Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports gives us an update on the fight status of Fedor Emelianenko and talks about the on-going renegotiations that are taking place between his M-1 management team and Strikeforce.
Kogan allowed that M-1 Global was disappointed in what happened with the promotion of the last fight, but was quick to say the problem wasn’t with Strikeforce. He said he was disappointed in media coverage of the event because the M-1 Global name in stories on the show wasn’t featured more visibly.
“The way the show was promoted, that was an issue to us, but we don’t have an issue with Strikeforce over it,” Kogan said. “M-1 isn’t a management company for Fedor Emelianenko. We are a fight promotion. We have done matches all over the world, U.S., Asia, Europe, Japan. But the media didn’t feature the M-1 name [in coverage of the November show]. Specifically, it wasn’t Strikeforce’s fault. They honored their agreement. The way the media perceived the event was it was Strikeforce. M-1 wasn’t promoted that much. That was an issue with us.”
Payout Perspective:
The media perceived the event to be Strikeforce because it was Strikeforce. There might be a signed contract sitting in a filing cabinet somewhere that says otherwise, but let’s look at the probable truth: Strikeforce was likely the company that booked the arena, dealt with the commission, operated the event, made the matches, paid the fighters, negotiated the North American television distribution deal, and invited the press.
What exactly did M-1 contribute?
Even if that’s not the case – say M-1 was an equal partner with regard to responsibility – can anyone blame the fighters, the fans, or the media for still perceiving this as a Strikeforce event? We’re talking about a company that has been in operation for nearly 20 years; and, in the last five, has promoted countless of MMA shows under the Strikeforce banner. Now, all of a sudden, it promotes one single event that looks, feels, and tastes exactly as it used to, only it’s called something slightly different – a “co-promotion”. Is it still Strikeforce?
Absolutely.
Therein lies the problem with M-1’s plan to leverage Fedor into building its own promotional brand: the infrequency, not to mention inadequacy, of simply slapping its brand onto a Strikeforce product isn’t fooling anyone. Not to mention the fact that Strikeforce is already having a tough enough time communicating its own brand message.
It’s bad enough for Strikeforce that many casual fans still refer to the sport as “UFC” – making it almost impossible to deliver a simple and concise message of differentiation in the first place – but now they’ve also got to decipher the meaning of “Strikeforce and M-1 Global present…”
What exactly does that mean? Why should it matter to the consumer?
….
I also find it interesting that, in the last two weeks, we’ve seen three different people from M-1 speak on the topic of Fedor – each one of them with a slightly more ambiguous and different answer than the last. Kogan’s “premature” comment is even less clear than Vadim Finkelstein’s “likely May” which is different than a loosely translated “probabl April” from Apy Echteld (whom, I’m told, may not even have anything to do with Fedor anymore).
M-1 Global and Fedor are ruining Strikeforce. Who else have they brought to the dance? When is Strikeforce fighting in Russia? Where are the International Television Deals? M-1 Global is Fedor! When Fedor loses, they lose all their negotiating leverage. I think M-1 is just an MMA version of Don King or Bob Arum. Not interested in fighting the best in the world. Not trying to grow the sport internationally. Not in MMA or Fedors’ best interest long term. How is Fedor and M-1 Global any different than Floyd Mayweather? They both sound the same.
I saw some recent snapshots of the game and I didn’t see any M-1 representation; are they going to complain about that too?
What’s M-1 going to do when there’s no more Fedor?
Nobody cares about promotions; they seem to be following the ways of boxing; the way to go is with a brand; just like the UFC, as well as Strikeforce, but they are trying to make a name for themselves using Strikeforce. So, although Strikeforce agreed to co-promoting, they have the bigger name, and nobody cares to stay two names. If it’s a Strikeforce/M-1 production, people are only going to remember Strikeforce regadless of how many times the media says Strikeforce/M-1. If the promotion was actually called M-1/Strikeforce then everyone would refer to it as M-1 and forget about Strikeforce, but that’s not the reality. To me that’s marketing 101; people remember the first thing they see and hear, not the last. That’s why all the important things to be said in marketing have to be in the beginning. M-1 will never win; their strategy sucks.
I hate, hate, hate M-1. Having watched several of their Challenge shows on the web and on TV (on local Comcast Sportsnet affiliates, why they are aired on the channel is beyond me), it’s easy to see that the productions and quality of fights is on par with many of the small regional promotions that operate in the United States. Kelsey, your article could not be more on point in regards to this issue. This completely justifies the reason that the UFC laughed at the proposal of a “co-promotion” with M-1. They did not do anything to help with the promotion or operation of the November Strikeforce event, only providing Fedor for a fight (I know he is considered by many to be the world’s best mma fighter, but in my opinion it isn’t worth it for any promotion to use him because of all this M-1 nonsense).
M-1 has the quality of a regional brand without really even having a regional home base. They are only “global” in the sense that they hold events in various places throughout the world, but with no obvious business strategy. Why the hell would the media recognize them? You can’t build an entire brand off of the name of one fighter, at least not in mma. Luckily there is a silver lining to all of this. As sad as it is to think of this as a good thing, Fedor’s career can realistically only last so many more years, and after he has retired the M-1 name will no longer appear in any U.S. or major sports media ever again. This, in my humble opinion, is the reasoning behind their gripe in this instance. The people at M-1 must realize that Fedor is their only marketable asset (his marketability is limited, however, due to his reserved nature. You could not have a less charismatic star, sorry M-1), and once he has retired their will be nothing for people to associate the M-1 brand with (not that many people associate the brand with Fedor at present). Even though Fedor is part owner of M-1, he doesn’t seem overly committed to promoting the brand, other than stipulating co-promotion as part of any potential fight contract. Basically Fedor is rich, quasi famous, and doesn’t need M-1, while M-1 sure as hell needs Fedor. He’s all they’ve got, they won’t have him for much longer, and they know it.
I don’t think that Fedor will ruin Strikeforce if Coker is as financially savvy as he has been made out to be in the media, but he may ruin their relationship with CBS. As sad as this sounds to hardcore fans, it would’ve been much more beneficial for Strikeforce to put Herschel Walker on CBS than Fedor, or ideally have both. Like it or not, Walker would’ve drawn many more eyes to CBS than the stoic Russian. It is bizarre, however, that Fedor may be fighting on Showtime instead of CBS, especially if M-1’s goal is to try a desperate attempt to build their brand off of any attention given to Fedor. A Fedor fight on Showtime will get absolutely no mass media coverage, only mma media coverage that will cater to people who already know who he is, are aware of M-1, and don’t care at all about the M-1 brand. These contract negotiations are most likely what prevented Fedor from fighting on CBS, and is an example of how none of us have to worry because it show that M-1 will hurt itself with its own ridiculousness. Ridiculousness… I don’t know another way to explain it. These kinds of contract demands will ensure no other major promotion will want to deal with M-1, even if it means not having Fedor.
I would have to disagree with you bill, that what M-1 is doing is not in Fedor’s best interests. In fact, the only one who actually wins in this situation is Fedor. He has a management team who will fight tooth and nail in negotiations to ensure he receives every possible dollar from any potential contracts. Like I said, Fedor doesn’t need M-1, but he likes their lackies. Remember when the UFC reps said they never even got to meet Fedor during negotiations? Fedor doesn’t have to market himself, doesn’t have to do much press, and doesn’t even have to be a big draw, and still gets millions of dollars. He is the least hard working of any mma fighter on the promotional and business side of things. He has said he has no aspirations to be famous, so he probably doesn’t care about the amount of exposure he gets either. I’d say Fedor is doing pretty well for himself, even if he never gets to face truly top level competition, which will leave an asterisk next to his legacy, he doesn’t seem like the type to care. As a fan I want him in the UFC, but if I were his friend, I’d tell him to stick with his yes men. An organization like the UFC which would only have marginal incentive to use him LONG TERM is not his best bet.
And there goes my lunch break lol
P.S. I would love to see a payout piece which analyzes M-1 Global, its history and its business strategy.
I pretty much agree with every comment posted and the article in general. M1 is really disappointing. I hope that the April Strikeforce show does as well as the last one on CBS so we can all just forget about those crazy Russians.
Guru,
you are right, M-1 is taking a huge risk not having Fedor on that show, if it does well CBS and Strikeforce are going to have a ton of leverage over them, and even if it doesn’t do incredible, while the Nov. ratings were OK, it’s not like Fedor blew the ratings out of the water. Not to mention the show is going to be promoted throughout the NCAA tournament, which will give it good exposure.
good point Stan. If everyone remembers the first MMA show on CBS from Elite XC was promoted during March Madness. THe numbers were very good. Of course the curiosity aspect of it being the first MMA show on Network TV helped but March Madness didnt hurt either.
I also agree with whoever said Fedor is benifit by M1. Thats true. If he would have signed in the UFC i garentee he would have already lost, probabley 2 times by now. Instead he gets the same washed up fighters he had in Pride as his opponents with the addition of some new low level fighters. Basically easy paydays and his career extended by a couple years. So instead of Fedor losing to a big name prospect that can take the sport to the next level like a Santos or Vasquez. HE will fight uninteresting fights until he gets upseted by someone with no credibility to do anything with that win. Rogers is a bum for all intent and purposes. Him beating Fedor would have been a waste. Because Fedor wont fight in the UFC we get no passing of the torch.