The Russian Perspective: Fedor Emelianenko Never Approached the UFC, Says Vadim Finkelchtein

Dana White is a masterful promoter and manipulator of the press but his lies and unfairness do get exposed – not enough though to make a big difference to the success of the UFC. It’s up to the other MMA organizations to do something about it. Perhaps they should focus on building their markets outside of the US and offer their best fighters to compete for World Titles in each weight class division. The UFC would then be isolated and the fighters would have better choices.

dana is a dush bag, i wouldod the same a fedor did i would not want to work for and ass hole like him,it just goes to show how meny fighters sell ther sole for fame,
Fedor did The right thing, he is the bigger man ,and never spok crap abot dana not once, but dana and his foul mouth, fuck him and the fuking ufc, ufc will fall, and then dana will b like wtf!! pleas help me, fack ypu and ya fuking ufc ass hole!!

I agree with what you say about Dana and about Fedor. Fedor is an exemplary athlete and a great person. He and GSP are my favourite MMA fighters. Read my post more carefully and you will see that I’m not promoting the UFC. I will also follow Fedor’s example and not resort to “ad hominem” attacks.

I’m sick and tired of Dana White and UFC’s antics. MMA is at a standstill and it won’t grow to the next level with the likes of Dana and Zuffa. The sport will go the way of spectacle, alienate potential consumers and remain 2nd rate frill entertainment.

And don’t give me that Dana made MMA what it is today, garbage. He made the UFC what it is. And from a business standpoint there are some leaders, like Dana, who can bring the product to the masses from a grassroots base, but fails to unite consumers, competitors, and talent for the future of the sport and the UFC.

Fedor belongs in an org that houses the “best” (meaning, marketed and trusted as). But the UFC made a business structure that takes advantage of under represented fighters and uses contracts that puts a cap on and control, their potential revenue. Fedor and M-1 are pushing that envelope. Hopefully other fighters and management companies will be as brave as M-1 and stand up to the Goliath that is the UFC.

What a big load of BS that M-1 is talking. M-1 is a dirty company and I had heard aleast 5 different storys about The deal with Fedor and The UFC. I know most of you are die hard Fedor lovers but look past the BS M-1 is feed you. With out Dana White and the UFC no one would even know who the hell Fedor is America. M-1 is protecting there investment in Fedor. Why do you think he signed with Strikeforce. To keep Fedor a big fish in a little pond. To protect his record and his #1 ranking.Why do you think the last real fight Fedor had was almost 5 years ago? With out it Fedor is nothing and M-1 is nothing. With even one loss M-1 can’t demand to do promotend charge 1.2 million to consult.. Ask the guys at affliction if they would do business with M-1 Again. Sopt letting you love for a fighter blind you from seeing the truth that M-1 is full of BS. Fedor is not bigger than the UFC if he was he would not be in America fight for Strikeforce. He would still be in Russia or Japan fighting again more BS for M-1. Wake up people

James -

What is hard to comprehend about a contractual obligation to M-1 Global. Fedor is only allowed to fight under that promotion…LEGALLY….so if the UFC won’t co-promote then it is ILLEGAL for Fedor to fight for the UFC. You are not he first to bring that theory to the table. Facts are facts, legally Fedor cannot fight in the UFC unless it is co-promoted with M1-Global. Bottom line. I hate Dana, but I greatly enjoy the fighters the UFC has and would much prefer Fedor be there than Strikeforce. But if the UFC heavyweights really want to expose Fedor as a protected asset of M1 Global and prove he is not a legitimate #1 heavyweight then its on them to pursue that fight….not Fedor. We know that Fedor is legally bound to fight under M1 Global for 3 more fights…Chuck Liddell fought in PRIDE while under contract with the UFC….is that same option not there for UFC heavyweights today?…if not, then it all falls on Dana White for not making something workout with M1 Global

What are you talking about man !!!!! if you consider yourself a MMA fan or “expert” then you should know who fedor was before coming to USA to fight. That only proves that you are a typical sheep who only buys what you see in comercials, media or newspaper in AMERICA. Wake up man ! Having a fucken border around you doesn’t mean you are blind to see what other countries do. You don’t live in a different planet, This guys in Japan have awesome shows where you see excelent fighters, and what is more unbelievable is that there are entire families at the events, they know what MMA means, it’s a culture ! They have respect for the sport, not like the ufc events, fucken drunk people that think bigger is better, full of steroids and shit !!!! Wake up man !@James

Fedor seemed quite content to fight in Japan for Pride. Don’t forget… until Zuffa (UFC) bought and shutdown Pride, the two organizations were in keen competition for the best fighters. Many top MMA fighters at the time considered Pride to have the edge.

Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events. As one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world during its ten years of operation, Pride broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide. Pride also held the largest live MMA event audience record of over 70,000 people.

Fedor dominated Pride and has since beat Orlovski and Silvia (two former UFC champions) in the first round.

Dana will not co-promote events for a number of reasons but he will definitely not agree to a one-time fight of the UFC heavyweight champion (currently Lesnar) because he knows Fedor is likely to win and then he can no longer make ridiculous statements about Fedor and the “crazy Russians”.

BTW, Dana has used the “they are too difficult to deal with” schtick with respect to the Japanese as well. Anyone who pays attention can see the game he is playing. Trouble is, from a business perspective, he is playing better than anyone else right now.

I was on the Fedor band wagon untill I opened my eyes and seen that Finkelchtein is full of BS. Fedor isn’t the bad guy but M-1 and Finkelchtein are bad for the sport. Finkelchtein came out and said Fedor would fight Lesnar for free and a bunch of other BS.You and me both know that would never happen in a million years. M-1 has a chain around Fedors neck and tells him where and when to fight. To keep the money rolling in for M-1. You talk so bad about Dana white atleast he gives the fans fights they want to see. Fedor vs Roger Are you serious? who really wanted to see that fight? As a fan wouldn’t you demand more? As a fan you can’t tell me your happy with him being in Strikeforce fight no bodys. You reallyt think M-1 is going to let Fedor go after his contract is up ? If you do you are crazy. All other top fighter sure like being in the UFC. M-1 doen’t care about nothing beside M-1. If it wasn’t for M-1 we the FANS would get to see much better fights from Fedor instead of him fighting second rate opponents. Dana has done more for the sport of MMA than anyone. No one in MMA is spews out more BS than Finkelchtein. Stop letting you love for Fedor blind you from the truth. Go read Finkelchtein article about fighting Brock for free and tell he in not full of BS

@James
james, you are an idiot. its obvious to me that you have literally just started watching mma on spike or something sometime in the past two years. for what its worth, pride is where the real talent started to come from universally for the sport of mma. unless you want to include vale tudo, which i don’t feel like explaining to a nimrod such as yourself. if i need to name drop names from pride because you are that much of a knob i will. there has been one match in fedor’s mma career that he lost due to ref stoppage because of a cut. thats it. bottom line. he has never been knocked out or submitted; by ANYBODY. so keep talking the nonsense you’re talking about fedor. i’m not particularly a fan of his, but at least i know what the hell i’m talking about when i say that besides the fact he has mastered combat sambo and russian judo and applied those skills to regularly win internationally for the past 12 years, along with beating 6 fighters who either were heavyweight champions(mark coleman, kevin randleman, heath herring, tim sylvia, andre arlovski), or like minotauro became champion after the douchebags at zuffa bought pride, he is definitely the best heavyweight fighter in mma. there is no contest, nobody holds the accolades he does in mma. but i guess that doesn’t help your argument so you’ll just pretend i didn’t prove your whole theory about fedor wrong. or you truly are illiterate like your previous comments point out.

and for the record, if you had read the article to which you’re commenting, you’d realize that its not about finkelchtein’s ego or about him playing puppetmaster with fedor. fedor has a contract, as well as vested interest in m-1 global. in layman’s terms, he owns shares of m-1 global, so no matter how much you try to point out fink is unreasonable and evil, keep in mind that fedor is a businessman too. it’s HIS livelyhood he’s interested in, not fink’s.

ps it was jerry millen that said fedor would fight brock for free. vadim never said that, and jerry millen is like dana, runs his mouth and talks alot of crap. he’s kind of retarded but he is funny in alot of his interviews. so long story short, vadim never said fedor would fight anyone for free it was Millen.

James, I respect your opinion but man, the US mma market is only a small portion of the globabl MMA market. Fedor was well known before all this started. He’s huge in Brazil, Great Britain, Japan, Russia, Eastern Europe, Canada etc. The UFC is no different then M1-Global. White doesn’t give a shit about the purity of the fight game, or any other altruistic bullshit he’s spouting.

Dana White cares about the money. Fedor is looking out for himself, and Dana White is losing a shit ton of money from not signing him. Dana knows that with Lesnar on the shelf, Couture all but done, he’s losing the marketability of the Heavy weights. If that goes, hes going to lose a huge market share of the ppv’s because for whatever reason, the HW’s always attract that huge majority of people that wanna see beastly men knock each other out. I think the 205’s are the best in the world, but the UFC hw stable is garbage. Anyway, don’t fault Fedor for wanting the exact same thing that White wants. I’m sure Couture filled him in as well as to what it’s like dealing with zuffa. lol

I think james is hired by dana white to troll the internet about the ufc and protect it as much as possible, that or dana whites boyfriend, fuck the UFC, there so fucking crooked, I cant believe business like that is legal that the ufc pulls, kicking fighters out when ever they feel like it after offering them 5 fight contracts when they only fought 3 fights. dana white tells his fighters what to say on press conferences, if dana white dosnt get what he wants, he spreads rumors and sets people up to protect his business, he framed fedor to look like a chicken shit, which deep down who ever is a real fedor fan knows he isnt. and I known about fedor way before the ufc baught pride and lesnar came into the picture. im really tired of the UFC im glad I dont contribute to there PPV’s anymore, i rather waste my time finding a free one on the internet thats most likely to be cut off from zuffa. its just really sad what dana white is doing I hope some one snipes that guy. he dosnt even deserve to live cus of how he is

“Finkelchtein is aware that his and Emelianenko’s story hasn’t been reported in the MMA press”. Not everyone refused to report his side. I recorded audio interviews for No Holds Barred on August 26, 2009, in New York with Vadim Finkelchtein (through a translator) and Joost Raimond about these and other related issues. They were posted, unedited and verbatim, on Sept. 3.

Why do Fedor fans lose there mind when someone doesn’t believe Fedor is god? I personal think Foley is in love with Fedor and is looking for a date. Someone can’t have a different opinion? Foley you are the one who looks like a d Bag. It’s people like you that make me ashamed to be an mmafan. I bet you have pics of Fedor all over your bedroom and pleasure yourself saying Fedor your the greatest. Please come and sambo fight with me. You truly are bad for the sport. The next time you have a thought. Just let it go

@dave
you “personal think”. listen here, jackass. first off, if you could read you have read that i am not a fedor fan. so either you can’t read, or you’re just an ignorant bastard who wants make a statement of how stupid you truly are. and for the record, no. if you’re too stupid to think for yourself you CAN’T have an opinion. please don’t try to act like you know anything about sambo. or wrestling. or fighting for that matter. i make you ashamed to be an mma fan? i think you might be a latent homosexual considering some of the subject matter described in your 4th grader educated rant. the next time i have a thought, i’ll let it go and keep sodomizing your mother(and your sister).

Foley. Thanks for proving my point. Now everyone knows your a d bag. The comment about my mother really shows your class.

@James
Finally! A voice of reason!

The companies are like fighters, and the UFC is the bigger dominant fighter right now, whether you like it or not; and the other companies might have to submit; like it or not. And part of the pressure being applied(to the armbar) is the growing desire in the hearts of all mma fans to see Fedor fight Lesnar! Like it or not. My respects to you all, Andy

@James

Your post suddenly became worthless when you claimed Fedor signed with Strikeforce. His M-1 contract would not allow that. The deal was between Strikeforce and M-1 to promote Fedor’s fights. Fedor can’t sign with another promotion while under exclusive contract with another.

This argument is rediculous. All businesses are a little crooked– UFC (Zuffa) and M-1 Global- because EVERY good business man knows that if concessions must be made over morals for money, then you simply have to make them. I don’t think that Lesnar or Fedor are dodging one another. I get tired of people riding Lesnar’s nuts about as much as I get tired of people riding Fedor’s. Lesnar is 4-1. That’s an admirable record, but it is not 31-1. That said, I think that Fedor does deserve more ranking respect. He has not fought only chump fighters. Tim Sylvia and Andre Arvloski dominated UFC’s heavyweight devision literally for years. Before Lesnar, them and only a few others (Frank Mir, for example) were the only ones worth a damn in the UFC. That’s why the light-heavyweight division was so much more popular during the time period with Chuck Liddel and such. But anyways, my point is that the Heavyweight division at the UFC even now is limited. Lesnar would probably be one of the only individuals to pose a threat to Fedor there. Carwin, Mir, Gonzaga, and Velasquez would make interesting fights as well, but people seem to really want to see Lesnar and Fedor. That would be the selling power.

Lesnar is a baby to the sport– however I will say that it’s not the amount of fights he’s had that has made him popular, but rather his overall dominance in the octagon. But then again– let’s look at the facts. Mir beat him once. I don’t care about the technicality or Brock’s lack of experience as an excuse– Brock struggled to hold his arms pinned to any position while Mir was sitting up, so he back space to compose himself but didn’t have enough patience to have Mir stand up– so instead he dove on cue and got submitted for it. With Heath Herring, he won, but couldn’t finish. He looked impressive, but still, he didn’t finish. With Randy, he spent more time on the top mount, but that fight looked like a damn stalemate until Randy got caught. Brock won fair and square– I’m not going to argue that at all, but Randy was certainly not being pushed over despite the signifficant size advantage.

The second Mir fight looked bad. Many people saw this as a huge demonstration of the leap in abilities that Lesnar had aquired since his first fight. I saw almost no difference. The biggest flaw in that fight was Mir’s game plan. He no doubt wanted to stay on his feet, but he is a Juijitsu specialist– meaning that when he goes on his back, instead of freaking out like standup fighters, or escaping like wrestlers, HIS first impulse is a reversal to/or a submission. But he was outclassed ground and pound vs. submission, and he got caught– stuck there the entire 1st round constantly seeking an oppertunity that just didn’t present itself. I saw opening after opening for Mir during that fight to try to leave the position, but he wouldn’t take it. Until the strikes started really adding up, I would dare say that Mir was comfortable where we was, trying to patiently wait for the mistake and a loose limb to iscolate. But no, he should have (and no doubt probably could have) escaped to his feet. Randy certainly was able to wiggle out of Lesnar’s ground game, and Mir is 245 lbs– quite a bit bigger than randy. In the second round Mir tried much more desperately to stay on his feet, but when he kept going down, it just fell to pieces. My point is that it looked like a dominating fight– and it was, but I think it was more of the paper covering the rock as opposed to simply “Mir got completely outclassed.”

Brock’s appeal is that aside from a leglock during his greenie fight, he is a scary mofo– and deserves ALOT of repsect. But frankly, he hasn’t been tested that hard yet. We don’t know what he looks like on his back, or if he has an iron chin, or anything else. We haven’t seen him in danger often at all. And really that’s the appeal– he seems invincible. But you know what– so did Rogers before he fought Fedor. He didn’t just win his fights. He destroyed his oppenents. So answer someone’s question from the top- actually, YES, I kind or did want to see that fight. And what happened? Fedor made him look like a human intead of invincible. It was fun to watch. OK, that was long, but this is where I’m going with this:

We have some scenarios here. If Fedor where to go to the UFC and beat Brock– what does the UFC offer at that point for him? Almost absolutely nothing better than what Strikeforce offers him. Noguiera, (which he beat twice in pride), Cro cop (which he beat), Gonzaga (who an aging Couture beat), Heath Herring (who he also beat in pride, and in a SIGNIFFICANTLY more dominant way than how Lesnar beat him), Carwin (I would like to see), and Velazquez (also would like to see). So really, we have a very small pool. If Brock beat Fedor, on the other hand, that would mean what? He’s better? Not hardly in my opionion. But still, what would then happen to Fedor? He’d probably not do very well in the UFC at that point because Dana would have won his battle and from that point on Fedor would be the most underpromoted good fighter of all time. Think about that for a second. And if Fedor wins, his contract will likely get extended on and on. And Dana will put his grip on him as tight as he can. If I were Fedor, I would be hesitant of that situation all-together. Dana does have fighters that really do not like working under him. Couture left for a time over contract disputes. Rampage Jackson left over issues of respect, and Dan Henderson is on the verge of signing with Strikeforce because he’s been pissed off there too.

I’m only stating all of this because I feel the facts are not one sided and I’m tired of seeing people throwing full blame at one company or person or the other. It’s dumb. Dana trashes Fedor all the time, and then kisses his ass on negotiation day whenever one comes up. Fedor’s managers, on the other hand, probably to some degree are outright criminals in their business practices. So there you go.

As far as Lesnar and Fedor are concerned– I think Lesnar would have his hands full- but Fedor has also proven that he does not like big oppenents sitting on him on the ground. So it would be interesting either way and I’m frankly pretty impartial about it. But I do feel that with only a 4-1 record, Lesnar needs to have other types of fighters thrown in his face. He’s fought 1 underclassed fighter out of the UFC, and then in the UFC, 2 wrestlers and one juijitsu artist– all grapplers. I want to see him fight some strikers. I think Lesnar vs. Velasquez or Carwin should come WAY before a Lesnar vs. Fedor fight. We know what Fedor does in a variety of situations. I want to tuely see Lesnar’s abilities tested before we jump the gun and everyone screams that he’s worthy for a fight with ANYONE who has 25 or more wins under their belt. That’s just how I feel. Because seriously, what happens when Velasquez KO’s Lesnar, and then get’s choked out by Mir? LOL– seriously though, if something like that happened, I guarentee you all that almost no one would give two shits about him anymore and no one would even care about him fighting Fedor. It’s pretty much what happened to Randy. That was the fight everyone wanted to see for a long time. Now people don’t seem to be bothered with it very much. Again– just my opionon. I hope no one’s offended.

Great comment Jared, I agree with pretty much everything you said. People just don’t look at the whole picture.

@dave

I’m a Fedor fan but I don’t view Fedor as some sort of invincible god and I don’t know why people idolize any athlete as some deity. They do the same thing in boxing and most other sports.

I also would not care if Fedor isn’t your favorite fighter or if you don’t feel like he is the best (heck, I just say he is “one of the best”). What does bother me however, is when people call him overrated or belittle his opponents because he doesn’t fight those from the highly publicized UFC organization (despite the fact that they are accomplished fighters).

And you know I’m am pretty sure that some random “amateur” fighters with long careers from unknown organizations or schools could defeat any MMA fighter. MMA is just career path these people choose and no one should be judged because they decide to go into one place or another.

Another thing that bugs me are the comments I’ve read from UFC fanatics. They seem to have little or no respect for their own fighters. Especially if they join another organization or if they lose outside of the UFC unless they manage to have a clean record in UFC. A accomplished UFC champion, someone like Mark Coleman for example, will never be respected by those people. Outside fighters like Cro-Cop who have a hard time in the UFC are disrespected by UFC fans yet the old Pride fans still admire and respect him regardless of his ranking or record. This is sad to see and part of me hopes Fedor never joins the UFC because frankly, I just don’t think those UFC “fans” deserve it.

Wow. That was a good comment Rick. And you know what? I agree with it. In pride, even if a fighter lost 2, 3, 4, or 5 times in a row– if he puts on good spirited performances, he can still win the fans over, and is always welcomed back. Couture may be the ONLY fighter that can do in the UFC. And even then, he was booed in the Vera fight for not being aggresive enough (or as entertaining, I guess). That’s a load of crap. But that load of crap is what Dana cators to. And he has no problems jumping the gun and pulling fighters into the main show if thier popular and bad, and discarding them if they are good but unpopular. It’s sad really. I like strikeforce simply because it keeps the UFC from Monopolizing the sport. Everyone is mad because Fedor didn’t go to UFC, but it was UFC that decided to show no recognition to the WAMMA title. If they wanted to enter the association (like dang near EVERYONE else did), they could have and then even the negotiations for co-promotion with M-1 would be alot easier AND the UFC could truely show it’s the best privided the WAMMA belt never leaves its promotion. But no, they were affraid of eating thier words on the “we have the very BEST fighters in the world here” speach if GOD FORBID that WAMMA title ended up to a fighter from another promotion after they accepted it as legit. It’s all about money guys. That’s it. Case and point.

In repsone to Fedor beating Bret Rodgers…Bret Rodgers has Man Boobs and is not a real Heavyweight contender in MMA…HE wouldn’t even make the top 15 in UFC …He fights a bunch of nobody’s and has beens to get to 10-0 record…Simple fact is, if Fedor comes to the UFC it’s over for him…Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, the list goes on …That’s the Bigger reason he didn’t come to UFC…Fedor’s scared bottom line. If you pay attention to MMA… every fighter that has left UFC and ended up in Strikeforce or WEC has lost and been on a losing streak in UFC and Dana White let em go because they are weak…

“Fedor is bigger than the UFC all over the world,” Finkelchtein repeated to Fighters.com, a claim hard to verify, but likely true in three key markets: Russia, Japan, and South Korea.

This comment just shows how pathetic all of these countries are if Fedor is all they have! Fedor is average at best in the REAL MMA (UFC)…Evrything else is minor league that’s why he stays there because he knows he will continue to get weak opponents or hasbeens…Pretty safe place for “The so called Emporer”…Come to UFC and get blasted Fedor …chicken.

There are plenty of top 10 HW fighters outside the UFC – just Google the various MMA rankings. Velasquez and Carwin have not fought any top 10 heavyweights. Even Lesnar’s only top 10 was against Mir – against whom he is 1:1. Couture is a LHW and Lesnar’s win over the 47 year old wasn’t that impressive. Let’s see how Velasquez does against a broken down Nogueira.