Zuffa sends Strikeforce CEASE and DESIST on Mousasi/Fedor fights
- Thread starter heyzel
- Start date
from my point of view it's no logic in negotiating with m1 dana offer them one hell of a deal and they turn it down for what to co-promote a strikeforce card that prolly not going to be on ppv and it's not going to be a draw so u know where this is going to lead strikeforce out of business just look at fedor and m1 track record and what does strikeforce gain out of this co- promotion deal?
Your right. I'm assuming that the same crowd that bought the Brock Lesner name(who were casual fans/wrestling fans) are gonna buy a Fedor vs Lesner.. but there is not guarantee it will be a high seller. Just going off the idea of that(Brock Lesner's name, not mma status) sold PPV, plus the fact that MAYBE the hardcore MMA fans are gonna watch it bekuz its Fedor + the Casual fans are gonna do the same. And maybe the UFC will stack the card.. to even make it a better PPV. Its just an idea.
But you know damn well, if they are gonna pay Fedor that much.. THEY ARE GONNA PUT HYPE TO BUILD THE PPV AND FEDOR... PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
Wasnt the Lesner and Mir PPV good as far as units? and arent UFC PPVs always better in numbers than any other org, regardless who is headlining?
Why is that? Because the casual fans, the people that are getting into mma, fans of a particular fighter is what make those numbers high.
Hardcore MMA fans are gonna buy regardless... we are the ones buying the Pride PPVS, the Sengoku, the Affliction, the Strikeforces....
And hardcore MMA fans are not as huge as the crowd that just wanna see people fight (casual fans).
I agree that M1 is doing it to promote itself.. that's just a smart business move on their end. To me that makes sense for M1 to get an American following w/ the casual fan.
Fedor is not gonna make or break the UFC. Just saying if they are gonna go all out for 1 guy, then it has to be worth it right? Why go all out for Fedor money and all that... but again, Fedor=M1... its like you cant have one without the other.
Obviously the Zuffa has money and if they know/feel that Fedor is worth it, then they should work with M1.
Truth is, no matter what, the UFC brand is still gonna be the money maker. If Fedor proves himself and defeats everyone... its all good.
How bout not being a dick and trying to force him to only be with the UFC? Of course he dont like how Dana is doing business. Tryna bully a free agent to fight IMO is bullshit.
How bout not slandering a guy bekuz he dont sign with you? Dana's been doing that.
Fedor is the one that needs to change his mind... I figure sooner or later, if he even cares about his legacy, he'll go based on his need (if there is one) to keep his name up.
Instead of being a bitch about it, Dana should have just let it go show that he dont care and that it was up to Fedor to Prove he was the best p4p.
But No, Dana had to slander Fedor, which shows he is butthurt.
Now we are gonna get Fedor fighting a few people here and there... then when someone becomes a free agent, they'll do what Arlovski and Silvia did.
But you know damn well, if they are gonna pay Fedor that much.. THEY ARE GONNA PUT HYPE TO BUILD THE PPV AND FEDOR... PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
Wasnt the Lesner and Mir PPV good as far as units? and arent UFC PPVs always better in numbers than any other org, regardless who is headlining?
Why is that? Because the casual fans, the people that are getting into mma, fans of a particular fighter is what make those numbers high.
Hardcore MMA fans are gonna buy regardless... we are the ones buying the Pride PPVS, the Sengoku, the Affliction, the Strikeforces....
And hardcore MMA fans are not as huge as the crowd that just wanna see people fight (casual fans).
I agree that M1 is doing it to promote itself.. that's just a smart business move on their end. To me that makes sense for M1 to get an American following w/ the casual fan.
Fedor is not gonna make or break the UFC. Just saying if they are gonna go all out for 1 guy, then it has to be worth it right? Why go all out for Fedor money and all that... but again, Fedor=M1... its like you cant have one without the other.
Obviously the Zuffa has money and if they know/feel that Fedor is worth it, then they should work with M1.
Truth is, no matter what, the UFC brand is still gonna be the money maker. If Fedor proves himself and defeats everyone... its all good.
How bout not being a dick and trying to force him to only be with the UFC? Of course he dont like how Dana is doing business. Tryna bully a free agent to fight IMO is bullshit.
How bout not slandering a guy bekuz he dont sign with you? Dana's been doing that.
Fedor is the one that needs to change his mind... I figure sooner or later, if he even cares about his legacy, he'll go based on his need (if there is one) to keep his name up.
Instead of being a bitch about it, Dana should have just let it go show that he dont care and that it was up to Fedor to Prove he was the best p4p.
But No, Dana had to slander Fedor, which shows he is butthurt.
Now we are gonna get Fedor fighting a few people here and there... then when someone becomes a free agent, they'll do what Arlovski and Silvia did.
Well, its not really M1 or Fedor's fault. All those other Orgs had their own issue. Bodog fights owner was a wanted man on US soil. Pride had alot of money dealings that were shady.. and Affliction... everyone know that wouldnt last long.
For small companies, co promotions can be helpful. Elite XC would have been dope if they would have did better business... but I liked the idea of what they were doing. But especially if it has international ties. Bekuz the talent pools can be mixed and matched. Any fighter that is co promoted can make their name wanted. Especially in Japan, where MMA fighters are considered top of the line athletes like a football player or basketball player. And in Japan, they will do extra for a fighter... like Bob Sapp... he's a huge super star in Japan.. even though he aint all that in MMA.
For small companies, co promotions can be helpful. Elite XC would have been dope if they would have did better business... but I liked the idea of what they were doing. But especially if it has international ties. Bekuz the talent pools can be mixed and matched. Any fighter that is co promoted can make their name wanted. Especially in Japan, where MMA fighters are considered top of the line athletes like a football player or basketball player. And in Japan, they will do extra for a fighter... like Bob Sapp... he's a huge super star in Japan.. even though he aint all that in MMA.
STRIKEFORCE AND DREAM FORMALIZING "ALLIANCE"
Halfway around the globe, Dream is expected to announce an “alliance” with Strikeforce, the result of a longstanding relationship between Scott Coker and the Japanese promotion.
The Strikeforce CEO has maintained a good relationship with promoter Kazuyoshi Ishii from Dream parent company Fight Entertainment Group, whom he worked with for eight years as the U.S. promoter of K-1 kickboxing. The alliance formalizes that relationship.
In a Tuesday interview with MMAWeekly.com, Coker likened the deal to post-season baseball where teams of different leagues face off, pairing better players against one another.
“At the beginning of this MMA relationship, we had talked about having Dream fighters come over, and our fighters go over there, and having this relationship,” Coker told MMAWeekly.com. “Well, we all got busy and we never really had the opportunity when they wanted Jake (Shields) to fight over there and when we wanted (Shinya) Aoki, he was scheduled to fight. Now we’re going to be able to put those dream fights together."
The talent exchange between the promotions will be exclusive.
“If we want to get Japanese fighters, we would work exclusively with Dream, and Dream would work exclusively with us, and M-1 as well," said Coker. "M-1 will be part of this too.”
He said Mitsuhiro Ishida, who first fought for Strikeforce last September and will rematch Gilbert Melendez after lightweight champion Josh Thomson withdrew due to injury, was the first commitment to the new deal.
Future fights he looked forward to seeing included Fedor Emelianenko vs. Sergei Kharitonov, Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef, and the American debut of Shinya Aoki (asked how Aoki would do without his trademark pants, Coker said, “that’s a good question. People are going to have to tune in to Showtime to find out”
.
The new alliance does not, however, entail any fiscal commitment from either side, nor is it related to the closing on Sunday of a deal between Emelianenko, M-1 Global, and Strikeforce, Coker said. Despite a well-placed source outside Strikeforce who on Monday said the Japanese promotion had helped bridge the financial gap between Emelianenko’s asking price and Strikeforce’s offer, Coker said the two are unrelated.
“This is a deal that I’ve wanted to make happen where we could start utilizing the fighters and having a good relationship with Dream,” he said. “So I’ve been working on this for a while, and it just happened to come down at the same time as the announcement.
“Now that the Fedor announcement is out there, we said, ‘let’s go make this Dream thing happen.'”
Prized acquisition Emelianenko has stated his desire to fight on New Year’s Eve in Japan once again, and while Coker said, “the door is open,” he hadn’t discussed the possibility with Dream reps. For now, the top-ranked heavyweight’s Strikeforce debut is confirmed for a Showtime broadcast in the fall, presumably in October, where Coker said his opponent remains TBA.
As for the multitude of other fights possible with the alliance, Coker said it was a good time to be an MMA fan.
“I think it’s important, because as a fan, I think they’re going to get some amazing fights that would not happen if the alliance wasn’t created,” he said.
Halfway around the globe, Dream is expected to announce an “alliance” with Strikeforce, the result of a longstanding relationship between Scott Coker and the Japanese promotion.
The Strikeforce CEO has maintained a good relationship with promoter Kazuyoshi Ishii from Dream parent company Fight Entertainment Group, whom he worked with for eight years as the U.S. promoter of K-1 kickboxing. The alliance formalizes that relationship.
In a Tuesday interview with MMAWeekly.com, Coker likened the deal to post-season baseball where teams of different leagues face off, pairing better players against one another.
“At the beginning of this MMA relationship, we had talked about having Dream fighters come over, and our fighters go over there, and having this relationship,” Coker told MMAWeekly.com. “Well, we all got busy and we never really had the opportunity when they wanted Jake (Shields) to fight over there and when we wanted (Shinya) Aoki, he was scheduled to fight. Now we’re going to be able to put those dream fights together."
The talent exchange between the promotions will be exclusive.
“If we want to get Japanese fighters, we would work exclusively with Dream, and Dream would work exclusively with us, and M-1 as well," said Coker. "M-1 will be part of this too.”
He said Mitsuhiro Ishida, who first fought for Strikeforce last September and will rematch Gilbert Melendez after lightweight champion Josh Thomson withdrew due to injury, was the first commitment to the new deal.
Future fights he looked forward to seeing included Fedor Emelianenko vs. Sergei Kharitonov, Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef, and the American debut of Shinya Aoki (asked how Aoki would do without his trademark pants, Coker said, “that’s a good question. People are going to have to tune in to Showtime to find out”
.The new alliance does not, however, entail any fiscal commitment from either side, nor is it related to the closing on Sunday of a deal between Emelianenko, M-1 Global, and Strikeforce, Coker said. Despite a well-placed source outside Strikeforce who on Monday said the Japanese promotion had helped bridge the financial gap between Emelianenko’s asking price and Strikeforce’s offer, Coker said the two are unrelated.
“This is a deal that I’ve wanted to make happen where we could start utilizing the fighters and having a good relationship with Dream,” he said. “So I’ve been working on this for a while, and it just happened to come down at the same time as the announcement.
“Now that the Fedor announcement is out there, we said, ‘let’s go make this Dream thing happen.'”
Prized acquisition Emelianenko has stated his desire to fight on New Year’s Eve in Japan once again, and while Coker said, “the door is open,” he hadn’t discussed the possibility with Dream reps. For now, the top-ranked heavyweight’s Strikeforce debut is confirmed for a Showtime broadcast in the fall, presumably in October, where Coker said his opponent remains TBA.
As for the multitude of other fights possible with the alliance, Coker said it was a good time to be an MMA fan.
“I think it’s important, because as a fan, I think they’re going to get some amazing fights that would not happen if the alliance wasn’t created,” he said.
would've loved to see that before the Monson fight when I thought Sergei had the best chance of anyone to beat Fedor, but then fat unmotivated Sergei took over and that fight really makes no sense without him getting a big win first.
Maybe that's the fight if Fedor loses to Rogers, or Coker didn't watch Dream.8
Maybe that's the fight if Fedor loses to Rogers, or Coker didn't watch Dream.8
Fedor Emelianenko is in full control of his contracts and career …
“I have full control of all my contracts and my career. I get financial reports all the time. All contracts and all important issues are discussed with me. Everything that I don’t like, Vadim tries to fix for me. I have full control of everything that is going on…. From my viewpoint, the UFC does not have the proper attitude to fighters. The UFC attitude towards fighters is not a good one. They don’t treat them like human beings. And I don’t like their policy. The offer that we got was one kind, and then on the Internet they published really different numbers. The offer they gave us was really miserable…. There are a lot of people who take the side of the UFC and there a lot of people who take the side of M-1. I think that if the numbers that were published on the Internet were real numbers, we would have signed with the UFC. All the numbers that were published were just rumors…. All the decisions regarding my fights are made by me, then Vadim makes the public announcement. I feel really sorry that my fans won’t be able to see the fight with Brock Lesnar in the near future. But, I know that they will be able to see other fights with great opponents. I would like to stress once again that besides my fans’ interests, there is my personal interests that the UFC didn’t want to meet.”
“I have full control of all my contracts and my career. I get financial reports all the time. All contracts and all important issues are discussed with me. Everything that I don’t like, Vadim tries to fix for me. I have full control of everything that is going on…. From my viewpoint, the UFC does not have the proper attitude to fighters. The UFC attitude towards fighters is not a good one. They don’t treat them like human beings. And I don’t like their policy. The offer that we got was one kind, and then on the Internet they published really different numbers. The offer they gave us was really miserable…. There are a lot of people who take the side of the UFC and there a lot of people who take the side of M-1. I think that if the numbers that were published on the Internet were real numbers, we would have signed with the UFC. All the numbers that were published were just rumors…. All the decisions regarding my fights are made by me, then Vadim makes the public announcement. I feel really sorry that my fans won’t be able to see the fight with Brock Lesnar in the near future. But, I know that they will be able to see other fights with great opponents. I would like to stress once again that besides my fans’ interests, there is my personal interests that the UFC didn’t want to meet.”
Vadim Finkelchtein: Brock Lesnar is a product of ‘The great hype machine’
Strikeforce and M1-Global today held a press conference to discuss their recent partnership that includes the signing of Fedor Emelianenko, as well as their intention to co-promote future events.
On the call were Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, Showtime executive Ken Hershman and of course newly-signed heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko.
While no details were announced surrounding a possible opponent or precise event date for “The Last Emperor’s” debut (still fall 2009), the call instead focused on introducing Fedor to a new Showtime audience, as well as the partnership between Strikeforce and M-1.
Below are some notes and quotes from the M-1 Global/Strikeforce press conference:
Scott Coker: Feels like he won the lottery with the signing of Fedor Emelianenko. Doesn’t yet have an opponent or event date for their new acquisition.
“Dana White is a promoter and will say what he’s going to say, but we’ve been in business a long time and look forward to putting some on big shows with Fedor.”
The Fedor deal went down so fast he is still running to catch up.
Alistair Overeem should be ready to fight in the fall.
Pay-per-view model is still 6-9 months away.
Fighting is their core business and they don’t anticipate going anywhere.
Scott Coker dropped from the call. Fedor can be heard giggling in the background.
Has considered holding a Grand Prix Tournament but has no current plans to do so.
Vadim Finkelchtein: UFC wouldn’t let Fedor fight anywhere except the UFC and that was unreasonable. They presented “nothing special” in their offer.
Wants to know if a 4-1 Brock Lesnar is the best heavyweight in the world or the product of “The great hype machine.”
(via M-1 attorney) UFC tries to stop the fight between Mousasi and Sobral in Strikeforce, but Mousasi already signed on for the fight and will honor that commitment.
Question about recent “Breakthrough” event is rejected as inappropriate for this call.
Vadim is missing from the call. Dogs can be heard barking in the background.
Fedor Emelianenko: Doesn’t know his opponent yet, but looks forward to fighting whoever they give him. Would like to progress MMA and earn some money and can do both with Strikeforce.
Dana White is wrong about him ducking the best fighters in the world. Considers his last two fights to be against difficult opponents.
Insists he has full control over his contract and finances related to fighting under M-1.
Does not like the way UFC treats fighters, says they do not treat them like human beings.
Calls UFC offer “terrible.”
Ken Hershman: In the planning stages now of how to market Fedor beyond the hardcore fan base and into the mainstream. Recognizes it’s a big task but looks forward to it.
Strikeforce and M1-Global today held a press conference to discuss their recent partnership that includes the signing of Fedor Emelianenko, as well as their intention to co-promote future events.
On the call were Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, Showtime executive Ken Hershman and of course newly-signed heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko.
While no details were announced surrounding a possible opponent or precise event date for “The Last Emperor’s” debut (still fall 2009), the call instead focused on introducing Fedor to a new Showtime audience, as well as the partnership between Strikeforce and M-1.
Below are some notes and quotes from the M-1 Global/Strikeforce press conference:
Scott Coker: Feels like he won the lottery with the signing of Fedor Emelianenko. Doesn’t yet have an opponent or event date for their new acquisition.
“Dana White is a promoter and will say what he’s going to say, but we’ve been in business a long time and look forward to putting some on big shows with Fedor.”
The Fedor deal went down so fast he is still running to catch up.
Alistair Overeem should be ready to fight in the fall.
Pay-per-view model is still 6-9 months away.
Fighting is their core business and they don’t anticipate going anywhere.
Scott Coker dropped from the call. Fedor can be heard giggling in the background.
Has considered holding a Grand Prix Tournament but has no current plans to do so.
Vadim Finkelchtein: UFC wouldn’t let Fedor fight anywhere except the UFC and that was unreasonable. They presented “nothing special” in their offer.
Wants to know if a 4-1 Brock Lesnar is the best heavyweight in the world or the product of “The great hype machine.”
(via M-1 attorney) UFC tries to stop the fight between Mousasi and Sobral in Strikeforce, but Mousasi already signed on for the fight and will honor that commitment.
Question about recent “Breakthrough” event is rejected as inappropriate for this call.
Vadim is missing from the call. Dogs can be heard barking in the background.
Fedor Emelianenko: Doesn’t know his opponent yet, but looks forward to fighting whoever they give him. Would like to progress MMA and earn some money and can do both with Strikeforce.
Dana White is wrong about him ducking the best fighters in the world. Considers his last two fights to be against difficult opponents.
Insists he has full control over his contract and finances related to fighting under M-1.
Does not like the way UFC treats fighters, says they do not treat them like human beings.
Calls UFC offer “terrible.”
Ken Hershman: In the planning stages now of how to market Fedor beyond the hardcore fan base and into the mainstream. Recognizes it’s a big task but looks forward to it.
This is why I dont like Dana. When ever something doesnt go his way, he goes out of his way to put people down and hold them down. Whether its Tito or Couture or anyone that wants to be in an MMA Video game...
UFC is the strongest name in MMA.. why try to alienate people from it. Just worry at what is at hand in your own Org. You got enough talent to put out a show and a ppv every month.. so keep doing that.
UFC is the strongest name in MMA.. why try to alienate people from it. Just worry at what is at hand in your own Org. You got enough talent to put out a show and a ppv every month.. so keep doing that.
There it is, theres always 2 sides of the story and Fedor sounds pretty truthful in this instance. UFC most likely cant do shit about him fighting and i told yall that Dana talking bad about him in the past would come back to bite him in the ass. I knew those numbers that were rumored to be offered were false.