Fedor, Strikeforce and M-1 respond.

This further thickens the plot. Their counter claims about Mousasi's contract are interesting. It clarifies the situation somewhat. No one on the UFC side has said the UFC offered Mousasi anything other than an honoring of his Affliction deal right? So that makes what the UFC offered much less appealing in the first place. What is Mousasi's contract with Strikeforce worth, anyone know?



I think both sides kind of suck at this point. The UFC has never been open about the nature of the negotiations. Fedor is already under contract. The fact that the UFC and Dana White were considered the more honest of the two sides should say something, when the issue is about Emelianenko.

Fedor's comments are stern. This is welcome from a champion who has been getting criticizied, similarly to Rich Franklin, for not being an active participant in his own career path. Fedor needed to show some backbone.

Vadim's comments rock. He points out how Brock is a product of UFC hype and has a very limited track record, but then goes on to hype Rogers up too much in the same breath. He has a similar track record and has never shown his ground game yet.

Quote :

Strikeforce was welcomed to the promotional battlefield Thursday when UFC President Dana White publicly attacked the rival promotion for the first time following a pre-fight news conference for UFC 101 in Philadelphia.


White, who has praised the San Jose-based organization’s efforts on
numerous occasions, criticized Strikeforce for its decision to sign No.
1-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko after White’s previous negotiations fizzled with the Russian and his management and promotional team M-1 Global.

Emelianenko will debut under the Strikeforce banner on premium-pay
subscription channel Showtime this fall. He is contracted for three
fights.

“He’ll put them out of business,” White said. “They have no money.
These guys have no money and they have no distribution. Four f---king
people watch Showtime.”


White also referred to Strikeforce as “Strikefarce.”


“Of course he’s going to say that. He’s a promoter,” said Coker
during a teleconference call Thursday discussing the major signing.
“He’s going to go on and say what he’s going to say, but we’ve been in
business a long time and I think we know how to operate a business and
forged a relationship with Ken (Hershman) and Showtime and M-1. I feel
confident that we’re going to have some great big shows with Fedor.”

Coker, who recently praised White and the UFC for “saving” MMA in North
America, had told Sherdog.com on Tuesday that he believed his company’s
acquisition of Emelianenko wouldn’t spark hostility between the two
outlets.

White’s comments on Thursday suggested otherwise, though Coker seemed ready for what many believed to be inevitable.


“Under the current circumstances, is anybody surprised?” asked Coker. “I don’t think so.”


M-1 Global was also targeted by White for its management practices with
Gegard Mousasi, who had been scheduled to face Renato “Babalu” Sobral
at Affliction’s Aug. 1 event.


“He was lied to. It’s a fact,” White said, suggesting M-1 had misled Mousasi.

It is unclear what moves, if any, were made by the UFC to secure the
23-year-old fighter after Affliction signed over its contracts to the
UFC.

White said he was unsure if his company had issued a cease and desist
letter to Strikeforce and M-1 to try and stop the bout now scheduled
for their co-promoted Aug. 15 event.


“Maybe we did,” said White. “I honestly don’t know. I’d tell you if I knew.”


White added that the UFC would be interested in the former Dream champion if he wasn’t under contract elsewhere.

However, Coker announced last week that he’d signed Mousasi to a
three-fight contract “a while ago.” Coker told Sherdog.com Tuesday that
Affliction had only a bout agreement in place with the Armenian-born
fighter for the Sobral bout.

“There has never been any side negotiations about (Mousasi’s)
contract,” said M-1 rep Api Echteld, who had been designated to speak
on the controversy during the call. “I spoke to (UFC matchmaker) Joe
Silva about it last night for the first time, and they said the only
thing they should try to do or should do is match the contract that
Affliction had with Mousasi.”

Echteld said there had been “some conflict” with the UFC and stated
that the UFC had “tried to stop” the bout in Strikeforce, but that
Mousasi had already signed into a contract that he is “happy with.”


Echteld said he was not sure on what grounds the UFC was making its claim to stop the bout from happening on Aug. 15.


“I really don’t know,” said Echteld. “Perhaps they wanted Mousasi in a cheap and easy way.”

White’s accusation cast doubt on M-1’s dealings with Mousasi, but also
raised questions regarding how much control Emelianenko actually has
over his own career. The usually stoic fighter defended his and M-1’s
stance during the call Thursday.

“I have the full control of the contracts and my career as well, and I
get all the time financial reports and all contracts and all important
issues are being discussed with me, and everything that I don’t like
Vadim (Finkelstein) tries to stand for,” said Emelianenko through a
translator. “I need to tell you I have complete control of everything
that’s going on.”


Emelianenko was also skeptical of the UFC’s practices.

“From my viewpoint, the UFC does not have the proper attitude towards
fighters,” said Emelianenko. “They don’t consider fighters to be normal
people, human beings. What I think (is) that the UFC’s attitude towards
the fighters is not the correct one and I don’t like their policy,
which appears to be (a) really forced one, because the offer which we
got was one kind, then on the Internet they published (an) absolutely
different offer. The offer that we got from them was really miserable.”


Vadim Finkelstein, M-1 Global’s president, also had some stern words for the White and the UFC.

“I wonder whom does Dana White considers to be the best fighters? The
fighters that have 4-1 records?” asked Finkelstein, referring to UFC
heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. “Maybe this is the fighter which
became the product of the great PR machine of the UFC. Brett Rogers is
a much better opponent for Fedor and also should be very interesting
for fans as well, because he has 10 fights and not one loss.”


Finkelstein said the UFC had just as much to gain from the elusive signing as Emelianenko and M-1 did.

“Fedor’s name outside of the U.S. is much bigger than the name of the
UFC,” he said. If Fedor comes to the UFC, he’ll make the UFC famous
outside of the U.S.”


Other notes:


• Coker said the promotion’s first pay-per-view event is “probably six to nine months away.”


• Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is expected to defend his title this fall.

• On an event in Japan: “The deal with Dream is really an independent
deal than this deal (with M-1), but we’ll definitely have some
conversations with everyone involved to see if it makes sense,” said
Coker.

• On Showtime’s involvement with the acquisition of Emelianenko: “We
were involved enough to lend support and make sure that everyone
understood how important we felt this was and how valuable we felt that
Fedor and M-1 was. Beyond that, I’m not going to get into how involved
we were,” said Ken Hershman, Showtime Sports Senior Vice President.

• Coker and Showtime have discussed holding a multi-night grand prix
tournament format, but no immediate plans have been made.

Who to believe dana or the commies???? wow thats a lose lose situation. I just don't believe m-1 is honest at all so i will go with dana.

why should you have to "choose sides", like everything else in life, both sides are usually wrong and the truth is somewhere in the middle. Dana is no boyscout. He's spent the last two years stomping on Fedor in the media. Now he's an angel all of a sudden? Naw.

I am not choosing a side I am trying to distinguish the facts from the politics of it all. Of course I know Dana is a promoter and I know M-1 is also tryin to promote their brand. In the end M-1 seems more dishonest to me thats all.