Odds Dana White Co-promotes with M1 in the Future for Brock v Fedor

Assuming Fedor wins out on his Strikeforce Contract, and Fedor and White don't agree to a contract with UFC. Does Dana give in to just a one time pay per view match featuring Fedor V Brock. By this time, Fedor's legend will have grown even more and many more of the UFC fanboys will be intrigued between a potential matchup.

Don't see Dana allowing a 1 fight contract or co-promoting.

Dana will never do this. Too much for him to lose.

0.0001% chance

While it's highly unlikely that the still untested Lesnar who has yet to even rightfully defend his belt will even be champion at that time Fedor's contract is up in a year or two, it is a 0% chance.

It'll never happen and if i'm Dana I would never do it.

There's gonna be a chance if Fedor keeps getting national TV time, Fedor's price just went up thats for sure. Very small chance, but still a chance.

zero... if brock loses dana takes a big hit but if fedor is in the ufc and beats brock we have a new HW champ that every one loves.

There is no way Dana will ever co-promote. Dana will trash Brett Rogers and say that Rogers wouldn't even be a top 10 heavyweight in the UFC so Fedor beating him isn't that big of a deal.

Our only hope is for Dana and Fedor to come together on a deal, there will be no co-promoting with the UFC.

Dana tried that and Pride screwed him over and wouldn't give up Wandy at the time, even though they let him appear in the Octogon and wear a Pride tee. Dana tried working with people and they always took advantage of him and the UFC. So now that he is the big cheese, he is not going to co-promote, because he has the number one product and people still want to take advantage of him. I am going with 0.00000000000121% Going to happen.

I'd say the odds are about the same as Dana signing a network deal giving up all control to the TV honks to bring in their own broadcast crew and produce it the way they see fit... ZERO. Dana's a control freak, and he quite honestly isn't in a position where he has to bow down to anyone's demands at this point. Not saying that can't change, but right now he's still the man...

Doubtful Brock will even still be champ by then and very doubtful Dana will give in.

No he'll never co-promote, and I don't think Brock will even be the champ when Fedor's Strikeforce contract is up. Not like it matters anyway... people will just be saying FEDOR IS AFRAID OF/WOULD GET CRUSHED BY [CURRENT UFC CHAMP]

Unless it's Nog... in whice case huge LOL @ Dana.

By Michael Rome
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/12/1143345/exclusive-details-of-fedor

Note: All information in this post was obtained via Affliction's motion to dismiss filed on November 6, 2009. It is all public information and can be obtained through the Pacer system.

David Wolf of MMA Payout broke the story earlier today that Affliction filed its motion to dismiss in response to the M-1 lawsuit I discussed on Bloody Elbow last week. Needless to say, a motion to dismiss is just a standard response in a lawsuit by the defense. I will have more thoughts on the motion to dismiss next week on Bloody Elbow, but my initial thought is that I'm baffled as to why a 12(b)(6) focused so much on the facts instead of the law. A 12(b)(6) motion is a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted, it is not a motion related to factual disputes.

The most interesting part of the filing is Affliction's disclosure to the courts of its agreements with Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global. They disclosed the promotional agreement as well as the "consulting agreement." According to the initial M-1 filing there was a third consulting agreement related to the M-1 Challenge TV show, but as far as I can tell that agreement hasn't been disclosed.

Below I'll go through the promotional agreement's essential terms and add my comments in italics where I feel anything additional is warranted.

The Promotional Agreement.

--Fedor is to be paid a $300,000 purse per fight.

--The contract arranges for four first class tickets and three coach tickets from St. Petersburg to wherever the fight is. It also arranges for four first class hotel rooms for up to five nights, round trip transportation on the ground, and meal allowances. This section is more extravagant than equivalent UFC contract provisions for its top stars.

-- The contract calls for three fights under the Affliction banner, and makes Affliction the exclusive home of Fedor fights in the United States. However, the contract states that any fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Randy Couture is excluded from the contract and can take place elsewhere. It's clear that when this contract was signed Fedor and M-1 were still shopping around a potential Couture fight incase he ever got out of his contract. This also further confirms that Affliction never had the rights to this fight.

--The contract states that it ends on the earlier of two dates: March 31, 2009 or after Fedor's last fight, unless the contract is extended. This will be a serious litigation battleground; M-1 will argue that Affliction extended the contract by promoting a third show. I find this argument fairly convincing.

--Affliction agreed to make all efforts to feature a M-1 logo on the mat. Fedor was allowed to choose any sponsor as long as there was no conflict with Affliction.

--Fedor Emelinaenko reserved all rights to distribute and exploit his bouts in Russia and Asia. He had the right to retain all revenue from the sale, license, or any other exploitation of his reserved rights to market the broadcast. There are other specifics regarding Affliction's responsibility to provide Fedor and M-1 with a high definition feed. The rights include s treaming rights, and extend beyond Fedor's fights to the undercard and preliminary fights. You can imagine the UFC would never agree to such a term.

There are a number of other important and interesting terms, but those are the essential ones.

The Consulting Agreement

--M-1 was to provide consulting on all the following topics: International bout consulting, international television, fighter scouting, location for future bouts recommendations, television-related opportunities, international sponsorships, and bout tourism.

--M-1 was also required to fully cooperate and assist in the advertising and promotion of each fight.

--In exchange for these consulting services, Affliction agreed to pay M-1 a consulting fee of $1,200,000 per fight.

--Affliction was required to promote the M-1 Global brand through promotional activities including: Articles in event programs, M-1 Global's logo incorporated into Affliction advertising, M-1 logo recognition with event advertising, public address announcements during the bouts, the airing of M-1 videos announcements during events, and the creation and sale of co-branded M-1 and Affliction event posters.

I believe there is still one more consulting agreement out there based on my reading of M-1's lawsuit, but Affliction did not disclose it here. Just counting these two agreements, Fedor Emelianenko received $300,000 per fight while M-1 Global received 1.2 million. Fedor Emelianenko is a 20% owner of M-1 Global.

Alot of people dont think Brock will be champ for long but i tend to disagree with that. Dana will never copromote we all know that but Fedor will also never sign with the UFC so its just another Randy vs Fedor kind of think where we can want to see it but it will never happen.

Why is it such a given that the UFC will not co-promote? Sure, even just one year ago the thought seemed absurd, but now with a competing US promotion that has

1) a very good TV deal, (at least in terms of exposure)

2) top level talent

3)welcomed the co-promotion,

I really think that at some point the UFC will have to shift their mindset. Yes UFC is still the big cheese but if you don't see SF(and M1) as a legitimate player then you're not paying attention.

The UFC's current model works just fine without co-promotion, and if Fedor didn't exist, then there would be no need to even discuss it as a possibility. Beyond that, the UFC has been burned by their fighters getting beat outside the UFC or during co-promotions in the past. Liddell was supposed to be the best in the world, until he ran into the fourth or fith best Pride LHW and was crushed. Not until Jackson's reign was the UFC able to say their fighter was the best. The UFC had to buy out two promotions to secure all the fighters to claim the LHW mantle. Also, Couture twice lost in Japan as champion, and Miletich once. This left the real titles in Japan with Anderson Silva and Fedor eventually, where they stayed until Silva moved up and went to the UFC, and Fedor came to the US.

The UFC has nothing to gain with co-promotion. Strikeforce is real, we know that. But what does the UFC have to gain by co-promoting from a business perspective. Their fake champion makes them more money than Fedor ever could, especially since they'd only take half the cut from any event he's on.

But this is more then just Fedor. Gegard is out there too. Aoki is out there. Grim is out there. Barnett is out there. And SF with their readiness to co-promote has access to every fighter not in the UFC. And as SF and CBS brings more and more of these fighters to the public, and as the # of quality fighters within the SF stable continues to grow the more pressure there will be for cross promotion with the UFC.

I just have to believe that sooner or later the UFC will have to change their policy. I don't think it's in the cards in the next couple years, but eventually I think they will.