I'm not a fan of Dana White but He's right

People are beating this dead horse relentlessly. From my point of view:

1. Dana bashed the hell out of Fedor, said he was a "russian....that sucked" and he wasn't even a top 10 heavy. Then claimed to offer him the biggest deal in the history of the sport. Why dana? You are either ****ing lying to us now about the deal, or were lying to us when you told us he sucked. And if you were lying back then, how do we know we can trust what you say now. You call yourself an embassador of the sport but drag the sports most legendary and most accomplished fighter EVER through the mud. Are you looking out for the growth of the sport, or the growth of the UFC hold on the sport??? I don't blame him one bit for dismissing Fedor in order to make the UFC look better, he's a business man. But don't insult a man like fedor, don't parade around in a "embassador of the sport" costume, and then expect nobody to call bull****.
Maybe....just maybe Fedor understands and is aware of everything I just posted, maybe, and wants Dana to go **** himself.

Fedor is under contract with M1, if M1 won't deal with the UFC then how the hell is Fedor going too. He's obviously being honorable and loyal to the company he is currently with. Avoiding the best competition??? He just dismantled two former UFC champions in under a total of 3 minutes I believe.

M1 knows that once they give up Fedor IT IS OVER! So why the hell would they???

Everyone is looking after their own best interests, just bad timing.

 

Did you count Lesnar's bonus money and PPV % money?

You are worth, in a financial sense, whatever you can negotiate with somebody, but in terms of bringing in actual revenue, Fedor is not worth more finacially than Lesnar; especially since what Lesnar actually took home from that fight was more than $3m.

 

Fedor has never fought for the UFC therefore we have no idea in that company what Fedor is worth.

So I ask, how do you know when they have never opperated for the same company, that Fedor is worth less??

 

I sort of agree, if the image rights is the huge sticking point, it is hard to hold it too much against him, but it doesn't seem to be that way. Guys like GSP and Randy have good deals with that sort of thing, and Fedor could get the best one. It hasn't been the main issue raised in the reports.

M1 is in the business of running organizations in the ground, its what happens nearly every time they touch somebody.

So just as I wouldn't blame ODLH for signing with Don King, I would tell Mike Tyson to never have been near that man. I think M1 and Finklestein are Don King, Fedor trusts them but they are not doing a very good job of making business decisions for him. If M1 is truely a feasible way of making money, then all the advertising UFC was willing to let them do would have been almost as big as co promotion, that way Fedor could still make money from M1 in the future, but how much do you really think he is making from them?

The extra money Fedor would have made in the UFC, when you take into account the time value of money (money now is worth more than the same amount years down the road because you can get a return on the UFC money since you have it now and it would end up higher in the future than the M1 money in the future) there is very little chance that any future money made from M1 would even approach interest on the extra money he would make in the US.

Yes, boxers make more money in Germany, MMA fighters do not; not even close. The UFC did way bigger numbers in Germany, England, and everywhere else it has gone than anybody else has. The UFC has more viewers in Germany than M1 or anybody else. The biggest brand in the world in MMA is UFC.

 

Like I said, you are worth what the guy is willing to pay you, so thats abstract and cannot be known.

What can be known is what Fedor does in the US PPV markets, and its 15x less than Lesnar has done. In terms of raw money making ability, its obvoius Lesnar is going to make the UFC more money because more peopel watch him. I won't say that makes him "worth" more because that is between the negotiating parties, but its pretty clear Lesnar brings in 10-15x more business than Fedor does.

 

Fedor could buy his contract from M1, that is perfectly moral, they are getting the value they decide he is worth to them, it is by definition a mutually agreed upon deal, its not disloyal of either one of them if they both agree to it.

The contract with M1 is not a hurdle at all in the grand scheme of things.

 

UFC's investment in promotion is prob 50x more than any company Fedor has fought for, that is why it's so successful, it's the companies promotion that brings in the $$.

This 'Fedor isn't a draw' argument is pure speculation and imo utter bull****.

IMO had Fedor been fighting in UFC for a couple of years he would be the biggest draw. Would Lesnar be as big a draw without GSP VS Alves, Hendo vs Bisping, Fitch vs Thiago undercard at UFC100?

For example, even with the promotion machine in full swing UFC 91 Lesnar vs Coture did 800-850k ppvs with weak undercards.

UFC has done plenty of 1+ buys without Lesnar, don't kid yourself that its down to him.

 

No, it is based on the two PPV he has headlined that did 10-20x worse than UFC shows.

 

Why would he buy a contract from himself, as he is a part owner? To give Dana White an opportunity to make some dough off him?

 

Which is down to other factors, $$ spent on promotion, better undercards, Joint main events (UFC 100) I thought I already said this, no?

Your argument has no basis since we have no real comparison.

 

But they make good change in Japan.

In any case, signing up as a pawn to the biggest brand does not mean you will make more money then being your own boss in a smaller setting.

And in no way Showtime and CBS and promotions in Japan are small time players. Not the biggest one, but those organizations are certainly legitimate. More legitimate then a certain clothing company.

 

Do you remeber how stacked the Pride card was? It had Hendo, Shogun, Wandy, and many others. It did ****ing nothing compared to the UFC.

Affliction was also stacked with fighters, had national advertising, all that. Did 15 x worse than the last UFC.

If you Fedor can't even make it comparably close with good cards and good advertising, the clearly evidence is that he isn't a PPV draw compared to Lesnar.

Every card Lesnar is on does huge numbers, every card Fedor is on does terrible numbers in comparison. That is fact, and it is the only evidence there is to go on, and it is enough to prove the point.

 

Of course they aren't small, but it is all relative; they are small time compared to the UFC. The UFC is the biggest worldwide, and by a very large margin.

Being your own boss and being employeed doesn't mean more or less money either way, it just depends. In this case he would make more money as a UFC fighter than a part owner part bargaining chip of a company that is much smaller than the UFC.

 

Erm sorry to burst your bubble but Pride and Affliction got little or no real promotion in Europe, (I know, traveling is part of my job) and the promotion it got in the US is tiny next to how the UFC pushes it's promotion.

Obviously with the push the UFC is giving Lesnar added to the fanbase it already has he's going to get decent ppv figures.

Put them both on a worldwide format, equal promotion, and Fedor would surpass Lesnar.

Do you honestly think Affliction would do 1mill+ ppvs with Lesnar as the headliner?

 

As always, you certainly make a great case Beebs. Some things that probably favor other orgs, would be White's slights against Fedor in the past, which he most certainly would take back upon Fedor signing his contract via epic brown nosing/nut hugging of Fedor.

Also, that as great as Anderson Silva is, he really belongs at light heavy, and was a semi blown up middle. Randy really should be at light heavy, he gets away with it because of how experienced, and how good an overall fighter he is. Gonzaga I think is the most dangerous fighter for Fedor tbh. Josh is probably on the decline, but poses a more interesting matchup, at least on paper. Mir? Well Mir's strength has always been setting up the arm bar on the ground.. He is sort of good at the things Fedor is good at, but nowhere near as good as Fedor. But, yeah, there is certainly more opportunity for buildup of fights, even though I don't really like the chances of any of these guys going the distance with Fedor.

But that said, when I think it out, there certainly does seem to be more opportunity to make money, and publicity out of the UFC.

That also said, I think Dana White, and his conduct in the past, and present may be what is making a deal with Fedor so difficult. All in all I can see both perspectives. What is messed up is realizing there is was no point in Fedor meeting with Dana considering Dana isn't goign to bend on the co promotion.

I still don't know about Fedor being able to take part in whatever national sambo competitions he enjoys so much.