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2008-05-06 01:29:52
Is Fedor Emelianenko Too Greedy for his Own Good?
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It seems that wherever Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emeliankenko goes, money troubles always follow.
According to various reports, Fedor's proposed July 19th match-up against Tim Sylvia may be in trouble because of the rumored sky-high purses that the Affliction promotion would have to shell out to put on this event. Rumor has it that Fedor would be receiving two million dollars to fight on this card, and Tim Sylvia would be receiving $800,000 just to show up, and an additional $200,000 if he won.
The problem is that this fight would only make sense if Affliction was able to pull together other elements of the show, such as the proper arena to host the venue in and the proper television deal. Rumor has it that Affliction (the promotion that would be holding the show) hasn't been able to book the American Airlines arena in Dallas. Also, HDNet has apparently decided not to air the battle on HDNet Fights, leaving the show without a venue and a TV deal at this time. Without these things, a Fedor / Sylvia fight would not make sense due to the large amount of money that Affliction would have to pay just to have these two square off against each other.
Fedor has had money issues seemingly wherever he has gone. He is arguably the best heavyweight fighter in the world, but has this acclaim gone to his head?
He turned down a seemingly lucrative deal with the UFC because it was too "restrictive". Dana White has gone on the record as saying that the deal would have paid Fedor many millions of dollars, as well as offering him the mainstream exposure that would lead to millions of more dollars in endorsement opportunities. I believe that the UFC did everything they could do to secure the services of Fedor, as it would lead to millions upon millions of dollars in PPV buys, as well as likely leading to the return of Randy Couture to the UFC. I can pretty much guarantee that the UFC had the full-court press on to secure the services of Fedor, but were rebuffed because Fedor likely wanted millions of dollars per fight AND the freedom to fight elsewhere while under contract to the UFC.
Fedor also "signed" a six fight, $12 million dollar deal with M-1 Global. M-1 Global could never get off the ground, and Fedor was soon released from his contract (word has it that the two sides never formally signed a deal, but instead were operating via a "letter of intent"). We will never know the true reasons behind M-1 Global not taking off, but one would have to think that Fedor's large contract had something to do with it. It is pretty hard for a promotion to turn a profit if one fighter is making two million dollars per fight. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much impossible, except for maybe the UFC.
Fedor is largely regarded as being one of the best heavyweight fighters in the world. However, for Fedor to truly cement his legacy as one of the best ever, he needs to start fighting some real competition. This will likely mean that Fedor will have to accept less money to fight, or else all of these proposed deals will never get off the ground. Expecting a new promotion to swallow up to three million dollars just to put on ONE fight is ridiculous, let alone the costs of securing a half-decent undercard.
My free advice to Fedor - drop your asking price and sign a deal with the UFC. You will be able to fight some of the top heavyweight fighters in the world. You will likely be guaranteed at least three fights per year. You will likely be able to have your fight against Randy Couture. And you will make millions more in endorsement deals.
According to Dana White, Fedor's management team is extremely hard to deal with. This certainly does seem to be the case, and if Fedor is interested in his legacy as a fighter, he might be advised to replace his "team" with another.
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