M-1 Director: Fedor Emelianenko (and Strikeforce relationship) healthy and ready to return

"I think June, July is realistic (for Emelianenko's return). It's not 100 percent. Don't take this as a fight announcement, but I think during the summer. After the CBS show, we thought that the (Strikeforce) terms needed a little bit tweaking -- nothing major, just a little bit of tweaking. So, we had a round of negotiations with Strikeforce. Everything went positively. We're pretty much at the end."

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All this BS for one fighter. It just sad how much stuff Strikeforce has to deal with just to have Fedor fight.

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Posted by telnights

All this BS for one fighter. It just sad how much stuff Strikeforce has to deal with just to have Fedor fight.

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Agreed... Fedor's amazing and I love watching the guy fight, but it looks like he may end up costing Strikeforce in the long run.

But you've got to look at it from Fedor's perspective - the guy is unanimously considered the best heavyweight fighter on the planet and he's 33. He just got married this year and said he plans on having kids - how many more years does he have left as a fighter? Maybe 5, with probably only 3 great years left... then another 50 years of life after retirement...

I don't disagree with Fedor here - they guys deserves to get paid and I support him holding out for the best deal around. Belts mean nothing to this guy who is virtually undefeated and seemingly still getting better as he ages...

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Posted by fightscoops

I don't disagree with Fedor here - they guys deserves to get paid and I support him holding out for the best deal around. Belts mean nothing to this guy who is virtually undefeated and seemingly still getting better as he ages...

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The holding out for the best deal should've been squashed when they signed with SF though. You don't sign a contract, realize it could be better, then hold out on who you supposedly call a partner, for a better deal...and all that after only 1 fight.

If you're 'The Last Emperor' you do, and obviously it has worked as Strikeforce is reportedly willing to renegotiate and pay him whatever. Fedors market value has skyrocketed since his American debut against Rogers and hes trying to capitalize on that... why should SF reap all the rewards of his next fight when its his name that brings in the revenue?

In theory I agree with you - you sign a contract and stick by it - but this isnt the goodwill games, its professional sports in the year 2010 and this is how the modern game is played...

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Posted by fightscoops

If you're 'The Last Emperor' you do, and obviously it has worked as Strikeforce is reportedly willing to renegotiate and pay him whatever. Fedors market value has skyrocketed since his American debut against Rogers and hes trying to capitalize on that... why should SF reap all the rewards of his next fight when its his name that brings in the revenue?

In theory I agree with you - you sign a contract and stick by it - but this isnt the goodwill games, its professional sports in the year 2010 and this is how the modern game is played...

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Well, it's actually his management taking advantage of him, as well as SF. What it does, besides put a wedge between Fedor and his employer, is make other organizations weary of signing him. Yes, he's one of the most sought after fighters in MMA, but who wants to deal with that...and the only reason SF is imo, is they are just trying to prevent waves. My biggest problem is that it's the dirtbags behind the scenes trying to line their own pockets at the expense of Fedor's name. If the media isn't talking about M-1, maybe just maybe they don't care to talk about a company that just sits by and tries to half the credit and money. I wouldn't talk about them either. If they want more media exposure, they should take their cut and promote themselves.

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Posted by fightscoops

If you're 'The Last Emperor' you do, and obviously it has worked as Strikeforce is reportedly willing to renegotiate and pay him whatever. Fedors market value has skyrocketed since his American debut against Rogers and hes trying to capitalize on that... why should SF reap all the rewards of his next fight when its his name that brings in the revenue?

In theory I agree with you - you sign a contract and stick by it - but this isnt the goodwill games, its professional sports in the year 2010 and this is how the modern game is played...

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I think your assuming this has to do with Fedor's pay. I don't think that's the case at all. It would seam this has more to do with his managers wanting more for M-1 and themselves and not Fedor. Which seams to have been the case from the start.

Doesn't matter if it is 2010 or 1920 contract's are an agreement of serves by law and one's word and if you don't agree with that contract don't sign it. Just because Fedor has becoming more popular doesn't mean it gives him or his management the right to try to strong arm Strikeforce for more of anything. It could also be said Fedor wouldn't be near as popular in the US if not for Strikeforce. Strikeforce is the one with the TV network deal not M-1. Strikeforce would agree to almost anything at this point because just like Affliction they have over invested in to Fedor and his corrupted management. Also what happens if he wins again is M-1/Fedor's management going to want more again.

M-1 cares for itself a lot more than fedor imo Fedor allows these jerks to run his buissness, because hes in it for the money now. He has all the fame, and he does not seem to care if people regard him as p4p.

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Also what happens if he wins again is M-1/Fedor's management going to want more again.

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Possibly... if the revenue share skyrockets again M1-Global might want a bigger piece of the pie, and Strikeforce will probably end up giving it to him. It takes two to tango, and the fact that Strikeforce is playing ball with Fedor and renegotiating just reiterates how powerful his position is. This guy is HUGE around the world and could easily make 8 figures in Japan - if he's going to spend time in the US hes going to want equal compensation...

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Posted by fightscoops

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Also what happens if he wins again is M-1/Fedor's management going to want more again.

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Possibly... if the revenue share skyrockets again M1-Global might want a bigger piece of the pie, and Strikeforce will probably end up giving it to him. It takes two to tango, and the fact that Strikeforce is playing ball with Fedor and renegotiating just reiterates how powerful his position is. This guy is HUGE around the world and could easily make 8 figures in Japan - if he's going to spend time in the US hes going to want equal compensation...

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Revenue share would incline a percentage amount, so if revenues skyrocket, then M-1 share would also skyrocket.

The fact that Strikeforce is playing ball, shows that they might be investing a little to much into Fedor. Look to Affliction and Elite XC for examples of companies who invested to much into a single fighter. Although SF is more evenly distributed then those companies were, the farther you chase that rabbit down its hole the deeper into **** you get if it collapses.

If you sign a contract then you are stuck with it,Remember Randy and the UFC. Randy was basically forced into early retirement when he had contract difficulties by the UFC who made him sit on the sidelines for over a year until Lesner came into the picture and Dana saw HUGE $$$$$ money, so they gave Randy some more money.

There is no such thing as equal compensation... If you want to get paid big bucks like in Japan, then fight in Japan and dont sign a contract saying you will fight for less. (By the way, 8 figures, you do realize that that is 10 million dollars at least. Maybe I am grossly underestimating the pay rates in Japan but I doubt he makes even half of that per fight in Japan)

At the end of it all, a Man is only good as his Word.

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Posted by fightscoops
Possibly... if the revenue share skyrockets again M1-Global might want a bigger piece of the pie, and Strikeforce will probably end up giving it to him. It takes two to tango, and the fact that Strikeforce is playing ball with Fedor and renegotiating just reiterates how powerful his position is. This guy is HUGE around the world and could easily make 8 figures in Japan - if he's going to spend time in the US hes going to want equal compensation...

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You talking as if they already don't get a fair amount of the profit from the shows Fedor fights in. They agreed to the contract and by doing so they agreed to give a service and said amount or a share of said amount. Now Strikeforce agreeing to changes doesn't show Fedor's position it shows a lack of a backbone and poor decision making by Strikeforce. No one fighter is worth what M-1 has been asking for. From many inside sources that have reported on the deal M-1 already gets a %50 of everything Strikeforce makes from any card Fedor fights on. Now they are asking for more coverage of M-1 by the press when promoting the shows Fedor is in and who knows what else. We have seen 2 company's already make the mistake of over investing in one fighter and its sad to see Strikeforce going down the same road.


When you think about it what does M-1 bring to the table other than Fedor? They don't have a network TV deal or any real major TV deal to speak of.. They don't have a very big brand name. So all they have is Fedor and they are using him and his name to strong arm company's around. When all is said and done this not only makes them look very corrupt, it does nothing but hurts Fedor's image. Come sooner or later people will start looking at Fedor for the actions of his managers, because in the end these are the people he is allowing to manage him.

he needs to cut loose of m-1 like gegard did
i am telling you, after gegards fight in april his contract is up, he will go to the ufc

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Posted by prozacnation1978

he needs to cut loose of m-1 like gegard did
i am telling you, after gegards fight in april his contract is up, he will go to the ufc

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and then they can come and say he wasn't ever actually signed to m-1...just friends helping each other. :)

More M-1 sumbaggery.

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Posted by telnights

When you think about it what does M-1 bring to the table other than Fedor? They don't have a network TV deal or any real major TV deal to speak of..

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M1 secured tv deals for Fedor vs Rogers ...

Bulgaria: Ring TV
China: Guangdong Television
Finland: Urheilukanava (Finnish Sport Television)
Indonesia: Tiger Gate
Israel: EGO Channel
Latin America: HBO Latin America
Malta: Melita TV
New Zealand: Sky Sport New Zealand
Romania: Boom TV
Russia: NTV Plus, Channel One
South Korea: Seoul Broadcasting System
Sub-Saharan Africa: Setanta Sports
Turkey: Digiturk
Ukraine: Megasport
United Kingdom: Bravo

25 million people worldwide watched Strikeforce's Fedor vs Rogers . 16 million of the viewers came from Russia's Channel one . How many of those Russians would have watched the card without Fedor on it ?

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Posted by telnights

From many inside sources that have reported on the deal M-1 already gets a %50 of everything Strikeforce makes from any card Fedor fights on.

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Lemme guess , Kevin Iole ? The very guy who works for yahoo's UFC section , same guy who works for the UFC's online PPV distributor? No way he would have an agenda

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Posted by AnDeRsonDaSiLvA
M1 secured tv deals for Fedor vs Rogers ...

Bulgaria: Ring TV
China: Guangdong Television
Finland: Urheilukanava (Finnish Sport Television)
Indonesia: Tiger Gate
Israel: EGO Channel
Latin America: HBO Latin America
Malta: Melita TV
New Zealand: Sky Sport New Zealand
Romania: Boom TV
Russia: NTV Plus, Channel One
South Korea: Seoul Broadcasting System
Sub-Saharan Africa: Setanta Sports
Turkey: Digiturk
Ukraine: Megasport
United Kingdom: Bravo

25 million people worldwide watched Strikeforce's Fedor vs Rogers . 16 million of the viewers came from Russia's Channel one . How many of those Russians would have watched the card without Fedor on it ?

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And do you really think M-1 could have made those deals without the backing of Strikeforce? When was the last time M-1 put on a show that was majorly broadcast without the backing by a company with name and pull?

Last event they put on without backing that had any fighters even worth talking about was M-1 Global "Breakthrough" which was almost a joke event because they changed locations twice and had fighters quieting because they couldn't get their stuff together. I'm sorry but I still wondering what they bring to the table other than sucking the life out of other promotions.

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Posted by AnDeRsonDaSiLvA
Lemme guess , Kevin Iole ? The very guy who works for yahoo's UFC section , same guy who works for the UFC's online PPV distributor? No way he would have an agenda

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No not just him there where a lot of reports coming out about it. Since your the one wondering spend a little time looking it up.

But let me help you this is direct quote from Gary (Jerry) Millen.

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Gary (Jerry) Millen
We're not asking for anything that's crazy, we're willing to take half the risk. We're willing to take half the profit or half the loss.

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That was related to the UFC deal and I don't see why the Strikeforce deal would be any different. Unless they just didn't want Fedor fighting in the UFC. Which maybe the case but from the info we have their deal involved them taking half the profit. Now it says taking half the risk as well but we know how that worked out for Affliction.

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I'm sorry but I still wondering what they bring to the table other than sucking the life out of other promotions.

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They bring exactly what AndersonDaSilva talked about - international promotion! M1-Global is smart, they understand their limitations in promoting events worldwide as they specialize in Russia and Eastern Europe while recognizing that if they partner with established US brands such as Affliction and Strikeforce they can engage more American fans. You basically said it yourself - who is M1-Global? You don't know because you live on this side of the Atlantic and they don't promote to you...

We have a tendency to be very ego-centric as American fans in not being able to recognize that there is an enormous fight market around the globe, and though America has huge potential as an MMA market we have barely scratched the surface in terms of how big this sport is internationally...

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Posted by fightscoops
They bring exactly what AndersonDaSilva talked about - international promotion! M1-Global is smart, they understand their limitations in promoting events worldwide as they specialize in Russia and Eastern Europe while recognizing that if they partner with established US brands such as Affliction and Strikeforce they can engage more American fans. You basically said it yourself - who is M1-Global? You don't know because you live on this side of the Atlantic and they don't promote to you...

We have a tendency to be very ego-centric as American fans in not being able to recognize that there is an enormous fight market around the globe, and though America has huge potential as an MMA market we have barely scratched the surface in terms of how big this sport is internationally...

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Your assuming I don't follow international mma. You seam to also think M-1 has a large international name when they don't really at all. Yes there is a world outside of the US I think that fairly simple to see. I'm sure someone in M-1 Global is smart but that doesn't mean they aren't exploiting their fighter and other promotions to line their own pockets. It's dirty pool no matter how you work it out in your head. They are now not happy with the contract they agreed to and are basically refusing to have their exploited fighter fight unless Strikeforce changes the contract they agreed to. Last I checked one of the company's they partnered with has went under and out of the only two top fighters they had one has jumped ship. But hey they have a huge international name that's pulling in tons of top talent.

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And do you really think M-1 could have made those deals without the backing of Strikeforce?

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Atleast a few of those tv deals were already secured for m-1 promoted events. How many? I dont know , but ive watch m1 promoted shows in the past ripped from a few of those channels . I also dont think Strikeforce could of secured those deals without the help of m-1 . UFC has not even got some of those markets .

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When was the last time M-1 put on a show that was majorly broadcast without the backing by a company with name and pull?

Last event they put on without backing that had any fighters even worth talking about was M-1 Global "Breakthrough" which was almost a joke event because they changed locations twice and had fighters quieting because they couldn't get their stuff together. I'm sorry but I still wondering what they bring to the table other than sucking the life out of other promotions.

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The example you gave , M-1 Global breakthrough , was broadcast live on HDNET. I would have to say thats backing by a company with name and pull. Since its not according to you , how about the M1 challenge series broadcast weekly on HDNET over the last couple of years? How about m1 selection in korea that was broadcast live on sherdog FOUR days ago? What about all their shows broadcast across european television? They may not have had "any fighters even worth talking about"(although i would disagree) according to you , but they were still majorly broadcast "without backing" .

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No not just him there where a lot of reports coming out about it. Since your the one wondering spend a little time looking it up.

But let me help you this is direct quote from Gary (Jerry) Millen.


" Gary (Jerry) Millen
We're not asking for anything that's crazy, we're willing to take half the risk. We're willing to take half the profit or half the loss."

That was related to the UFC deal and I don't see why the Strikeforce deal would be any different.Unless they just didn't want Fedor fighting in the UFC. Which maybe the case but from the info we have their deal involved them taking half the profit. Now it says taking half the risk as well but we know how that worked out for Affliction.

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Jerry millen is an absolute moron. That quote was taken from live MMAjunkie radio (which i was coincidentally listening live to) where he was provoked into making emotional statements . That same show where he said fedor would fight brock for free in his gym at stary oskol , as well as a bunch of other nonsense that m1 and fedor clearly wouldnt agree to . I wouldnt take anything Jerry says as a fact.

Since you say there were a lot of reports coming out about it , care to points me out to any others ?

Its also ignorant to assume the proposed ufc deal (which you really dont know the specifics of , neither do I , Iole or any of these other "reporters" ) would be the same deal offered to strikeforce.

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Posted by AnDeRsonDaSiLvA
Atleast a few of those tv deals were already secured for m-1 promoted events. How many? I dont know , but ive watch m1 promoted shows in the past ripped from a few of those channels . I also dont think Strikeforce could of secured those deals without the help of m-1 . UFC has not even got some of those markets .

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That still doesn't make them a major player in MMA or having deal with major TV broadcast or even high ratings. Since you think they have major TV deals over sea's then why is it they only have one real major fighter under contract? Why haven't they picked up other top level talent over sea's? Also you ever thought the UFC haven't marketed to those markets yet because some are not major markets for MMA at this time. Just because they had a few TV deals doesn't mean it helps Strikeforce. Striekforce became partners with NBC and Showtime long before M-1 came in the picture. I would say the backing of NBC has much more pull than M-1 ever will have or ever has had. HDnet is not bad but isn't carried by all major cable providers.

But here is something for you to think about. Why did Adrenaline MMA with a few major money backers all pull out with their partnership with M-1? You add that with the fact Affliction went under while partnered with them. Why did one of their only two major fighters jump ship?

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Posted by AnDeRsonDaSiLvA
The example you gave , M-1 Global breakthrough , was broadcast live on HDNET. I would have to say thats backing by a company with name and pull. Since its not according to you , how about the M1 challenge series broadcast weekly on HDNET over the last couple of years? How about m1 selection in korea that was broadcast live on sherdog FOUR days ago? What about all their shows broadcast across european television? They may not have had "any fighters even worth talking about"(although i would disagree) according to you , but they were still majorly broadcast "without backing".

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I gave M-1 breakthrough because it was the last event they had with any fighters on it worth talking about. You seam to think HDnet is a major cable channel when it isn't even carried by a large number of major cable providers. When I see HDnet at top of the ratings list then we can call it a major TV deal. Your idea of major and my idea of major isn't the same and that's ok. You seam to think they are drawing in huge ratings over sea's when they really aren't at all.

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Posted by AnDeRsonDaSiLvA
Jerry millen is an absolute moron. That quote was taken from live MMAjunkie radio (which i was coincidentally listening live to) where he was provoked into making emotional statements . That same show where he said fedor would fight brock for free in his gym at stary oskol , as well as a bunch of other nonsense that m1 and fedor clearly wouldnt agree to . I wouldnt take anything Jerry says as a fact.

Since you say there were a lot of reports coming out about it , care to points me out to any others ?

Its also ignorant to assume the proposed ufc deal (which you really dont know the specifics of , neither do I , Iole or any of these other "reporters" ) would be the same deal offered to strikeforce.

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Moron or not I'm going to take what he said as truth. Now he most likely let it slip but he still said it. Also last I checked he is employed by M-1 who does know the deal they offered.

Ignornant? So I should assume the deal they offered Strikeforce was for less than the deal they offered the UFC?

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'm sure someone in M-1 Global is smart but that doesn't mean they aren't exploiting their fighter and other promotions to line their own pockets

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Dude Fedor is an OWNER in the company... and according to the numbers I've seen M1-Global does a hell of job bringing in viewers around the globe...

I'm not assuming anything about you, I'm saying 'you' as in 'we here in the USA' dont see M1's promotions because we aren't their target audience, its not a personal attack, just the reality...

I think I have figured it out. Fedor is set with money(fighting or not) M-1 is looking to make as much money from him as legaly possible. And dont think that if the boys at M-1 thought that strongarming would work they wouldnt do it! And apparently Fedor doesnt care about fighting the best in the world!? I am officially over it. i though with his stint in affliction he would transfer to the UFC so I got excited but .....no more!

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Posted by fightscoops
Dude Fedor is an OWNER in the company... and according to the numbers I've seen M1-Global does a hell of job bringing in viewers around the globe...

I'm not assuming anything about you, I'm saying 'you' as in 'we here in the USA' dont see M1's promotions because we aren't their target audience, its not a personal attack, just the reality...

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Most know Fedor has shares of the company and from what I have read his managers own the major controlling shares. That in itself is a conflict of interest. His managers should own nothing at all with a company he is contracted under. Now as far as the US not being their target audience why is it Fedor's past 3 fights have all been co-promotions in the US. Why not have him fight under your own banner if you have the viewership in your target country? In fact I don't think Fedor has ever had a real fight just under the M-1 banner.