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BlastRadius's Blog

More of White vs Fedor

July 11, 2009

Imagine a pro quarterback with Peyton Manning's talent playing up in the Canadian Football League instead of the NFL. Or picture Tiger Woods shunning the PGA and all the major championships to star in the second-string Nationwide Tour.

It may sound ridiculous, but the fast-growing, wildly popular sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) is grappling with such an unthinkable, uncomfortable scenario.

And it couldn't come at a worse time. Just as the sport's premier league, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, prepares to stage its milestone UFC 100 event in Las Vegas this Saturday which is expected to attract more than 1 million pay-per-view purchases the top fighter in the world has no plans to participate. Instead of slugging it out in Sin City, Fedor Emelianenko, 32, will be training in a small Russian mining town 385 miles south of Moscow, preparing for an Aug. 1 pay-per-view fight in Anaheim, Calif., against former UFC champion Josh Barnett. Why isn't Fedor fighting for the more established brand? "The UFC wants his mind, his soul, his body," says Joost Raimond, chief operating officer for M-1 Global.

Fedor says White demanded that he fight exclusively with the UFC. Given his stake in his own promotion company, M-1 Global, that would have been a significant sacrifice. Fedor also insists the UFC would have virtually owned him if he won and would have been able to dump him if he lost. "If I was the UFC champion, I would never be able to leave the UFC," Fedor says. "The contract would just keep extending and extending. But if I lost, they could just kick me out of the UFC."

Further complicating matters, Fedor also specializes in another form of martial arts called sambo. This judo-like sport was developed for the Red Army after World War I and is now a Russian pastime. Under White's dictates, says Fedor, he'd have to stay away from sambo. "That's something I do for the pride of my country and is very important to me," says Fedor.

TIME asked White to respond to Fedor's accusations, and he pulled no punches. "Let me put it to you this way. I've done fight contracts with all the best fighters in the world," he said, working his way to the knockout blow. "With big huge superstars Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell, the list goes on and on. Who the f*ck is Fedor? Are you serious? The guys who fight for me have a chance to make a lot more money fighting with me than with anybody else. If he signed with us, he'd find his place in history, find out if he really is the best heavyweight in the world. It's all semantics. It's all bullsh!t." It wasn't the first time White had used fighting words. At a UFC-fight press conference in April, White said, "Fedor is not the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world ... Fedor is at a buffet somewhere in Russia."

So despite growing pressure from ultimate-fighting fans who want White to sign Fedor, it doesn't look like the pair will be doing celebratory vodka shots anytime soon. "Fedor doesn't make or break my business one way or the other, you know what I mean?" says White.

"The reality is, I don't need Fedor."

Still, over the long term, the Fedor-White standoff could leave mixed martial arts much like pro boxing, decimated by warring promoters and fighters, with talent spread across too many divisions for followers to keep count. After all, no sport can keep rolling in the dough if fans keep feeling shortchanged.

exerpts from: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1909703,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Want to Leave a Comment?

10 Comments (Showing 1-6 of 10)

  • Photo of creq creq
    creq
    Male
    edmonton, CA
    Status
    gone
    Comments So Far
    584
    Last Updated
    09/14/09
    Posted 4 months ago by creq

    i dont agree with him not being able to compete in sambo. Its another sport. I could agree to say ok 3 moths before a fight you cant fight any were else. You dont want to be cancelling a fedor fight and pissing off fans for an injury. They cant have him come in win the belt and take it with him. after one fight. THe HW div would never be respected again.

  • Photo of MBoo MBoo
    MBoo
    Male
    Status
    Afraidor on the feet; Lesnar on the ground... where's it most likely to end up? Quebec for Lesnar
    Comments So Far
    1935
    Last Updated
    09/16/09
    Posted 4 months ago by MBoo

    The stipulations are set to keep fighters from risking injury as well as promoting other organizations. I agree that he shouldn't be able sambo and other such things. Conflict of interest. What if a date was set the same for one of his UFC fights? Or if he sprains something and they have to change up production for a card? And if Randy Couture could be champion and get out of fighting like he did I don't really see where Fedor is coming from. Ya don't wanna fight, don't fight. But if you do wanna fight, THEN FIGHT.

  • Photo of BlastRadius BlastRadius
    BlastRadius
    Male, 32
    Manila, PH
    Status
    Deus Ex MACHIDA
    Comments So Far
    1329
    Last Updated
    08/18/09
    Posted 4 months ago by BlastRadius

    the one thing we hate about dana is also the thing that brought mma to where it is. his is a childlike [as opposed to childish] fervor in wanting only the best for ufc - and all of mma benefited. we don't like it when he sour grapes like this but if it weren't for that intensity maybe mma in general is still groping in obscurity. i don't like it too when dana throws tantrums, he's tends not only to burn his bridges but widens the chasm under it as well but i'm thinking, that's where enzo fertitta comes in - then everything's fine again.

  • Photo of rushdelia rushdelia
    rushdelia
    Male, 22
    Manila, PH
    Status
    on destruction
    Comments So Far
    870
    Last Updated
    09/07/09
    Posted 4 months ago by rushdelia

    good blog.. IMO, its their pride speaking..both obviously and stubbornly refuse to kiss each others' a*** by not completely acceding to each others' terms.. it will go back and forth.. something tells me fedor wont get to fight in the ufc for now (even if he's the one fans want to see).. white doesn't need fedor, but we, the fans, do..

  • Photo of bigtyme808 bigtyme808
    bigtyme808
    Male, 24
    knoxville, TN
    Status
    Jose Aldo is a beast!!!
    Comments So Far
    1909
    Last Updated
    09/16/09
    Posted 4 months ago by bigtyme808

    both are stubborn and Dana is a control freak. May not ever happen

  • Photo of ton8e1 ton8e1
    ton8e1
    Male
    Status
    my opinions are my own and to each their own
    Comments So Far
    856
    Last Updated
    09/11/09
    Posted 4 months ago by ton8e1

    imo the ufc needs him, more than he need them. hw div is lacking and dana should try harder to get him....let him do his sambo! idk just my opinion.

 
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