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Media activists backpedal after Fedor and UFC fail to reach a deal
By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2009
When I wrote an article a couple of days ago stating the intentions of what a lot of MMA writers and media types displayed in regards to getting Fedor into UFC, I pointed out statements that displayed what their admitted intentions were. Remember this quote?
I’m more than willing to be a pawn in this negotiations if it means we see Fedor vs. Brock in the UFC.
The intentions were made very clear here.
Now there’s an attempt to shift the focus using a sleight-of-hand, hoping you don’t catch the difference.
Facing heat both online and during a radio interview, Carmichael Dave of KHTK 1140 Hot Talk in Sacramento is on the defensive. It was Dave’s ‘report’ on what UFC allegedly offered Fedor that helped various activists claim that they would put pressure on Fedor to sign with the UFC and that if he didn’t sign that there would be ‘pure viciousness’ from online fans towards him.
Carmichael Dave went on Sherdog to answer questions from fans online since he basically took the bait from a UFC source to push the ‘contract rumors’ that the company had allegedly offered Fedor. A forum member asked:
“Lets stop beating around the bush here Mr. Dave. Was you source UFC ‘management’ or not? And do you believe you were used as a tool to carry out their propoganda? The fans deserve an answer.”
Here is how Dave responded:
“I will answer your second question, I cannot answer your first. Of course there was a bit of “using” and propoganda involved. The info put out there was not an accident. No one got high on drugs and fed me the info. They knew who I was, and it was very clear what I would do with the info when I got it. My concern isnt their agenda. My concern is their credibility and involvement in the procedures, and whether the info leaked merits reporting or not.”
Then, Carmichael Dave did an interview with ESPN 1100 Las Vegas (audio here).
”Are we pawns in this game? Of course. Even if the information is 100-percent right all the time it still doesn’t mean we’re not being used. It’s politics of sport. Of course you can be a pawn.”
Anyone who has ever worked in media understands that sources are trying to work over writers. It’s been a part of the business forever. Just ask any baseball, football, or basketball writer about what GMs and teams try to do to use writers when trading deadlines occur each season. No one is arguing that sources try to work over writers like ‘pawns.’
This line of argument is a sleight-of-hand. What the activists don’t want the focus to be on is the fact that they publicly admitted that they purposely wanted to be a pawn in order to advance a personal agenda and that personal agenda was to see one of their favorite fighters fight in the UFC. Whatever it was going to take to get it done was their motto.
Now that it’s clear that a deal between Fedor’s camp and UFC will not go through, watch for some of these activists to start backpedalling in the media. Watch for them to try to blur the lines and confuse readers. “Well, we’re all pawns, that’s how it works in the media.” Watch for an attempt to put the focus somewhere else and distract away from the true focus on what their motives were for their attempted activism and why it was being done.
Several people this week took big credibility hits and they’re trying to figure out a way to recover from it and repair their image. Who knows if they will be successful at undoing their own self-inflicted damage.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 56 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Zach this is the third piece you’ve written about this and have yet to address the flip side of the argument. Like i’ve said before you can’t yell pawn at these supposed writers backing the UFC and ignore the blatant number of guys who use every opportunity to bash the UFC and create fake scandals. Maybe my arguments are hitting too close because this place is crawling with the same types of people. It’s fine to point out hypocrites as long as you’re the first to look in the mirror and make sure you’re not committing the same sin.
Man we are really getting into some Serpico shit here.
I’ve never even written any articles in my life in which my motive was to lie in order to get results for an agenda.
It’s one thing to be an activist to root out illegal activity or activity that can bring down an industry. It’s another thing to use and abuse your position under a certain pretense just to push an agenda. I’m sure everyone will once again play the ‘self-righteous’ card against me here. All I’m suggesting is that if you’re a writer, have a little bit of self-respect and think a little bit about what you write, why you write it, and what the point is.
EJ, you and I may have various disagreements, but I would never lie to you on purpose for the sake of pushing an agenda. If I wanted to be ‘a willing pawn’ in order to advance an agenda, I’d go into public relations. Pays more and at least it’s more transparent.
Zach–as usual, is quite polite.
Obfuscation will AND IS occurring–but it will be of the same ilk as the original transgression.
The deal WOULD HAVE been reach had Fedor simply acted in good faith, not had insane management, wanted to actually face top competition, or any number of other reasons. The blame, you see, is solely upon Fedor/M-1. If they were only reasonable–a deal as reported would have certainly come to fruition.
Fedor will be attacked–repeatedly–from these very same reporters.
Incredibly–some are even reporting that IF the Ali Act applied–M-1/Fedor would be in violation due to conflicts. This is apparently reported with a straight face. . .
Not only is it inaccurate (Fedor is an owner of M-1), where are these reports for the repeated and widespread violations of the act that occur all the time?
Zach my problem isn’t with you calling out people who are pawns, it’s singling out the pro-UFC backers and leaving out others who are anti-UFC who are worse.
Anyone who indulges in that type of behaviour needs to be called out and exposed. But your pieces come off one sided and not looking at the bigger picture.
Because for every one you can name that is in Zuffa’s pocket, there are other’s who’ve been in any companies that isn’t under the Zuffa banner. These people are basically cheerleaders for horribly run promotions like Elite and Affliction who don’t want to talk facts about their failures but are the first to call out Zuffa’s business dealings.
My only point is that if you’re going to point fingers point them at everyone or no one.
You haven’t read me long enough. *laugh*
I remember the days a couple of years ago when I was often and frequently accused of being on the Zuffa payroll or being backed by them. I kid you not.
“Incredibly–some are even reporting that IF the Ali Act applied–M-1/Fedor would be in violation due to conflicts. This is apparently reported with a straight face. . .
Not only is it inaccurate (Fedor is an owner of M-1), where are these reports for the repeated and widespread violations of the act that occur all the time?”
Well, considering that M-1 Global is both a promotion (run by a PROMOTER) and M-1’s people are Fedor’s management, then yes that would be in violation of the Ali Act, if the Ali Act transcended to boxing of course. It’s under the Conflict of Interest Section (managers can’t be promoters and promoters can’t be managers).
Actually, if the Ali Act covered MMA, the UFC would be in violation of the Ali Act under the “Protection From Coercive Contracts” section.
Fighters can promote their own fights–and since Fedor is an owner–he would be promoting his own fight.
There is a question as to whether that would still be a conflict–but it isn’t clear at all–given that Fedor/Vadim are apparently partners. The Ali Act contains this exception to the conflict paragraph you site:
(2) EXCEPTIONS- Paragraph (1)–
`(A) does not prohibit a boxer from acting as his own promoter or manager;
Exactly right on the coercive contracts provision. And what about the UFC actually acting as the manager? Aren’t they? Aren’t they securing contests for remuneration? Dictating opponents, and the when/where of the contest?
Where are the reports on this, for those who will cite it against Vadim/Fedor (which, agreed, is debatable–but not clear cut).
Rob;
In the Conflict of Interest paragraph, it specifically mentions that the fighter/promoter HAS to fight in a ten or more round fight. In UFC (and most MMA companies anymore) fights only go up to 5 rounds. And it isn’t even the same length of fight, because ten round male boxing matches are thirty minutes, whereas title bouts in UFC are twenty-five minutes. So what would be the same equivalent?
And as you mentioned with UFC themselves being both managers and promoters, the Ali Act can’t cover MMA. Congress would have to completely write up something different for MMA. But fighters have their own managers that help set up fights anyway, so I don’t know. This argument can then transcend into MMA being more like pro wrestling in terms of how business is done (fighters being under one organizational roof) but we don’t have to go there now.
“You haven’t read me long enough. *laugh*
I remember the days a couple of years ago when I was often and frequently accused of being on the Zuffa payroll or being backed by them. I kid you not.”
Maybe I have missed some of your posts on how some the internet media is obssessed with bringing down Zuffa. How they hate Dana White and will twist facts and throw around baseless accusations week in and week out just so they can turn around and yell about how evil their business practices are.
These are the same people quick to uplift other promotions who’ve pretty much been apart of trying to fix fights or go after talent who is under contract. But if I did please point me in the direction of these articles so I can apologize for misjudging you.
Of course it says 10 rounds–but if that was what the discussion focused on-the entire discussion is pointless, because the retort would be–it doesn’t apply!
I don’t agree that it is that clear cut at all.
Assuming for a moment that it did apply–it isn’t clear that Vadim/Fedor’s relationship would violate that conflicts section. Certain reporters, however, to make their case against Fedor, have said this relationship WOULD violate the Ali Act.
These same reporters, at least to my knowledge, have never once reported on practices that clearly do violate the Ali Act (again, assuming it applied).
It is clear, however, that certain contractual practices and promotional practices would violate the Ali Act. T
If I wanted to be ‘a willing pawn’ in order to advance an agenda, I’d go into public relations. Pays more and at least it’s more transparent.
Don’t bet on it.
With the exceptions of Zach and Dave Meltzer (and maybe a few others I’m forgetting) all MMA writers have shown time and time again they are not afraid to look like asses. Their “credibility” never takes a hit in their minds. When Thomas went overboard on getting too emotional on some things, when Caplan acted like an ass as Elite’s key online defender or WAMMA’s biggest defender, when everybody at Sherdog ignored PRIDE’s turmoil, and now when Dave is proud to be Dana’s patsy they’ve shown time and time again there is no objectivity. They want to be serious reporters, but they believe the more they kiss the ass of their promotion of choice the better chance they have of getting better access. Caplan brown-nosed his way into being Elite’s official reporter, Sherdog got tons of scoops straight from DSE, and Dave is probably hoping he gets even more secret info passed down to him.
On the other hand, this martyr complex some UFC fans still carry from the PRIDE-elitist days really needs to stop. UFC is the only game in town now, such a tiny minority of people actually watch Strikeforce and DREAM that it’s ridiculous for them to view those fans as a threat to their MMA fanhood. Hardcore UFC fans won, but they can’t shake the need to lash out at every little thing being somehow persecuting them or the UFC. It’s like they don’t want the Sherdog forums battle of 2006 to end. UFC is a mega-corporation who doesn’t need your endless energy defending it. To borrow a line someone once said about defending the New York Yankees, defending UFC is like defending the IRS, they don’t need your efforts. You guys win every single time a rival company challenges you, and you will always win, start acting like it.
This topic is really very minor compared to the real news story that is out there but isn’t get much press….
The Fertitta’s cannot co-promote very easilly or at all due to their stake in a Las Vegas casino. That really means two things…
1. Co-promotion will likely never be a option in th future.
2. If Fedor’s people are trying to use it as leverage, it is one of the worst mistakes in negotiations in the history if MMA. You don’t try to push on something that is legally almost impossible for a company to do.
At the end of day, week, month, and year…. Fedor comes out of this looking really bad if he doesn’t sign with Zuffa. The UFC can’t co-promote but have given in on basically many other things. So many stars have also signed that contract. Which means Fedor is the problem here, and he will take a beating from the fans for it.
“If Fedor’s people are trying to use it as leverage, it is one of the worst mistakes in negotiations in the history if MMA. You don’t try to push on something that is legally almost impossible for a company to do.”
This is a talking point that has popped up in several other places, most notably Bloody Elbow. It’s an interesting point, but I don’t think it is as impossible as you are implying.
The fact is, the UFC works with other companies and entities for every show. For the last show it was the Mandalay Bay and several PPV companies, foreign television companies, Yahoo, etc. For the television shows, it includes SPIKE TV as well.
It’s fairly clear that it ISN’T impossible for the UFC to enter into agreements with other businesses to promote the shows and bring them to the fans. In fact, it happens every time out.
It’s just another way of throwing out insidious racial stereotypes, insinuating with no evidence that the Russians in the negotiations are all crooks. I’ve yet to hear anything substantive to prove this persistent allegation, and I’ve been looking….
That’s comical. Mandalay Bay also has a gaming license, which means they have already been properly vetted. SpikeTV is owned by a huge US Corporation, not to mention they are putting shows on their station, not co-promoting.
There is a major difference between doing simple business with these huge corporations…. And co-promoting with a shady manager.
This topic has been brought up before with Pride, and even Zach & Ivan made a point that the UFC could be in trouble by working with Pride due to their mafia connections.
Call it what you want, but a promoter out of Russia who already acts shady…. He doesn’t get any benefit of the doubt. And that is smart business by Fertitta.
And EJ is correct on this one. Where was Alan, Zach, and Ivan when Fedor/Vadim put on a bogus press conference on Wednesday. And the media covered it like it was a legit news story. They refused to answer even one question, and yet on Sherdog and MMA Junkie, they had articles showing as if it was a legit place for news.
It’s a two way street.
Jonathan – I’m glad I’m not the only one who caught that on the conf. call yesterday (the whole ‘background check’ thing Dana kept throwing out about M-1). He knew exactly what he was doing there, but there’s also a great irony to what Dana said and why he might regret saying what he did. E-mail me and I’ll elaborate further to you on it.
I sure didn’t cover it as legitimate. Admittedly, I was the first to get notice of it happening… six hours before it took place. I wasn’t exactly trumpeting or parroting anything with Gary “Jerry” Millen as serious. 🙂
I, for one, am loving all of your coverage of this issue, Zach. Keep up the good work!
Luke, I think Bloody Elbow’s coverage of this story has been great. You guys have covered all the angles and the stories have done a good job of picking up the best news reporting around the web, as well as presenting a diversity of opinion.
45 Huddle, I don’t want to insult you as we’ve probably met at UFC shows and been friendly. But your response kind of missing the point of what vetting is. Of course the Fertittas wouldn’t go into business with M-1 without a thorough screening. That’s what vetting is. No one would give anyone the benefit of the doubt as you say.
You compare it with PRIDE, but without taking this into boring legal grounds, there are special reasons a particularly in-depth vetting should have occured with that purchase. The company was known to have organized crime associations, and the Fertittas couldn’t claim they weren’t aware of them. They were widely reported.
In this situation, there is no indication of criminal involvement at all, short of ethnicity. It’s different. And, not to belabor the point, but people go into business with Russian based companies everyday. It’s not impossible.
I won’t really respond to the claim that they aren’t co-promoting with PPV companies and SPIKE. It’s ludicrous on its face. Wait, I guess that is a response!
To be clear, I wouldn’t co-promote with them in a billion years if I was the UFC. I just don’t think it is impossible if they decide, against all reason, to do so.
I don’t see why Zuffa can’t just do a thorough background check on M-1 first and then agree to talk co-promotion business with them.
You don’t see why Zuffa wouldn’t undertake a long, arduous background check just so they can then talk with M-1 about a completely ridiculous business proposition?
Gee, I wonder.
Johnathan Snowdon,
While it isn’t impossible to do business with Russians, (I’ve done a lot of business with them), and it is terrible to make ethnic stereotypes, but it is also the hight of delusion to go into business with Russians and think that they do business like the west.
Quite frankly, if VF was Candide I would expect to see water seeping from the ground and ascending to the heavens.
I’m sure that DW could do the due diligence and all the work but then why would he? Just to get one fighter? There is a point of diminishing returns in business and a certain point you just have to walk away.
It tells me that DW is more of an MMA geek than a true business man considering that PRIDE fiasco (he over paid) and then all of this bad negotiations with VF where a sane business man would have strangled VF in the cradle rather than spending all this time trying to get FE into the ring.
Writing this, I now understand why people think that DW is the Devil. They have never seen really evil business practices. Stuff where people are kidnapped and die and cities are laid waste all in the name of profit. You MMA writers have elevated planted stories to the level of THE WORST THING EVER or the fact that some contract negotiations broke down to THE WORST THING EVER.
Good luck with that but I would say that you should get some perspective and try doing business in a third world country and see what the real world is like.
I’m sorry that last line came off as a little insulting. I’m just saying that the notion of property rights in third world nations is flexible.
It’s extremely simple.
In no major sport would an athlete turn down the largest contract in the sports history, and then demand that his manager co-promote the sport with the already established and dominate league.
And yet, the Fedor fanboys are trying to find any angle to defend his actions and to complain about it.
Like I said, it’s very simple….
I think this is even more innocent than that. I don’t think it’s entirely because Dana believes they’re shady Russians who are mobbed up and like to kidnap foreigners for ransom like many people are implying (since being owned by two Italian-American Las Vegas casino owners gives you sympathy towards the criminally-stereotyped) It’s because Zuffa doesn’t want to set a precedent. If they say “We’ll make an exception for M-1” then the Penn family will want a co-promotion, then Monte Cox is going to want co-promotion, then the next time they take a fighter out of a smaller promotion they’re going to ask for co-promoter status. It would never end.
And since UFC has been well-known for sticking to their principles no matter what, I can’t see this changing. Co-promotions is one of those sticking points Dana has brought up a million times as one of the things that hurt boxing. He’s not going to cave on this.
And to my last post…. The Ivan Trembow’s of the world will say stuff like: “Those other leagues pay out a greater percentage of pay…. Or they have less restrive contracts…”
1. No sports league has been as generous with their payouts less then 20 years into their existence. Fighter pay has increase dramatically in the last 5 years. Main Event Fighters have seen an increase in pay of over 500%. By comparison, the old timers alive still today of baseball either had to get new jobs or become baseball announcers because they weren’t paid enough during their careers. And this was while it was the biggest sport in the country.
2. Most sports, including the NFL & MLB (that I can 100% verify) restrict athletes from competing in any other sport or potential activity that could hurt them. Fedor was given an open ability to compete in Sambo.
The UFC has budged. Fedor has not. It is extremely obvious that Fedor and his manager want the ability to hand pick their opponents as they have done the last 4+ years. And in the UFC, without co-promotion, they are 100% unable to do so. Fedor is likely to lose in the UFC based on the level of competition and the styles that are presented to him there. This is without question the real sticking point. This is the REAL story. This is what guys like Zach and the people on the blogs should be focusing on.
Also, there isn’t an activist media in MMA. If anything, it has been anti-UFC for a long while. Really at this point there is just a media that is really saying what they and the fans are thinking.
Just like most of the stories on the MMA blogs which are just sensationalized made up versions of the truth (which this topic is)…. Here is a REAL example of activist journalist…
Major League Baseball had over 100 players test positive for PED’s in 2003. Those test results were never supposed to be released to the public and the players themselves were told they would not be made public before testing started.
Now, the list is still out there, and journalists are SPECIFICALLY GUNNING FOR CERTAIN ATHLETES. Guys like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, who the media loaths, were the first targets. Then as a backlash to a Yankee getting busted, it was pretty obvious that the NYT’s then went after Manny and Ortiz in order to link their names to the list of players.
That is a TRUE activist media story. The list should not be released as the players were told it wouldn’t be. The media who is getting these names aren’t looking for the entire list. They are gunning for specific guys that benefit their likes and dislikes of players.
You want a true untold sports media activist story… There is one. This Fedor/UFC stuff…. It’s just Fedor trying to handpick his opponents.
45 Huddle, I don’t know if you’re talking to me or Zach or voices in your head. I certainly hope you’re not referring to me as a “Fedor fanboy.” When I talked to people about Fedor, they were people on both sides of the table. I reported back what I found: the contract was extremely generous, but not as generous as fans were told on the Carmichael Dave show.
When asked, specifically, on FIGHT Network radio and other places I said that I personally thought Fedor was crazy not to sign the contract. Like you said, it is the best contract ever offered an MMA fighter.
For what it’s worth, I talked to M-1 about allegations that Fedor was “scared” of opponents in the UFC. They were skeptical that anyone could possibly really believe this. I asked specifically about the Dave Meltzer accusation of ducking tough opponents. They rightfully pointed out he had faced the toughest opponents available to him everywhere he fought. In PRIDE those were the best heavyweights in the world.
Keep in mind he is being accused of this in the same week he was scheduled to face the near consensus #2 fighter in the world! It is ludicrous.
I’m not a Fedor fanboy, though I appreciate his achievements and sustained excellence. I’m not a UFC fanboy, although I am in awe of their growth and enjoy very much the product they produce.
For my part, I am just someone looking to hear the whole story. Unfortunately, in this case, I had to find it myself because the MMA media has become ridiculously partisan.
No, your definition is just narrow. Activist journalists are any writers who write something to sway public opinion to their viewpoint. It could be somebody writing that the FDA aren’t doing a good enough job with medicine safety, somebody writing that a stop sign needs to be put on a road because it’s too dangerous. Or someone stating they think a athlete needs to sign a contract he doesn’t want to.
No other major sports writers would have given an athlete even remotely the benefit of the doubt if they didn’t sign with the largest organization in the world. Not one.
Just because the MMA Media was behind the curve, doesn’t mean that makes them activists. They should have been on Fedor’s a$$ after he signed with Affliction.
“Keep in mind he is being accused of this in the same week he was scheduled to face the near consensus #2 fighter in the world! It is ludicrous.”
Those rankings come from the same Fedor fanboys. Arlovski, based on a true analysis of the Heavyweight Division, wasn’t even Top 5 when they fought. And Barnett shouldn’t have been ranked in the Top 4, likely not even in the top 5.
So just because the Fedor fanboys increase the rankings of fighters (who has no big wins beforehand), just because they were about to fight Fedor, just proves the point even more of how off track the MMA Media has been when following Fedor.
They are finally back on track. No activists. They just came back to reality.
Yes! And although Barnett is the “big wrestler” UFC fanboys are claiming Fedor will duck, not many people outside of the usual Fedor-haters that believe everyone he fights is going to beat him gave Barnett much of a chance. But the big UFC wrestlers are supposed to automatically demolish Fedor…..because they’re big…..in a sport where size has been proven a billion times not to necessarily matter. Yes, they’re bigger than Barnett, but they’re also (including Brock) learning on the job. And we’ve seen time and time again rookie mistakes against savvy veterans lose fights. Not saying they couldn’t beat him, but on paper Barnett had a much better chance than Cain or Shane.
Hey Mark,
I hope we all live to see VF as the top of the MMA fight promotion ladder. They you will see what a saint he is, how he is only doing what he is doing for the sport of MMA. Then we will be free from the dark reign of DW who is the source of all evil.
“45 Huddle Says:
No other major sports writers would have given an athlete even remotely the benefit of the doubt if they didn’t sign with the largest organization in the world. Not one.”
That is a weird and foolish argument to begin with, but have you even heard of Josh Childress?
Josh Childress?
No.
Hopefully I’m not making 45’s point.
Mark,
Fedor’s biggest strength is against bigger slow Heavyweights, so he can use his speed. One of his biggest weaknesses is off his back where he has looked mortal against even guys like Mark Hunt.
The UFC guys like Carwin, Cain, & Lesnar all have the same speed as Fedor, and they have the ground game to neutralize him. That is why it is thought that he would potentially struggle against the next crop of talent that is currently in the UFC.
As for Childress….. I did have to wiki him. Has anybody ever heard of the guy? He was not Lebron, Kobe, or some big named NBA player. If one of those guys took a European League contract, the writers would blast them. Same as they should blast Fedor.
Childress is a cult figure because he left the Atlanta Hawks to go to Greece. He tried to get back to the States this year with the Milwaukee Bucks, but Atlanta blocked it.
I think pundits are blasting Fedor right and left. Maybe you’ve missed the articles: allow me to point you to every MMA site on the internet for an example.
People have roundly criticized Fedor. If you mean people should levy criticisms in their news reports, I would respectfully disagree.
When it comes down to it, the UFC hadn’t been the best place for him to be until this recent round of negotiations. Until now, there were as many talented heavyweights outside Zuffa as in it. Even they admit this. Now the UFC has a collection of rising stars that make for interesting match-ups.
As an aside, I wonder about the references to Brock’s speed. His hands looked awfully slow against Mir, who tagged him several times. It should probably be noted that Randleman and especially Coleman are more decorated wrestlers than any of the UFC’s trio of prospects and Fedor managed to survive their assault.
First of all, I have not seen the “contract” presented to Fedor–it is my understanding a contact was not submitted at all. Is this incorrect?
As to 45 Huddle:
“1. No sports league has been as generous with their payouts less then 20 years into their existence. Fighter pay has increase dramatically in the last 5 years. Main Event Fighters have seen an increase in pay of over 500%. By comparison, the old timers alive still today of baseball either had to get new jobs or become baseball announcers because they weren’t paid enough during their careers. And this was while it was the biggest sport in the country.”
This is true because the other sports leagues, quite simply, DID NOT HAVE THE REVENUE to be generous with. As soon as national TV came into play, and thereby a dramatic and rapid increase in revenue, salaries went up dramatically, and very rapidely.
This isn’t the case with the UFC. Substantial revenue already exists–right now.
Here is a hypothetical question–if Fedor isn’t worth more than $5 million in sales, and Zuffa wouldn’t’ turn a mighty tidy profit on such an event, why are they not jumping at the chance to defray the costs onto another party who is willing to split all such costs?
“2. Most sports, including the NFL & MLB (that I can 100% verify) restrict athletes from competing in any other sport or potential activity that could hurt them. Fedor was given an open ability to compete in Sambo.”
The leagues don’t do the restricting at all-individual team owners do. How often are those clauses enforced? I can think of exactly one occasion–Ron Gant following his motorcycle accident.
In a large number of other contracts that you don’t hear about—carve outs are routinely added to the list of restricted activities.
45 huddle do you have comprehension issues?
you continually miss the point yet continue to spit out the same things you’ve said in this thread and others all week.
Go back read the post and think about it. Get some original thoughts and post them. Your tired bloodyelbow opinions are boring and counterproductive.
I\’m not a fan of M-1, and I agree Zuffa would be superior to work for. But I think it is ridiculous for a bunch of armchair MMA fighters to tell a grown man what he has to do with his life. If Fedor doesn’t want to take the UFC deal that’s his decision. And plus the idea of Fedor not being allowed to make his own decisions, like he’s in some kind of abusive relationship if annoying as well. I love how people believe their beloved fighters are mentally strong enough to fight for a living, but they turn into weak little puppies under the influence of Jenna Jameson, Kim Couture, Monte Cox and Vadim Finkelstein. Fedor strikes me as a very intelligent man who makes his own life decisions. Blame him, not his manager.
Take a look at Fedor’s actual fight record instead of basing your opinion on a random Underground forum post. Fedor has fought far more than just a bunch of slugs.
Rob Maysey,
You need to do some reading on how management treated baseball players back in the day. Even as far back at the early 1900’s, there were owners making lots of money and trickling down almost nothing to their players.
Also, the Yankees voided Aaron Boone’s contract for playing basketball in the off season and getting injured. It does happen…. And that is why the clause is in there. If the team chooses not to void the contract, that is their choice.
Also, for the NFL, it is standard in all players contracts, not just something put in their by an owner.
Mark,
“Take a look at Fedor’s actual fight record instead of basing your opinion on a random Underground forum post. Fedor has fought far more than just a bunch of slugs.”
His biggest wins are against Antonio Nogueira and Cro Cop. Nogueira is not a quick Heavyweight by today’s standards. And Cro Cop has proven to be a one dimensional fighter who if he can’t land the big head kick, is very beatable.
I never said Fedor only fought slugs. But he has never fought the type of athletes that are currently in the UFC’s Heavyweight Division. They never existed back in the Pride days.
erik,
Just because you don’t agree with me, doesn’t mean you have to throw out insults. I completely understand what is being said by Zach and a few others here. I just think they are looking in the wrong direction.
They are like a bunch of people who when talking about how to provide the world with energy for the next 100 years, are trying to look at ways to make oil more efficient. When really, it is about renewable energy sources like wind and solar. They are just looking at this from completely the wrong angle.
If you can’t comprehend that, then that’s your problem.
Well, armed with that explanation, I have to say that I’m not particularly shocked at what Childress did. I’m a soccer fan, and soccer players routinely go where the money or opportunity for first team play are, and will join smaller teams in smaller countries if it seems like there is a good feeder opportunity to a bigger team, or if that team just has the money to pay them more than they’re worth to other teams.
Greece is a nice place, and I assume that their basketball teams are affiliated with their existing soccer teams which have nice stadia and good fans. As to the wanting to quit his contract and come back to the US part, soccer players do that too (*cough* Los Angeles *cough* they should have known).
““Keep in mind he is being accused of this in the same week he was scheduled to face the near consensus #2 fighter in the world! It is ludicrous.”
Those rankings come from the same Fedor fanboys. Arlovski, based on a true analysis of the Heavyweight Division, wasn’t even Top 5 when they fought. And Barnett shouldn’t have been ranked in the Top 4, likely not even in the top 5.”
This little exchange is a perfect illustration of why these discussions are so pointless. You can make factual statements, such as “Barnett has the second best Elo score of any HW” or “Barnett is the consensus No. 2 HW,” but if someone believes that Elo is worthless and the consensus is biased against the most influential promoter, where can the discussion go? Probably to flames.
Mark,
I’m glad you said that. I don’t disagree with anything you said in your last post and I heartily endorse whatever EF wants to do. I just don’t pity him if there are a couple of negative articles about him. Hell, even mother teresa and ghandi got bad press at certain points. Getting bad press is part of being an adult. If you can’t take a couple of nasty biased press articles then you should just give up now.
I still stand by my initial implication that most, not all, but most, Russian business men will pound a stake in your eye without remorse if you stand in the way of them and what they want. largely because I’ve seen it happen, luckily not had it happen but had associates who have had less than positive experiences in Russia.
Quite frankly I think this is all on Vadim and Fedor’s plate. Even Fedor’s brother thinks M-1 is in the wrong here:
http://insidefights.com/2009/07/27/aleksander-emelianenko-comments-on-ufc-contract-system/
“You can deal with UFC, I know that they have flexible contract system. All these talks about “strict” contract terms with signing with UFC, come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his owns business projects through Fedor’s fights”
Correct on Aaron Boone–I forgot about that one. It is extremely rare in any event.
As to how management treated players–you are correct, it wasn’t always great. That said, the salary/payout comparison coupled with the passage of time is just not comparable. Baseball revenues were miniscule until the national TV entered the picture–which wasn’t all that long ago.
Enormous revenue already exists for Zuffa, leaving the “passage of time” analogy empty. It amounts to nothing more than, talent should wait for payouts for the passage of time, not for any reason other than the passage of time. They are not waiting on a growth in revenue (the revenue already exists).
Rob,
Revenue is not always the sole driver in employee salaries. It also depends on what stage of the typical business life-cycle the UFC is in — which is most likely still in the growth phase as evidenced by Zuffa’s attempted expansion into Europe and recent talks of Japan.
Salaries are lower in the startup and growth stages than they would be in later stages of the life-cycle.
Agreed. That said, it isn’t because of equity–just leverage. I understand the business dynamics, just some of the justifications pushed are absurd.
Zach-
Good piece.
I want to make clear one main thing, and I have been working very hard chasing this thing around because I think it is tremendously important.
The quotes that you got from Sherdog and Cofield’s radio show when I was on are accurate. I’m just not sure they paint the entire picture of my point.
As you stated, the media is used as a tool at times. Whether it is X ballplayer in the middle of a contract negotiation leaking that “several other teams are interested”, to a Washington politician leaking information under the title “a source close to the White House”, etc…..these things happen.
Everyone assumes who/what my source was, and as a fellow journalist you know that’s something you just never, ever disclose without permission.
But just because I am not ignorant to the gamesmanship, doesnt mean I shouldnt report it. I got the leak, probed as far as I could, and reported it. Obviously, if some guy off the street told me something, you would never hear about it. As I said on Cofield’s show, I get stories on my desk every week that I don’t report, because I don’t have full confidence in the source. Many times, the source is accurate, and I miss breaking the news. That’s fine, if I reported everything I heard I’d be a gossip host, not an MMA/sports radio host.
There is no “activism” here. If you’re familiar with my Dana/Fedor interview from a couple months ago, you would know I’ve been very vocal about this subject, and challenged Dana as much/more than anyone else.
In addition, when M-1’s denial came out, many in the media flipped a switch and took that as gospel as well. The funny thing to me?? The VERY NEXT DAY there was a press conference with half the MMA media world online with the UFC president, and not ONE PERSON asked about the 6/30 offer. Pretty strange that people jumped ship off my report, but no one bothered to ask the horse.
MMA media is a strange bird, and after covering all kinds of sports, including the Sacramento Kings for 4 years, I have never seen anything like it.
Just because I have a working and friendly “relationship” with Dana White, I am labeled a sycophant. I had Scott Coker on tonight talking about the Fedor signing, and I’ll bet NO ONE ever mentions me being pro-strikeforce. Tom Atencio practically camped out on my show, and both he and I shared a car with our mutual friend Scott Smith for the ride to and from Sacramento for Smith/Lawlor II. I wrote about the whole thing. No one accused me of cozying up to a promoter, or a fighter as well (who is one of my best friends).
You HAVE to have relationships in this business, but it should never get in the way of your objectivity. I went on Sherdog (which I often leak stories to) in order to give MMA fans an open forum to talk about my story with the guy who wrote it. I got my ass kicked for an entire day, but in the end I think most people learned a thing or two, including me.
Notice I didnt post the story on my blog, I don’t have one. I have a LOCAL radio show, I get nothing from people outside of Sacramento listening, other than good MMA talk. The local ratings cannot measure anything out of my market, nor do sponsors care about web streams. I have zero to gain from this, other than sharing the news, and being a part of the MMA media world. Again, I used another site (and frequently do) to share the news, and they got all the hits, attention, etc. Which is great.
Dana White and the UFC are so polarizing, that anyone who doesnt roll behind a keyboard/camera/mic and just fillet them is a “shill”.
I have zero issue with the report I filed. I trusted, and still trust the source. People also forget that the Combat Sambo and PPV cut were also confirmed by M-1. Only the accounting of the numbers was questioned.
I’ve made this offer to Snowden, and I’ll make it to you. I’d love to continue this subject either by email ([email protected]), or on my radio program. I think its an important debate, not just in the world of journalism, but the growing world of MMA journalism.