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Dana White talks about Fedor
By Zach Arnold | April 19, 2007
Money quote from The Fight Network:
“He has a contract with PRIDE,†White reconfirmed, though the 37-year-old publicly proclaimed he had a problem with the mega-star fighter appearing elsewhere.
White even went as far as to say he would take legal measures to ensure Emelianenko stay off any other roster besides his own.
“He’s not a free agent and absolutely we’d slap an injunction on him,†White said.
There’s a Japanese report now stating that Zuffa lawyers are looking at PRIDE’s financial records and contracts right now in Tokyo. Therefore, due diligence is supposedly taking place as we speak (the asset transfer is/was supposed to happen on May 1st).
If the PRIDE fighter contracts are personal service contracts, they likely could/would not be transferrable to third parties in an asset sale deal. In other words, fighters could possibly choose to be free agents if they wanted to be (or if they wanted to expose any loopholes in the deals).
A few questions to Dana White:
- If you say that guys are locked up to PRIDE contracts (exclusive or non-exclusive), then why are you trying to negotiate new deals? What’s the point of buying the PRIDE assets from DSE if the contracts are worthless or of little value?
- If the PRIDE contracts are personal service deals, how could you possibly get an injunction against a fighter in a court of law? Additionally, where would you attempt to get the injunction – in Japan? In America? In Russia?
- If BodogFight isn’t running shows in America, wouldn’t an injunction essentially be worthless to obtain in this matter?
I don’t understand why Dana White is talking so loudly about PRIDE when it has been reported in numerous media outlets that due diligence is taking place right now. Playing hardball with the PRIDE Heavyweight champion, who happens to be the greatest fighter in the history of MMA, is pretty interesting to watch.
Topics: BoDog, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White is talking a lot of BS
Didn’t Nobuyuki Sakakibara also threaten Fedor with legal action around the time of his destruction of Yuji Nagata on the 2003 Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye show, but eventually decide not to try anything? I’m seriously wondering what actual legal strength those contracts have given the posturing around them with no actual enforcement attempts in the past.
Exactly. I couldnt believe it when Fedor was booked for the Bom-Ba-Ye show yet DSE couldnt do nothing. Wasnt Mirko also due to be booked on that show but his no show was nothing to do with his DSE contract.
Due dilligence is something that by definition takes place BEFORE a business operation such as an acquisition. Get your facts straight. Second, what’s so wrong about trying to re-negotiate some previously locked-down contracts?
I thought Zuffa also renegotiated some contracts after the WFA purchase.
You’ve said the same thing in the past on the site, and yet you won’t update your opinion based on everything that is going on. Like I said when the big PR session happened on 3/27 at Roppongi Hills Arena, it was simply an agreement to do the asset transaction. UFC has admitted publicly that they are now combing through the contracts. You have a Japanese report stating that a Zuffa lawyer is at the DSE offices looking over contracts and paperwork.
As Tomer has argued before (the day after the Roppongi Hills PR session), what I’ve alluded to happens quite a bit in the ‘real world.’
I don’t understand why Dana White is talking so loudly about PRIDE when it has been reported in numerous media outlets that due diligence is taking place right now.
What numerous media outlets have reported due diligence is taking place right now? From Lorenzo’s press release it was stated that the companies were in the midst of transfering assets right now, PWW is supposed takeover around May not begin the asset transfer. Lawyers overseeing the transfer isn’t news either, the only media outlet that’s been constantly drumming due diligence is you.
3/27 – Roppongi Hills PR
5/01 – date of when assets are supposed to be officially transferred
So what is happening now then? 🙂
I thought Zuffa also renegotiated some contracts after the WFA purchase.
A lot of them were.
5/1 – date when PPW takes over.
So what is happening now then? The transfering of assets?
“So what is happening now then? The transfering of assets?”
What, are they being moved in a truck?
“If you say that guys are locked up to PRIDE contracts (exclusive or non-exclusive), then why are you trying to negotiate new deals? What’s the point of buying the PRIDE assets from DSE if the contracts are worthless or of little value?”
– Why would you even wonder about this? Most if not all of the PRIDE contracts appear(and have done so for years) to be non- 100% exclusive, and Dana White RESCENTS non-exclusive deals. The contracts are worth something because the fighters can’t just leave PRIDE – they(speaking in general terms here) still have fight(s) left on their deals, and he is renegotiating because he wants to go from preventing them from leaving en masse to tie them up completely to his company and his company only. I don’t agree with his politics, but I sure as hell can see the logic in the way he’s handling things right now.
Another thing to mention, besides the potential legal issues stemming from the alleged Yakuza connections of the DSE-run PRIDE organization is the accounting in Japan. After all, this is a U.S. Company (Zuffa) that (more than likely) follows the GAAP standards. If DSE did not use GAAP/IASB (IASB being the international version of GAAP with a few differences, essentially) then it will take Zuffa a while to figure out what various accounts mean, etc. in the context of the Japanese accounting regulations that are in place. International deals are always complex with regards to accounting analysis (which is typically the last step in due diligence).
Great radio show this week once again.
With Whaledog asking if Putin was in attendance at the Bodog show…not only was he there, but he brought Fedor & Lindland back to his palace after the event.
zach you are truely an idiot and you are going to hang on to this due diligence thing for like a year arent you?
Ah, Ad hominem attacks: the Sherdog staple ‘method’ of argumentation. Always a winning way to defend one’s point…
I gotta agree that the due diligence thing has been blown out of proportion. Even if they are performing it now (which is pure speculation), there’s very little chance that the official books are going to show any deal-breaking ties to shady organizations. Please, someone tell me what they expect will turn up through this ‘due diligence’ or whatever’s happening now that’s going to be a huge deal?
Worthless contracts and hidden debt/’slush funds’ would probably top the list. The allegations of criminal links is another facet, though they can only uncover so much (assuming there would be a paper trail in the accounting books and other documentation that was handed over, which would be pretty stupid) and, really, the closest they could probably prove something shady was going on if they spot a ‘slush fund’-type of situation where the money has mysteriously been filtered out of the organization. Wouldn’t necessarily prove any Yakuza connections but still would be more than reasonable grounds to back out given that the corporation would be ‘dirtied’ by said ‘slush fund’.
So Tomer, you believe that they’re going through the ‘due diligence’ process right now and that they will soon (if they hadn’t already) uncover ‘worthless contracts and hidden debt/’slush funds’?
I’m not saying that this is what I personally believe they will find, but it is likely the top items on Zuffa’s agenda while running their due diligence given the allegations regarding DSE’s links to the Yakuza. I do think, though, it’s funny that no one can possibly believe that DSE potentially could have been a Yakuza front (as was the allegation) considering that in the past there have been numerous examples of large organizations in various industries falling under the influence of organized crime, such as: the International Boxing Club, owned by Jim Norris (the HOF Hockey Promoter who also controlled MSG) and Arthur Wirtz was revealed as a Mafia front for Frankie Carbo and ‘Blinky’ Palermo, who used their power to control pretty much all of Boxing (and, in the process, helped begin its decline by their inept matchmaking, fight fixing/dives, etc.), the Teamsters union which also was heavily controlled by the Mafia, stories of promoters such as Antonio Inoki basically being subservient to every whim of the Yakuza (this is discussed in Tom ‘Dynamite Kid’ Billington’s book, “Pure Dynamite”) and so forth.
In summation: I don’t know whether or not DSE was ‘influenced’ by the Yakuza, but there is historical precedent of big organizations being under organized crime’s control, so it shouldn’t be a shock if it’s true.