ProphetFighting

[...] The latest information on the UFC/Fedor negotiations. [...]

Why should Fedor want to be a star in the US?

Why should Fedor want to be a star in the US?

Valid question, but one with a pretty obvious answer. Its some combination of money, ego, and competitive desire. Essentially, its the same reason that a guy like Ricky Hatton wanted to be a star in the US. Like it or not, its the center of the fight universe–definitely in boxing. Hatton could have earned a nice living and been a superstar in the UK–he could have sold out Manchester’s MEN Arena for a sparring session against a wet mop. To test himself against the best fighters in the business he had to break into the US market. He could also make more money this way.

Now let’s consider Fedor’s case specifically–most MMA hardcores consider him the best fighter in the world. Yet most of the casual fans in the US don’t know who he is. With MMA’s popularity exploding in the US don’t you think he’d want to prove his competitive superiority? Plus, at this point I’d have to suggest that the US offers the best level of competition–prior to the (permanent or temporary) demise of PRIDE I’d have made the case for Japan having superior MMA talent but now the US gets the nod by default.

And then there’s the money–assuming that Fedor wants to maximize his income potential he obviously wants to become a big name in such a potentially lucrative market. Essentially, its the same reason that stars in other parts of the world in all sorts of disciplines–from the Beatles to David Beckham–want to get into the US market.

Based on their actions, clearly the Fedor camp has some interest of cracking the US market for whatever reason–if not, they would have already signed a deal with K-1/Heroes. After all, they’re willing to pay a lot of money and accept all of the Fedor camp’s conditions. That they’re still playing ball with Zuffa/UFC demonstrates that his status in the US market is of some importance to Fedor…

Pride and Bodog allowed Fedor to fight in Sambo so the UFC is being unreasonable. it would be different if those other orgs had said no as well.

Pride and Bodog allowed Fedor to fight in Sambo so the UFC is being unreasonable. it would be different if those other orgs had said no as well.

You’re right and on balance I agree with you. I can understand the UFC’s position in theory–most player contracts in sports have stipulations against certain physically dangerous activities (eg: pro wrestling, as the recent Pacman Jones soap opera evidenced). Still, exceptions have been made in other sports–like the famous Michael Jordan proviso that he be allowed to play in pickup hoops games whenever he wanted. Fedor is obviously an exceptional athlete so the upside of signing him and allowing him to compete in Sambo would seem to outweigh the potential risks.

I’m not a contract attorney, but IMO it would appear that there’s a simple solution–I can understand that Zuffa/UFC doesn’t want to be on the hook should Fedor suffer a career ending injury in Sambo so just write something into the contract. Say, in the unlikely event that something like this happens the UFC has the option to buy out the contract for a million bucks or whatever. Fedor’s agent then breaks off a phone call to Lloyd’s of London and insures him against a career ending injury for the value of the UFC contract. So the UFC is off the hook in the event of a Sambo injury, Fedor gets to compete in Sambo plus he gets paid and he’s got his ass covered against injury and everyone should be happy.

There’s also the possibility that the UFC doesn’t want Fedor competing outside their promotion fearing a loss of “product” control or diminished marketability should he lose or something. If that’s the case, they *are* being unreasonable…

Even if Fedor signs with the UFC, do you really think he would fight the winner of GG/Couture right off the bat?

I think Fedor is smart enough to know that he cannot just step into a cage without some training inside of one first. Also, I think he would have to get used to the elbows that he never had to face in Japan(We saw how Cro-Cop kinda panicked when he got hit with those). We also have to take into consideration if Couture wins (GG is not as proven, save the CC win), that the UFC would give him ample time to prepare since he is their HW poster boy. I wonder what your thoughts are on that….

With that said, how many fights do you think they would sign him to, and can you give us any idea on how much he would get paid? I read somewhere the Tito got paid $350,000 for each of his fights, and if that figure is correct, I would have to assume that he would be getting A LOT more.

Even if Fedor signs with the UFC, do you really think he would fight the winner of GG/Couture right off the bat?

With that said, how many fights do you think they would sign him to, and can you give us any idea on how much he would get paid? I read somewhere the Tito got paid $350,000 for each of his fights, and if that figure is correct, I would have to assume that he would be getting A LOT more.

First of all thanks for reading and taking the time to comment–hope to see you back in the future.

Not sure what the UFC would want to do with Fedor. On one hand, you’re right that a “tune up” fight or two would do him some good as well as exposing him to the US fans. That would mean a bigger PPV buyrate when Fedor *did* fight for the championship. Of course that’s what they were trying to do with Cro Cop and you saw how that worked out. They were building to a Cro Cop/Couture fight (which probably would have been the biggest PPV buyrate ever for the UFC) but that all changed thanks to Gonzaga’s foot. In retrospect, I don’t have a clue why they let Gonzaga anywhere near Cro Cop with such a big fight as CroCop/Couture on the drawing board. The Gonzaga/Couture fight should be a good one, but from strictly a business standpoint it won’t do anywhere near what Cro Cop/Couture would have.

In other words, on one hand you want to give Fedor the chance to have some “tune up” fights but on the other hand you don’t want to risk the bigger fights down the road. I’m not thinking that any of the mid-level UFC heavyweights could beat Fedor without a lead pipe, but there’s always that risk.

Clearly the UFC would rather have a Fedor/Couture fight than a Fedor/Gonzaga fight–with all due respect to Gonzaga as a fighter Couture is a much bigger “star”. I’d imagine Fedor won’t make the mistake Cro Cop did and start training in a cage before the ink is dry on his UFC contract. Of course their fight styles are different and IMO Fedor doesn’t have the same liabilities in the cage that Cro Cop did. As a striker with average ground skills, Cro Cop’s problem with the cage was as much with the angles and spacing than anything else. Eddie Sanchez just backed up and Cro Cop followed him around and picked him apart, but Gonzaga came right at him. Without any way to “cut off” a round area like you could in a ring Cro Cop looked lost.

Fedor, as you’re well aware, is not only a brutally effective striker but a ground fighting badass as well. He’s also such a good “inside” fighter that he doesn’t need the same spacing that Cro Cop does to be effective. The elbows will require some adjustment, but IMO this is a minor concern. I’m not one of these “Fedor is a cyborg/he feels no pain” type fanboys but after watching Kevin Randleman drop Fedor on his head and it apparently not really faze him I’m thinking that he’ll be able to deal with a few elbows. Plus, since he’s already the most lethal “ground and pound” specialist in the sport I’m sure he’d not have a problem adding the elbows to *his* arsenal.

From what I hear the dollar figure the UFC is talking about is slightly higher than what K-1/Heroes is offering–in the $6.5 to $7 million range. My guess is that it would be for six fights like the K-1 offer so we’re looking at a cool million bucks a fight.

What Vadim said about negotiating with numerous organization’s is true and expect some news to break tonight.

Other than that, it’s a good article but I don’t see why you give so much credit to your inside sources since the fact that the UFC/Zuffa were offering better financial terms but the other conditions (particularly combat Sambo) were not acceptable to them has been public knowledge for a while now.

DROC

Other than that, it’s a good article but I don’t see why you give so much credit to your inside sources since the fact that the UFC/Zuffa were offering better financial terms but the other conditions (particularly combat Sambo) were not acceptable to them has been public knowledge for a while now.

“Inside sources” like to know that they’re being thought of