by Zac Robinson of SportsbythenumbersMMA.com for MMA Payout
One of the most intriguing questions to come from Affliction’s closing as an MMA promoter is Fedor Emelianenko’s future. Many speculate that he will eventually make his way to the UFC Octagon. His management however is sticking to its guns, Fedor will only fight for the UFC if it co-promotes with M-1 Global as manager Vadim Finkelchtein recently said, “…We want to talk to the UFC about having Fedor compete against some of their fighters, but only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global.”
It seems this demand has been at least one of the more difficult points in past negotiations as the UFC recognizes that co-promotion does not benefit them in any way (other than getting Fedor into the Octagon). And it makes sense that Finkelchtein would insist upon it. Emelianenko is basically M-1’s only commodity. Without him it is but a blip on the MMA radar screen, so it has to use him however it can to further its cause.
The problem for M-1 lies in the fact that its number one commodity is not precious enough to make the UFC cave. Sure Fedor is the greatest fighter in the world and millions of fans want to see him in the Octagon, but he isn’t enough to justify co-promotion.
It comes down to leverage, and the UFC has much more of it than Fedor and Finkelchtein. It has the fighters, the fan fare, the media coverage, the brand… in essence, it is MMA. There just aren’t enough intriguing fights for the world’s greatest fighter outside of the Octagon. With a 30-1 record and at 32 years old, Emelianenko should look to bust into the U.S. MMA market sooner rather than later. His management surely understands this and it could be that it is using the co-promotion demand as something of a bargaining chip. It may be something that it is willing to concede in order to get concessions from the UFC so Fedor will not be locked into such a controlling contract.
Hopefully this is the case and soon we will see Fedor Emelianenko face Brock Lesnar in the UFC. At worst Fedor loses a fight or two, but his mainstream popularity will have sky rocketed. At best (at least for Finkelchtein and assuming it was somehow worked into his UFC contract) he wins a few fights over the likes of Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, or Randy Couture, and then leaves as the greatest fighter in the world and a mainstream megastar. He would then be such a commodity that he could actually carry M-1 Global on his back and build the promotion. Of course maybe with all the money and notoriety from a few wins in the UFC, Finkelchtein, Fedor, and the rest of his management wouldn’t care so much about M-1 Global because they’d be top dogs in the biggest promotion in the world.
Zac Robinson is author of the upcoming MMA IQ Trivia book, Sports By The Numbers MMA book and blog, as well as the author of the upcoming book on cutman Stitch Duran. He can be reached at zacrr6@yahoo.com
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