Fedor Emelianenko (right) Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
One of the big questions coming off Fedor Emelianenko’s June 26 loss to Fabricio Werdum was how it would affect his leverage at the negotiating table after he satisfies the final fight on his current Strikeforce contact.
A hint came in remarks made by Emelianenko’s M-1 Global manager Vadim Finkelchstein to Russian Magazine ProSport. Finkelstein said he still thinks a UFC deal is possible, outlining three specific terms: guaranteed compensation not tied to a percentage of UFC revenue, co-branding with M-1 Global on events featuring Emelianenko and freedom for the Russian heavyweight to compete in combat Sambo events.
The “co-branding” verbiage is significant because the main sticking point between the UFC and Emelianenko in intense but failed negotiations last year was “co-promotion,” thought to mean M-1 Global would share in 50 percent of revenue and/or profits of events on which Emelianenko appears. “Co-branding” is softer in that it appears only to ask the M-1 Global appear next to the UFC logo for Fedor fights in the Octagon, not a sharing in actual money generated.
UFC President Dana White said after the talks failed last fall, resulting in Emelianenko’s signing with Strikeforce, that the key hurdle was M-1 wanting “half” of the UFC’s business. White -- who Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole reported was eyeing Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar for Cowboys Stadium in Dallas -- disavowed any further interest in the Russian this past week.
A report at MMAFighting.com added backdrop to the story. The site reported M-1 Global’s head office in The Netherlands had closed and that there was panic within the organization after Emelianenko’s loss. M-1 Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan responded in several interviews by saying the release of four employees was coincidental with Emelianenko’s loss and a planned part of the company’s restructuring. Kogan told Shedog.com that M-1 had not lost any investors after Emelianenko’s loss, and said primary investor Sergey Matvienko remains on board.
Emelianenko’s next step in Strikeforce is not yet clear. Promoter Scott Coker has tried, despite calls from Werdum and M-1 for a rematch, to keep an Emelianenko vs. Alistair Overeem title fight on the table.
Strikeforce is reportedly interested in giving Emelianenko a title shot because it would introduce a champion’s clause that would keep the Russian contractually bound to promotion so long as he holds the title. The lack of such a clause led to the promotion losing its middleweight champion Jake Shields while he still held the belt.
Finkelstein told ProSport that “everyone agrees that the most interesting fight right now is the rematch against Fabricio Werdum. We have one fight left on our contract, so if Strikeforce wants to extend it, they should listen to our opinion.”