Comments on: More on Fedor Emelianenko’s pay from Affliction

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:26:06 +0000

#9 has a great argument, well put together. Props all around.

But I agree with the article & what Adam said.

Luckily we both want and care about the same thing: The Best MMA fights and promotions, forever.

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By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:21:18 +0000

How can anyone say that agents are bad for any sport? Agents are in EVERY sport. Hockey, Soccer, NBA, Football, and they should be in MMA.

Without agents, the fighter has no leverage. Since when have you heard a fighter say anything but: “I love to fight, I’ll fight whoever and whenever the UFC says”. They are owned.

Fighters = 1) just want to fight 2) pray to make good money
Promotions = 1) make money or die 2) hopefully have good fights, it doesnt matter as long as things are profitable

Since when have you heard of a company run like a monopoly that plays fair? ATT, Microsoft, Standard Oil, your local cable company.

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By: ihateemo

ihateemo — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:25:32 +0000

@ #9

Great post. Everything I wanted to say.

As an elite heavyweight, Fedor deserves the money he earns from fighting. However, using Fedor as some kind of golden goose to force big companies like the UFC to cross-promote with his own organisation clearly shows to me that Finkelstein is more interested in himself. Dana White was right to shoot down that nonsense.

If anything Finkelstein is the Don King of MMA. Bad for fighters and bad for the sport.

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By: stevefiji

stevefiji — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:55:40 +0000

What best interest? Hibernating the guy for almost 3 years from the US market which they NOW obviously see as critical to his exposure…. or maybe having him fight donut after donut over this time frame…or maybe giving him rights to video when anybody can see it free online and news services aren’t paying for the footage since they are performing a PR service. Yeah… there are HUGE dollars in owning the Eastern Bloc rights to a Fedor/Sylvia fight in the future years…. maybe i am wrong, but i just don’t think so.

Or maybe they just wanted him to be able to fight his beloved Sambo… nice to be looking out for his happiness… Well, he fights donuts for 3 years in pure MMA, loses luster, takes hit as a person who runs away from the best fighters and drops down on all the P4P rating…. and i am sure that didn’t make him all too happy. Any way that you cut it, his managers suck eggs and did him no favors at all.

They are NOT ahead of the curve ground breakers. I mean really, how hard is it to say “pay me in advance!” or i go hibernate him for 3 more years and if you, T-shirt guy want to have even a remote chance to ever experience the thrill of have a second show, you will do that… or your ugly shirts will stop selling in 1 year w/o UFC support. So how taste my Fedor? That’s just common sense against a powerless T-Shirt Guy. Not impressed at all.

and to @9… i love a truly well written post with many insightful comments… keep it going bro, no one has a monopoly on legitimate ideas and any additions to the main article that are valid are most welcome by me.

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By: mike wolfe

mike wolfe — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:39:18 +0000

I’ll bet that Fedor screws around with occasional fights in various orgs until he starts getting worried about his age and diminishing skills. Then he’ll make a deal or deals, possibly with UFC, to fight more frequently so he can make some money before it’s too late. Next time UFC negotiates with Fedor and/or his management, they should have some Russian nationals involved for them. The language and cultural differences complicated the situation last time, imo.

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By: Evan

Evan — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:31:05 +0000

HexRei if I remember right PRIDE had a major problem with him doing Bodog.

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By: HexRei

HexRei — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:00:24 +0000

@#14

Yes, but the main issue with the exclusive contract was that it included all combat sports events- including Sambo. Fedor has never had a problem being basically exclusive to one MMA organization, he was exclusive to Rings for his first eleven fights until 2002 and had an exclusive contract to Pride for most of the rest of his career until its dissolution in 2006- the one exception being his Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye fight which he had special arrangements with Pride to do.

So I doubt that the exclusivity was the issue, the problem is that Pride’s exclusive contract let him compete in Sambo still- and Dana’s didn’t.

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By: BadMonkeyMW

BadMonkeyMW — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:48:23 +0000

Sweet Jesus #9, write a freakin’ book! If you really want write so much, send your resume into Sam or one of the MMA mags. Otherwise, edit it down a little, Hemingway!

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By: b.w.

b.w. — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:36:26 +0000

#12. if the sambo tournament was the only or main sticking point in the end for fedor not signing with the ufc, then shame on dana. i just dont think that it was. i think the final stickler was the exclusive contract. dana wont sign a fighter without one and fedor/and or his management wont sign with one. oh well, this is something we’ll have to agree to disagree. i am though looking forward to fedor vs andrei and have to give credit to affliction and finklstein for this one.

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By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:28:44 +0000

If Fedor is making it a priority to own his rights to his footage, its likely he envisions himself promoting his own fights sometime down the line. Perhaps, he got rights to footage in Eastern European countries where Affliction wouldn’t plan to host a show in the near future, but he plans to promote a fight of his own. Then, such a deal is win-win as Affliction can hold onto some cash (this is important given how fragile nascent MMA promotions are), and Fedor can potentially be an Eastern European equivalent of Golden Boy, thus making money unheard of by other fighters.

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