Fedor, UFC finalizing deal

[SHOGUN]

A long-awaited agreement between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the man considered the world's best mixed martial arts fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, is expected to be announced by UFC President Dana White on Friday, a source with information about the negotiations told The Times today.

The source, who asked not to be identified because he's not authorized to speak publicly about the dealings, called negotiations between the UFC and Fedor "very civil" just days after Fedor's scheduled Affliction Trilogy fight Saturday against Josh Barnett was canceled.

Affliction wound up folding its MMA promotion activities and announced an apparel deal to sponsor UFC.

Now, Fedor, who has previously fought in organizations including PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan, Bodog Fight and Affliction, is crossing over to the world's most successful MMA fighting organization, as well.

With a 30-1 record that includes victories over former UFC heavyweight champions Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Emelianenko would likely get an immediate shot at reigning UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar.

The source said officials were discussing details on the public announcement of the deal, which in the past has been complicated by Emelianenko's resistance to accept UFC's standard six-fight contract and his unwillingness to surrender some merchandising and marketing revenues.

But this month White said he was optimistic he could bring Emelianenko aboard, and his confidence was well-placed. The UFC declined to elaborate on Friday's scheduled announcement.

-- Lance Pugmire

Link

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Fucking sick.

 

[Anthony]

This calls for a motherfucking celebration; Oooooooh, Lesnar fanboys your days are numbered.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

So.. does he make the super fight right away or does he butter Fedor up with a couple cans first?

 

[Anthony]

So.. does he make the super fight right away or does he butter Fedor up with a couple cans first?

Give him the Cro Cop treatment. Feed him Eddie Sanchez & on Sunday we mourn Eddie.

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

great news. and somewhere in california a liquid man named rob is gently weeping...

 

[SHOGUN]

They're going to give him someone like Mir or Brock off the bat. I don't think Dana is nice enough to feed him a can.

 

[Anthony]

Sorry to ruin this thread but...

Denying a published report Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times, M-1 Global officials told SI.com that Fedor Emelianenko and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are not close to finalizing a deal that would bring mixed martial arts' top heavyweight in the Octagon.

"I can give you a guarantee it's not accurate," said Apy Echteld of M-1 Global, a St. Petersburg, Russia-based promotion and management company of which Emelianenko is an equity stakeholder.

According to the Times' report -- which referenced an unnamed source unaffiliated with the UFC and "with information about the negotiations" -- UFC president Dana White was set to announce the signing of Emelianenko on Friday. The source also said negotiations between the top MMA promoter and the Russian champion's camp were "very civil," and that both groups were discussing details on the pending public announcement.

Echteld declined to comment on negotiations between M-1 Global and the UFC, which are rumored to be taking place Tuesday in Los Angeles. He pointed to a press conference Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif., for "important" news on Emelianenko's fate.

FML!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/mma/07/28/Emelianenko.Octagon/index.html

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Fedor/UFC update
Lance Pugmire of The Los Angeles Times has just reported that an agreement between Fedor Emelianenko and UFC would be announced Friday at a press conference.

UFC announced a Friday morning press conference officially a few hours ago. The Times quoted a source with information on the negotiations, who said he is not authorized to speak publicly.

It was also stated the source was not affiliated with UFC.

The story stated Emelianenko would likely get a match immediately with Brock Lesnar.

We do know negotiations are ongoing between Emelianenko with both UFC and Strikeforce.

But if true, that may not even be the biggest UFC deal of the week.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was from Meltzer earlier today.

The last line is something Meltzer has been hinting at for the last few weeks. Most feel its some sort of TV deal with either CBS, ESPN, or HBO (most likely CBS).

 

[SHOGUN]

Somewhere in Cali, a liquid man named Rob still holds out hope.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Too good to be true?

 

[Hogle]

can't wait for that press conference, White's supposed to announce the latest on UFC and Fedor, and possibly something about EA's MMA game

 

[Liquidrob]

great news. and somewhere in california a liquid man named rob is gently weeping...

lol, nah man, no one knows whats going on, guys are just making stuff up and see if they were right, earlier some website said fedor signed with strikeforce and I didnt believe that either

fedor has a press confernece tomorrow, Dana has 1 Friday, supposedly Fedor is meeting strikeforce on the weekend, who knows

anyway, if Fedor signed with the UFC I wouldnt mind, there are some good match ups there, but what drives me crazy is when I read that the only good fights are in the UFC and thats BS, lets look at the UFC compared to outside the UFC

UFC HWs

Brock
Randy
Mir
Carwin
Cain
Maybe Gonzaga

thats about it, Fedor already beat Nog, Cro Cop and Heath

Outside the UFC

Barnett
Overeem
Big Foot Silva
Rogers
Werdum
Maybe Yvel or Monson
Even Lashely after a couple of fights

Is it really that different? the only thing people want to see in the UFC is Fedor vs Brock which is an interesting match up, but its still a guy with 5 fights

 

[Anthony]

lol, nah man, no one knows whats going on, guys are just making stuff up and see if they were right, earlier some website said fedor signed with strikeforce and I didnt believe that either

fedor has a press confernece tomorrow, Dana has 1 Friday, supposedly Fedor is meeting strikeforce on the weekend, who knows

anyway, if Fedor signed with the UFC I wouldnt mind, there are some good match ups there, but what drives me crazy is when I read that the only good fights are in the UFC and thats BS, lets look at the UFC compared to outside the UFC

UFC HWs

Brock
Randy
Mir
Carwin
Cain
Maybe Gonzaga

thats about it, Fedor already beat Nog, Cro Cop and Heath

Outside the UFC

Barnett
Overeem
Big Foot Silva
Rogers
Werdum
Maybe Yvel or Monson
Even Lashely after a couple of fights

Is it really that different? the only thing people want to see in the UFC is Fedor vs Brock which is an interesting match up, but its still a guy with 5 fights

Top 3 are juicers & Barnett fucked us all out of a great event, so fuck him. I wouldn't mind seeing him go against Monson the anarchist though. Werdum got tooled by dos Santos but I wouldn't mind seeing that match either.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Outside the UFC

Barnett

We tried that already.

 

[JeremyHight]

I cannot honestly take guys who only fight in Japan seriously with their doping scandals. They will take anyone regardless of their history and just turn a blind eye to their possible steroid use. Any time someone lists Barnett as a top heavyweight, I cannot help but scoff at that idea. I would be a top welterweight if you allowed me to shoot up.

 

[Liquidrob]

please guys, just stop

differnece between Barnett and everyone else he got caught

I'm not saying its right, its just the way it is, every sport has this problem, just dont rip Barnett and whoever and than marvel at the speed and power of your favorite NFL players every sunday

Barnett passed 2 tests in Cali, this time he got caught

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

this is the second time Barnett got popped. bottom line is he fucked up what was going to be the biggest fight of the year and now mostly because of his dumbass the whole show got called off. people have a right to be pissed at barnett.

 

[JeremyHight]

please guys, just stop

differnece between Barnett and everyone else he got caught

I'm not saying its right, its just the way it is, every sport has this problem, just dont rip Barnett and whoever and than marvel at the speed and power of your favorite NFL players speed and power

Barnett passed 2 tests in Cali, this time he got caught

Oh please, Barnett has FAILED 2 tests in the US. Of his last 5 fights (including against Fedor) in the US, he or his competitor has failed drug tests 3 times. And guess what? The opponent who failed was a guy who primarily fought in Japan, just like Barnett!

Give me a break with this NFL vs Japan BS. In the NFL, they have strict testing with stern punishments. Same thing in the California, Nevada, or anywhere else in the U.S. What does Japan have that even comes close to comparing to that.

 

[Liquidrob]

this is the second time Barnett got popped. bottom line is he fucked up what was going to be the biggest fight of the year and now mostly because of his dumbass the whole show got called off. people have a right to be pissed at barnett.

nothing wrong with being mad at Barnett, I am, but I still would like to see him fight Fedor in the future and he is still a very good fighter

just dont get all high and mighty like all these guys are clean because they dont fail tests, not saying you are, but sports fans in general

they bash bonds to death for years, than guess what? A Rod, Manny, Clemens, etc...

Its everywhere, all sports, where there is money, guys will be on something