Another good Fedor Article

[soo2bhuge]

The Fedor Saga: Deal confirmed, possibilities endless
by LR 10. October 2007 09:29
"M-1" in this article refers to the purchased M-1 Mixfight organization who's new variation name has yet to be disclosed.

On October 4th, Frank Trigg of TAGGRadio broke the news that Fedor Emelianenko had finally ended all the rumors and signed with a new organization that was comprised of former M-1 Mixfight organizers and some new investors. The deal was to be for $10 million dollars, although it was non discussed if this was for a number of fights or for a timeframe. Now, Loretta Hunt at The Fight Network is CONFIRMING that Fedor Emelianenko has signed with an organization in Russia, but it actually is M-1. The kick is that M-1 has been purchased by an undisclosed American entertainment company. Here's the official announcement:

PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko has committed exclusively to the new ownership of M-1 Mix-Fight Championship, which has been purchased outright by an undisclosed American entertainment-related company, according to a source close to the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity... ...The source confirmed the new ownership has infused a substantial amount of capital into the organization. Finkelstein and others will stay on to assist in running the company, which will continue to promote under a variation of the M-1 name. The new M-1 will take more of a global stance, and Emelianenko (26-1) will headline its inaugural event as early as January or February, possibly in the U.S., the source said. A formal announcement of the purchase, as well as plans for the new organization’s first event, is expected by the end of this month.

Josh Gross over at Sherdog also confirmed on an episode of the podcast "The Beatdown" with TJ Desantis that the rumor had a lot of validity and that we would definitely know toward the end of the month as to what was going on. He stated that he wouldn't be surprised at a statement when they make their way to the East Coast at the end of October. Hunt's source remained anonymous obviously, but she basically states that the deal is all but done. A lot of confidence in such a mystery source.

It seems that the saga that was Fedor's negotiations with the various suitors to his services has ended. We went from UFC staffers and Dana White telling us that a Fedor Emelianenko signing was all but inevitable to the curve ball that is Finkelstein's M-1 promotion being bought out and signing Fedor to a deal. With that now confirmed, we end one saga and begin a new one. There are many questions that come about when talking about the implications of such a deal. Is Fedor signed for one-fight, multiple fights? Who will Fedor fight? Where will he fight? One of the more interesting questions is who is this mysterious "American entertainment company"? We'll look at all of that and more as we take an in-depth look at the new chapter being opened in the Fedor Emelianenko saga.

Why sign with M-1?

It's obvious that fans all over the Internet that are heavily involved in the sport of MMA are furious, upset, confused, and some of even relieved that Fedor has finally signed. Many fans are calling Fedor a "wuss" or saying he's "scared" to fight the UFC's elite. Others simply state that it was logical for him to go where his demands were most likely met with open arms. What do you think? Why did he sign with M-1?

As I have previously wrote about, Fedor's demands were an obvious point that the UFC was failing to work with. The issue about Fedor competing in Combat Sambo, issues involving Finkelstein wanting a co-promotional event with the UFC, Fedor wanting to fight in front of his countrymen, and Fedor being matched up with only top competitors. Apparently, it was too tough for Dana White to secure a deal for him because of these demands. He had stated in previous interviews that the Russians were "crazy". That certainly didn't help matters. Looking at that list of demands, it's pretty obvious why Fedor signed with M-1. M-1 is in Russia and it was ran by his manager, Vadim Finkelstein, along with a few other backers. Here's a good list of the reasons why I think he signed with M-1:

Fedor will most likely be able to compete in the Combat Sambo Championships without any problems. It will promote MMA in Russia. It will also allow him to stay close to home.

Fedor's management ink the deal with their own promotion, a promotion that they now run for an American company. Finkelstein's whole perogative from the beginning was to get more exposure for M-1. This is a brilliant deal for an American company because they can leave the company in the hands of someone who already had a passion for promoting the organization and elevating MMA in Russia as well as getting exposure for M-1. It will also allow the American company to allow Finkelstein to run things in his own country where his connections will no doubt come in very handy.

Instead of trying to work out a co-promotion out through Fedor's contract with another promotion, M-1 will now have arguably one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. They may have an easier time getting co-promotional deals together and getting their name out there. No more being shoved around by organizations like Bodog, more events with emphasis on the M-1 name.

Fedor stays in Russia, will be able to see his family, and above all, will promote MMA in Russia and help progress it, an ambassador to MMA in Russia. Call him "Captain Russia".

Fedor is most likely under a non-exclusive contract. Since Finkelstein is his manager AND running M-1, there are multiple possibilities. They could contract him for fights in other organizations while always having a fallback in M-1.
So, you still think it was a bad idea? For the fans, sure. We don't get to see Fedor going up against the best in the world in the UFC Heavyweight Division. But from Fedor's demands, was it a bad deal for him? Absolutely not. He got everything he could have wanted from the deal, including a rumored $10 million dollars, which goes a long way in Russia.

M-1 has him, now what?

Now that M-1 has Fedor under their umbrella, what happens now? There are various rumors out there. For now, we can take Loretta Hunt's quote to heart and believe that he will probably headline an inaugural event in January or February for the new M-1 variant organization. Before this deal was confirmed, we had been hearing some rumors about a possible year end fight for Fedor. Josh Gross mentioned that there were rumors involving K-1 veteran Mark Hunt rematching Fedor in an end of the year K-1 Hero's card. Obviously, it sounds like that won't be happening.

We can always speculate all kinds of other possibilities as well. Finkelstein could manage Fedor's non-exclusivity to M-1 and get some deals done with big promotions such as K-1 Hero's for some matchups in Japan. Fedor's PRIDE reign made him a star in Japan and they did coin him with the nickname "The Last Emperor". He was a good draw to the Japanese fans. I'm not entirely sure who the hell they could get to match him, but Josh Barnett's name always pops up in those kinds of discussions.

More than likely, Fedor will fight under the new M-1 branded name that we will see come out in the coming weeks. I'm not sure at all who he would fight that is within the M-1 organization that would give him a challenge. I'm not sure what M-1's take would be on Fedor. Do they challenge him or do they give him a fighter of much lesser ability right off the bat? Fedor's skills shouldn't be rusy, he will have just done the Sambo Championships the month before hand.

Another possibility is signing former UFC champ Ricco Rodriguez to some type of fight. Right now, it'd probably be a lopsided fight, but if Ricco could get into some decent shape and perform as he did when he fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to a decision, it may not be a bad fight. That's my addition to the Fedor speculation mill. Maybe he gets killed, but I'd watch it.

"American Entertainment Company"?

This is probably the most intriguing bit of news from the deal. It almost makes me excited with anticipation of the press conference because there are a lot of what ifs. Will this be the coming out for Mark Cuban to declare his insane interest in MMA for the future? Has ProElite made a bold move in the MMA market? Who else could it possibly be? The general consensus is that it's Mark Cuban. Even on Fedor's Russian website forum, the consensus is that it may be Mark Cuban, and even Russian MMA fans are disappointed that Fedor isn't going to fight in the UFC. First, let's discuss the unbelievable possibilities there are if Mark Cuban has bought M-1. Cuban is not an idiot.

Mark Cuban buys M-1 under the HDNet name. If that is the case, this could possibly be one of the smartest moves in MMA. Think about it... seriously. Cuban would have single handedly in one month's time, created both a U.S. MMA promotion and an International MMA promotion under the same banner, signed some decent UFC veterans under one promotion, and possibly the best pound for pound heavyweight in the world with another promotion. Not only that, but he's also added a tremendous amount of talent from the Russia MMA scene that will now be able to mix matchups between each other and U.S. competitors. Furthermore, he has nearly solidified the super bout in Josh Barnett vs. Fedor Emelianenko. This is all hypothetical of course and relies on a Cuban buyout of M-1, but the possibilities are there.

Could we also be smelling Ed Fishman in the picture somewhere? As stated by MMADigest in an article regarding Cuban, Cuban is very serious about getting into MMA and having serious partners, including Ed Fishman and maybe Vadim Finkelstein and company.

Also, the HDNet would be able to co-promote both organizations together and have events together. The possibilities are endless, and Cuban has the money to pick up any free agents he wants, and begin to pull fighters away from the UFC if he chooses to try to. We may have some exciting times ahead of us.

Would ProElite make such a bold move?

With all the buyouts from ProElite, it's always a possibility. They have a good amount of talent that they've obtained, but to be perfectly honest, I doubt ProElite had the money left to push it into a purchase of M-1, unless M-1 went for fairly cheap. I will say that the overall structure of the M-1 company now is inline with how ProElite has done business in the past. When they have bought an organization, they have left the management team intact to run the company under the ProElite umbrella. Many companies have done that before, so it wouldn't be a huge tipoff as to it being ProElite.

In my opinion, it's more likely that Cuban had some type of deal going or another organization did.

**UPDATE**

Frank Trigg has added some more rumors to the mill as far as who has bought the M-1 Mixfight company. Although not 100% positive, Trigg has stated that he believes it is not Mark Cuban or Ed Fishman who has bought the company. This throws a big curveball into the race, but ProElite seems to still be in the running. Other rumors involve the World Wrestling Entertainment or the WWE. Although Cuban isn't completely out of the rumors, Trigg has been correct in talking about this rumor and he did accurately break the story to the MMA community.

ProElite still seems rather out of it considering all the money they have recently put into many of the other organizations that they have bought. The WWE is a very interesting prospect because the key demographic that MMA has been taking from is pro wrestling fans. Wrestling has seen a drop in their numbers due to the rising popularity of mixed martial arts. Are they going to start trying to take a share from the pie? It's possible. Hopefully, if they are a player in this race, they don't turn M-1 into a extravagant spectacle, although the Asian MMA community would love that.

The other rumor involved Zuffa. Did Zuffa pull one over all of our heads and just flat out decide to fund M-1 and get Fedor as part of the deal? I doubt it. Considering they were adamant in not allowing Fedor to be involved in some of his demands, I would say they finally succumbed to dealing with Fedor. It's always a possibility that Zuffa is taking a new approach though. After being burned in the PRIDE deal, maybe they did put some money into M-1 to help develop the Russia and Eastern Block country fighters as well as enable themselves to use Fedor and co-promote with M-1. It would also allow them a new entry point into the Asian market without the same approach as they used with PRIDE. Instead of disbanding the organization, Finkelstein and company could run it with their connections and experience in the market. It seems very unlikely. Zuffa may have changed their tune though.

Sherdog has some things to add as well:

Sherdog.com has learned the new organization will run under the M-1 Global moniker and plans to promote shows in Russia, Japan and the United States with the first event possibly coming to fruition as soon as New Year's Eve. A news conference has been tentatively scheduled for Oct. 23 in New York City to announce the signing as well as to introduce the new promotion to the media.

So, we may see Fedor much soon than January or February. It will also be under a global M-1 name, and it seems to hint that there possibly could be some sort of promotion in the works soon. Fedor's representation will be in the States at the end of this month. Will M-1 co-promote with HERO's or do their own thing here in the States possibly? It could be a very exciting time in MMA toward the end of the year. We will find out on October 23rd.

Exciting?

I'm actually a bit excited as to hear what company actually purchased M-1. I'm not excited at the prospect of a lackluster free agent market of heavyweights that Fedor can grab to fight. There is only one real battle out there that we can see in Josh Barnett vs. Fedor Emelianenko. Mark Cuban has the money to sign fighters, and buy an organization like M-1. If he has done it, it will be an exciting time in MMA and could possibly become a highly competitive market in the U.S. as well as internationally. I doubt it would happen very quickly though, and Cuban wouldn't have access to the best fighters in the world due to them being tied up in the UFC. UFC fighters will have other options though. Until we actually hear the outcome of this deal from the press conference though, for now.. all we know is that Fedor won't be fighting in the UFC and we won't be seeing those big marquee matchups we hoped for anytime soon.

[sphincter]

like I already mentioned.. goood for Fedor and bad for us.. unless something cool happens like Cuban really being behind this, making a better organization than UFCthat actually pays the fighters well so all the good UFC guys come over under his umbrella and we get good fights, better PPV cards and more than 4-5 fights/card... but that's just my $.02

[soo2bhuge]

I think we'll finally see Fedor Vs. Couture soon.

[Lexed]

I dunno now that couture left he might sign a one time fight with m-1 vs fedor hopefully that can be worked out