Ball In UFC's Court For Fedor vs Randy?
August 4, 2008
The pieces on the chess board are moving, with many developments in the past week indicating that a Randy vs Fedor match-up in the UFC is becoming more likely. Fedor is suddenly off the Affliction card while Couture’s legal fight has the chances of him fighting outside of the UFC dropping precipitously.
On the Fedor front, Emelianenko looks to be off of the next Affliction card. Sam Caplan of Fiveouncesofpain reported that a hand injury is being put forth by Fedor’s camp as reason for Fedor not being able to match-up with Andre Arlovski for a October 11th date in Las Vegas. With Emelianenko’s past history of hand problems this is possible, but Fedor’s manager is certainly sending mixed signals on the subject.
At the same time the hand injury is being put forth, Vadim Finkelstein indicates at the M1mixfight website that Fedor vs Randy could be made in the UFC this year if the UFC are open to negotiations.
Question: By the way, Couture said that he is ready to fight with Fedor.
Finkelstein: I can tell you that if UFC will negotiate with us then this fight can happen this year maybe within the bounds of our joint tournament with UFC. We are ready to negotiate, the fighters are ready, everything is ready, the only deal is with UFC policy headed on their separation and singularity.
News on the Randy front also seems to indicate that the odds of this fight happening outside the UFC aren’t good. Sherdog detailed the most recent legal wrangling between Couture and Zuffa, with Friday’s decision for all intents and purposes throwing the legal fight back to Las Vegas and current attempts at arbitration between Couture and the UFC. With the battle being switched over to a Las Vegas venue, the scales are titling away from Randy being free and clear to pursue the Fedor fight outside of the UFC.
The negotiation process for a possible UFC match-up of Randy vs Fedor would be an interesting one. Does the UFC forgo their policy of exclusive contracts in order to bring in Fedor for a one off fight? Randy has two fights left on his contract, but also has a pending deal with Mark Cuban and his HDNet Fights group. Is a bird in the hand (Fedor vs Randy negotiated as the last fight on Randy’s contract) worth two in the bush (having him under contract for two fights they may never get)?
The UFC may have no interest in hosting a one off Fedor vs Couture match and prefer the ability to deny that match up to a fledgling organization like Affliction. The UFC doesn’t need the match-up and therefore would have little reason to compromise or renegotiate their contracts, loosen exclusivity requirements, or make any other contractual concessions to get the fight done. Giving Fedor a platform to increase his profile would serve no purpose (other than the huge PPV numbers) to Zuffa if they aren’t going to have additional promotional rights on the Russian.
