that has garnered talk for "Fight of the Year."

"This is seriously how they're trying to treat fighters? Especially me? " Fitch questioned. "I've never complained about them. I've always done my best for the UFC in a positive way. I've fought my ass off. I'm arguably the second best welterweight in the world. Yet they are still willing to release me, especially after my last fight?

"Just because I lost, it sure as hell wasn't because of lack of effort or poor performance."

The day started with Fitch confirming his next fight in January against Akihiro Gono, but just as quickly, he received a rescinded contract from the UFC for the bout agreement, and shortly thereafter, a voided promotional contract effectively releasing him from his fight contract.

"We got the bout agreement returned today and then later tonight they released me from my promotional contract. So at the moment, I'm no longer with the UFC. I'm unattached right now," Fitch commented.

While the deal to sign a lifetime contract didn't necessarily appeal to Fitch, he says it was the manner of which the deal was brought to the table that ultimately angered him the most.

"Honestly the contract wasn't even that big of a deal," he said. "We're not getting paid for it anyways, and it's not a deal where I'm actually going to get another deal with a video game agency. I don't have that kind of pull, most guys don't. It has nothing to do with that. It's that they brought this contract to us and basically kicked in our front door, came in guns blazing, and said 'sign this contract or you're dead.'"

Regardless of the contract situation, Fitch feels the mistreatment is simply unacceptable and he is willing to move on if that's what has to happen.

"I am the UFC's bastard son," Fitch said adamantly. "I mean, from the get go. I don't even know how better to explain it. They didn't have any regard or care for me whatsoever. There's nothing more I want than to be the UFC champ, but something like this and they're going to throw me away?

"I also have confidence in the fact that I'm one of the best fighters in the world. I'm going to find a home, and I'm going to find a way to make money no matter what the deal is. I will not be treated and talked to like a dog."

A fighter with the talent of Jon Fitch will likely be snatched up by another promotion very soon, but still he is just shocked at the way everything happened.

"It's not like I've been bad mouthing them or doing anything negative toward the UFC at all. All I've done is go out there and fight my ass off. I'm at a loss. I don't even know what to think right now. I'm still kind of in shock."

[Monkeyhead]

After some research Koscheck and Velasquez will be gone after their next fights.

Dana also said he will no longer do any business with any fighter that comes out of the American Kickboxing Academy (A.K.A.)

All of this over likeness rights to a video game. Dana truly is a peckerhead. All this time Tito Ortiz fought them over the same thing and he was portrayed as the bad guy. I think this is really going to bite Dana in the rear.