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« | Home | »

About reports of M-1 restructuring…

By Zach Arnold | July 9, 2010

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Evgeni Kogan of M-1 is denying what you are hearing in regards to major restructuring. Also said during this interview:

M-1 will sit down with Ken Hershman and Showtime to work out a plan to move forward, which M-1 sees as Fedor vs. Werdum in a re-match. Mr. Kogan said that there is emphasis for a re-match based on a poll they put on their web site where 1,000 people voted and about 75-80% said they wanted to see the re-match take place. Plus, it doesn’t make much sense for Fedor, coming off a loss, to fight for the Strikeforce Heavyweight title.

It’s unrealistic to think that the re-match would happen in Moscow and it will happen in the US, with the expectation that it will happen before the year is over.

Regarding the issue of a ‘champion’s clause’ in a contract, M-1’s official stance is they are open to any possibilities, including a contract extension or no contract extension. They are happy with the current state of their relationship with Showtime and Strikeforce, “which is saying a lot.” Having a champion’s clause in a contract would not be considered a deal-breaker.

As to why Fedor didn’t fight on the CBS show in Nashville, M-1 was at an impasse with Strikeforce. As to why Fedor vs. Overeem hasn’t already happened, M-1 says they were never offered a fight with Overeem in the first place.

Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

23 Responses to “About reports of M-1 restructuring…”

  1. Brock Lesnar Fan says:

    Fedor’s management seem to be under the delusion that they still have some kind of bargaining power here. Fedor got exposed, and is effectively irrelevent in the PPV stakes as well. Coker would be a fool to pander to these people any longer.

    • robthom says:

      Actually I would describe it more as they are well aware that they have practically lost their bargaining power.

      Which is why they are going to put every effort into an immediate rematch “saving throw”.

      You are absolutely correct that it would be foolish to give them the opportunity.

      We’ve seen how they act.
      They dont play a clean game when they’ve got the cards. And they wont next time if they get them again either.

      It might sound mean, but I’d use this as an opportunity to starve them out and let them implode under their own weight ala wamma.

      Everyone (who counts at least) will be better off without them.

      • robthom says:

        Let me ammend that.

        They haven’t actually lost their bargaining power.

        They still have one of the bets HW’s in the world.

        They have possibly lost their bargaining power to get something for nothing!

        Unless Fedor can quickly erase the loss against Werdum he’s going to have to fight actual fights against relevant opponents to prove his worth again from now on.

        And its quite possible that even an immediate rematch win against Werdum might not restore that old bargaining magic to the way it was ever again.

        Like I’ve been saying, I love Fed but this really was for the best.

  2. Steve4192 says:

    “Plus, it doesn’t make much sense for Fedor, coming off a loss, to fight for the Strikeforce Heavyweight title.”

    You know what else doesn’t make sense?

    Asking the champion to sit on his hands while Fedor gets his precious rematch. It also doesn’t make much sense to to ask the winner of the heavily promoted #1 contender match for a ‘do over’.

    Give Fedor Bigfoot Silva. Losers don’t get to pick their matches. They get the leftovers.

  3. Steve4192 says:

    “Having a champion’s clause in a contract would not be considered a deal-breaker”

    LOL

    Whatever happened to Champion’s clauses being tantamount to slavery?

  4. James says:

    Anything to not go to UFC where Dana White won’t put up with your politics, eh Fedor, M-1, etc?

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Strikeforce was always the safe bet for them. The level of competition was easier. The ability to manipulate the negotiations were always in their favor.

  5. white ninja says:

    time to see how Vadim can dance now – it wasnt hard when he was holding onto a carefully constructed legends; now his stupidity has massively damaged his only asset

    lets see what he can do now

  6. HLAMNENADA says:

    FEDOR GOT EXPOSED!!! I LOVE THAT PHRASE.

    LESNAR:GOT BEAT ON FOR 3 MINUTES, COMES BACK TO WIN, LESNAR HAS HEART OF A CHAMPION.

    FEDOR: GOT PUNCHED FOR ABOUT 10 SECONDS, COMES BACK TO WIN THE ROUND AND THE FIGHT, FEDOR GOT EXPOSED.

    CARWIN: LOST FIRST FIGHT OF HIS CAREER, FIRST TIME OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND AND COULDN’T FIGHT ANYMORE. SHOWED THAT HE IS ONE OF THE BEST WILL COME BACK STRONGER.

    FEDOR: LOST FIRST FIGHT IN A DECADE, FEDOR GOT EXPOSED.

    Seems to me that anytime anyone gets a punch on Fedor or a submission attempt or anything, it’s automatically: “FEDOR GOT EXPOSED” that phrase has been overused so much it should be banned from the English language.

    • Brock Lesnar Fan says:

      Sherdog is leaking again it seems

      • HLAMNENADA says:

        I NEVER POST ON SHERDOG, BUT APPARENTLY YOU DO SINCE YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT GOES ON THERE.

      • Brock Lesnar Fan says:

        And yes Fedor got exposed. His tactical error was as rudimentary as Brock Lesnar getting submitted at the hands of Frank Mir (Brock’s second professional fight no less). You just do not fuck around in the guard of a BJJ black belt like that unless you are hopelessly naive of the danger facing you, or you have a complete lack of respect for your opponent’s ability. Both are massive failings for anyone who claims to be one of MMA’s top elite.

        • HLAMNENADA says:

          So you’re saying that Fedor sucks on the ground right? Do you know the meaning of exposed? The meaning of exposed is a fighter showed that he is weak in a any style. Ground, or standing. Now Brock got exposed, showing that he has no stand up what so ever. Fedor being submitted for the first time in his fighting career does not expose him as a fighter that doesn’t know how to fight on the ground.

        • edub says:

          No it exposes him as a guy who always fought wide open with little regard for his opponents area of expertise. He’s done it before and gotten away with it against Nog, and Crocop, but Werdum is a different animal. We’re talking about a guy who is possibly the best HW grappler in the world, and Fedor(after barely escaping an armbar) jumped right back into his guard. That was a terrible move, and it exposed his fight IQ in the ring/cage.

  7. HLAMNENADA says:

    I hope everyone in here realizes that no matter who Fedor, AKA.”FRAIDOR” AKA. “EXPOSED FEDOR” AKA.”FAKE FEDOR” AKA.”CAN” AKA.”FAT BASTARD” fights he would still be the favorite on the betting lines. And that’s all that matters.

    I actually hopes that he would have been dropped from the rankings period so the bookmakers would think he’s a can so they would rate him as a +500 undergod. That’s where I would come in and become a millionaire.

    • Steve4192 says:

      Bit of advice bro … if you want to be taken seriously, quit typing in all caps. Nobody reads anything you write you go all CapsLock on us. You can make your point without screaming.

  8. HLAMNENADA says:

    I’m not yelling. I don’t see a difference whether it’s in caps or not. Sometimes I leave the caps on sometimes I don’t, there is no special meaning behind caps.

    • Brad Wharton says:

      Apart from the fact that it irritates 99.9% of people who see it to the point that they don’t read what you have written and likely wont in the future, regardless of whether it’s in caps or not.

      If there’s nothing special about caps, don’t press the caps lock button.

  9. HLAMNENADA says:

    Fine, but do you agree with my point?

  10. klown says:

    As a fan, I’m not sorry to see M-1 lose some power vis-a-vis Strikeforce.

    The correct fight for Fedor is neither Werdum nor Overeem, but Silva, as Steve suggests. If he can’t get past Bigfoot, he doesn’t deserve to face either “champion”, but if he wins, he should face first the loser of Werdum vs Overeem, then the winner of that fight.

    • The Gaijin says:

      But a Silva fight makes little sense to them…you don’t want to let him go out there and potentially destroy one of your up-and-coming HW’s and leave the company and then (probably unlikely) walk into the UFC with momentum again…or at least have the ability to make that threat in negotiations.

      They either have to appease him by offering the Werdum re-match and getting him to resign [and they’ll either further “legitimize” Werdum or re-build FE] OR they get the fight with Overeem and hope that creates some big hype [which builds the winner].

      In a fair and just world, sure he should be fighting Silva, but it just really doesn’t make sense given their situation.

      • Phil says:

        having him beat silva and leaving is a lot better situation than having him beat werdum or Overeem and walking (I’m not buying this champions clause thing that they’re selling).

        The move for SF is to offer him Bigfoot unless he signs a contract extension with a lot less bullshit in it than the current contract has. That’s a lot easier than trying to get them to agree to a champions clause or dealing with anything else right now.

    • Chuck says:

      But if he fights and beats Silva, then that’s his third and final bout. There would be no guarantee that he would resign with Strikeforce. Of that three fight scenario you put up, he will probably not go 3-0 (probably losing to Overeem). After his third fight, would Fedor be worth it to keep?

      For your scenario to be happening in any sort of way then Strikeforce would have to make Fedor vs. Overeem as Fedor’s next fight, hope Fedor wins, then enact a champion’s clause.

      But I agree with you and Gaijin, Fedor should really fight Silva next. It ain’t happening though, unless Coker can somehow sign Fedor to at least a one-fight extension before his third fight happens.

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