UFC president Dana White still baffled why Emelianenko passed him by

PHILADELPHIA — After drawing a record 1.5 million-plus pay-per-view buys for last month's landmark UFC 100 show, the UFC kicks off a new century of mixed martial arts cards in a new town with two intriguing marquee matchups.
The City of Brotherly Love is hosting the MMA juggernaut for the first time this week and the UFC made the most of the city's past by holding its pre-fight news conference Thursday at the Independence Visitor Center, a stone's throw from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the nation's founders plotted their freedom.
Recent history was more the order of the day on the UFC front, however.
While the news conference focused on Saturday's lightweight title fight between champion B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian and an eagerly awaited 205-pound showdown between middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva and former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, UFC president Dana White found himself talking Fedor when he was scrummed by reporters after.
Russian star Fedor Emelianenko opted to shun the UFC earlier this week to sign with Strikeforce, a modest promotion that has operated under the UFC radar in recent years.
White announced last Friday that negotiations with the Russian's camp had broken down because they were insisting on co-promoting any fights Emelianenko was involved in. The UFC boss was in Abu Dhabi, scouting the United Arab Emirates for a future fight card, when news broke Monday that the Russian was joining Strikeforce.
Apart from a few expletive-laced texts, he had not reacted to the news until Thursday.
"Who's he going to fight?" White asked. "Nobody . . . he's going to fight nobodies and I just don't understand it. I just don't get it."
Emelianenko, responding on a Strikeforce conference call Thursday, dumped on the UFC.
"From my viewpoint, the UFC does not have the proper attitude to fighters," he said, according to a Strikeforce release. "The UFC attitude towards fighters is not a good one. They don't treat them like human beings. And I don't like their policy. The offer that we got was one kind, and then on the Internet they published really different numbers. The offer they gave us was really miserable."
The Russian did apologize to his fans that they would not get to see him fight UFC champion Brock Lesnar.
Strikeforce is a much smaller operation than the UFC with its website currently listing 34 fighters - a number that only covers A to C of the UFC stable.
Available Strikeforce opponents for Emelianenko include champion Alistair Overeem, Brett (The Grim) Rogers and former UFC fighter Fabricio Werdum. Strikeforce is also partnering with Japan-based Dream so it can raid another organization.
But the top heavies - Lesnar, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin and Randy Couture - call the UFC home.
Because White was on the road, he never got to speak to Emelianenko in person. He had a representative in the room with the Russians while he and UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta were at the other end of the phone.
"If I was sitting on Fedor's lap that deal wouldn't have got done," he said. "Didn't matter. The deal was not going to get done. We went in there to do a deal, they didn't."
White seemed genuinely baffled on why his multi-million-dollar offer (reports pegged it at a minimum of US$5 million a fight) was turned down.
"It's definitely not about money, it's definitely not about contracts. What's it really about? I don't know, I don't get it."
Vadim Finkelchtein, head of Emelianenko's M1 management company, said it was all about flexibility.
"The advantage in making the deal with Strikeforce is really great because the UFC didn't give us any chance to develop." he told the Strikeforce conference call. "The UFC wants Fedor to be a fighter only for the UFC. That's all they offered us. They didn't offer us anything else.
"Dana White stated that Fedor and M1 rejected a huge amount of money and decided to fight for nothing. But, that's not true. Nothing special was offered to M1 and Fedor during the negotiations with UFC. When we made the deal with Strikeforce we had opportunities to show our fights in many other countries. But the UFC wouldn't give us these opportunities."
Strikeforce upped the ante Thursday by scheduling its conference call conference at the exact same time as the UFC 101 news conference. It was a taste of its own medicine for the UFC, which used to do what it could to take the lustre off former rival Affliction's shows by scheduling events or shows opposite them.
It appears Strikeforce can expect more of the same.
"They should have stayed the way they were," White said ominously of Strikeforce, whom he dubbed "Strikefarce."
"If you want to fight me, we'll fight," he added. "You know how that goes. And we know how it ends."
White, whose prognostication powers have been pretty accurate when it comes to rivals, said the Fedor deal will cost Strikeforce.
"He'll put them out of business. These guys have no money and they have no distribution."
Not surprisingly, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker disagreed.
"We've been in business a long time and we know how to operate a business," he said.
Strikeforce airs its live shows on the Showtime cable network in the U.S. and pay-per-view in Canada, with packaged material on NBC and The Score in Canada. It partnered with the now-defunct EliteXC on several shows on CBS and clearly hopes to catch on with a network in the wake of the Fedor signing. Its deal with the Russian covers three fights over a year.
"I guarantee you the deal he got in Strikeforce isn't even in the universe of what he (would have) got (from us)," White said. "Not even close."
NOTES: White says the buzz generated from UFC 100 is still being felt more than a month later. "No doubt about it, 100 took us to a whole 'nother level. There was so much buzz and energy around that fight - and not just here but all over the world. It was big." ... White says there could be three UFC shows in Canada next year: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. "We're softening up a lot of the provinces up there," he said. "We're definitely going to Vancouver."



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White blasts 'joke' Fedor

DANA WHITE has savaged Fedor Emelianenko's decision to snub a deal with the UFC in favour of joining rivals Strikeforce.
The UFC president was locked in talks with The Last Emperor and representatives from Russian promotion M1-Global after the collapse of Affliction left him a free agent.

But even after White reportedly offered Emelianenko a five-fight, £2million-a-bout contract and agreed to let him continue to compete in Sambo tournaments in his native Russia, a deal could still not be reached.

The UFC say that the stumbling block was M1-Global's insistence on co-promoting events Emelianenko took part in.

The breakdown in talks has seen the 32-year-old pen terms on a three-fight deal with Strikeforce, with his cage debut set for later this year.

And the former Pride champion's actions have left White fuming.

Speaking to mmaweekly.com, he said: "Fedor is a f***ing joke.

"He turns down a huge deal and the opportunity to face the best in the world to fight nobodies for no money!

"How are they [M1-Global] going to help us co-promote?

"They're going to help us? That s*** might work in Russia [but] not here.

"How do you deal with something like this?

"We did everything possible for this deal. We didn't hold back. It's crazy to turn down a deal like this.

"We went above and beyond. We have been able to sign the best fighters in the world over the last 10 years, so to not be able to sign this guy [wasn't our fault]."

White added: "I feel sorry for the real fight fans.

"I wanted to make the deal, but it takes two and it is VERY obvious Fedor doesn't want to fight the best and doesn't give a s*** about the fans."

But Joost Raimond, Chief Operating Officer for M1-Global, revealed he is delighted with the deal his company and Emelianenko have signed with Strikeforce.

Raimond said: "It was a good opportunity. The co-promotion is a substantial part.

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"The whole set-up for the deal is to have co-promotion partners, and of course Fedor is an important part of that construction.

"But the co-promotion deal is of great importance.

"The financials behind his deal are based on a large number of factors, which include the co-promotion and co-branding activities, and Fedor is a part of that total deal."

Emelianenko added: "I am looking forward to going back to work and fighting at the highest level."

The Russian is widely regarded as the best heavyweight fighter on the planet and has been courted by the UFC for several years.

He has a 30-1-1 professional MMA record and counts former UFC stars Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia as his most recent scalps.


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