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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Carmichael Dave On Details of Fedor's Deal -- UPDATE

Radio show host Carmichael Dave of Sports 1140 KHTK AM was just one of many to weigh in on today's news that Fedor Emelianenko was not UFC bound, but he relayed some interesting -- if unverified -- details about the UFC's deal with the Russian and his reps.

We know now that Fedor and his M-1 business partners, including manager Vadim Finkelchtein, had a teleconference with UFC officials yesterday, in which the UFC made an offer to secure Emelianenko's services.

According to Carmichael Dave -- who has had regular access to UFC president Dana White for some time -- this is the offer that M-1 ended up turning down. (But again, we must stress that this is unverified.)

- A 6-fight, $30 million contract

- An immediate title shot at UFC 103 against Brock Lesnar

- A cut of the UFC 103 pay-per-view on top of Fedor's purse

- The ability for Fedor to wear as many M-1 logoed items as he wished

- The ability for Fedor to compete in combat Sambo

At a press conference held in Anaheim on Wednesday, Finkelchtein stressed that without co-promotion between the UFC and M-1, Emelianenko would not grace the Octagon any time soon.

Whether the parties come together for a second round of negotiations remains unknown, but Finkelchtein said he and Emelianenko were currently fielding offers from multiple promotions.

---UPDATED 6:30 ET ON JULY 30---

Since initial reports of Carmichael Dave's comments on the UFC's contract offer to Fedor, there have been several other reports contradicting the terms mentioned.

One of the most substantial is Loretta Hunt's report on Sherdog.com. She spoke to Joost Raimond, CEO for M-1 Global, who "called the report 'completely ludicrous' and said negotiations never even reached the point where the number of fights contracted for Emelianenko was decided."

Raimond did, however, characterize negotiations with the UFC as "very professional, productive and respectful."

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posted by MMAInsiderBLOG @ 6:34 PM 





Monday, December 8, 2008

M-1 President Comments on Dana White and Fedor

PRESS RELEASE:

M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein Responds to Dana White's Name-Calling; Invites UFC's President to meet Fedor at "Day of Reckoning"...

For over a year now UFC President Dana White has used an open forum to label the management of Fedor Emelianenko, led by M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, as "the crazy Russians."

For much of that time, White has influenced the United States media to reflect his beliefs, as Finkelchtein tended to urgent matters of business -- namely promoting his M-1 Challenge and managing fighters such as Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi - instead of engaging in a war of words.

However, during a recent M-1 Challenge event, Finkelchtein responded to White's statements in an interview conducted by M-1 executives Joost Raimond (serving as Finkelchtein's translator) and Jerry Millen (serving as the interviewer).

Thanks to a three-part YouTube series, members of the U.S. MMA media are finally being presented the other side of the story so that they can form an opinion for themselves.

During the interview, Finkelchtein was asked by Millen what he thinks when he's referred to in the press by White as a "crazy Russian."

"Dana White has a tendency towards arrogance and everything not Dana White is either crazy or stupid," Finkelchtein began to respond through Raimond.

"All this stuff about us not wanting to work with UFC is just utterly and completely untrue," he continued. "We've always been completely open to basically working with anybody, including the UFC, because our goal has always been to put the greatest fighters against each other. And if the greatest fighter is a part of the UFC, fine; let's put him up against our best guy and see how they do."

Raimond added that Finkelchtein indicated that the UFC is very protective of their market share but that M-1 isn't looking to take the UFC's "pie" away, that his promotion simply wants to share some of it.

Finkelchtein also responded to a question from Millen regarding comments made by White during a November press conference in Toronto to promote UFC 94. In the interview, which can be seen on YouTube, White responds to a question from a fan regarding Fedor fighting for the UFC by stating at one point that he has never even met Fedor.

White's claim that he has never met Fedor is accurate, but it's also a situation that Finkelchtein is more than willing to rectify.

"The invitation is right there," Finkelchtein expressed through Raimond. "If Dana wants to sit down at the table, he can come to St. Petersburg -- he is very welcomed here. He can meet up with (me); he can meet up with Fedor. It's not a problem at all."

Finkelchtein indicated during the interview that he has traveled to Las Vegas in the past to meet with White. And if White does not have time to travel to Russia, Finkelchtein extended him an open invitation to meet the WAMMA heavyweight champion in Anaheim, California before he competes against Andrei Arlovski on Jan. 24 just prior to Affliction and M-1's "Day of Reckoning" event.

"We're not going to eat the UFC pie, but we want to share," said Finkelchtein. "The invitation stands. They are welcome at any point in time, and definitely at the Jan. 24 event. We'll talk about it (and) discuss it. We're open to any kind of deal."

Below is the full three-part video interview with Finkelchtein:

Part 1:




Part 2:




Part 3:


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posted by MMAInsiderBLOG @ 12:23 PM 





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