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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Fedor Emelianenko has not fought since his second round TKO over Brett Rogers last November, and with him not fighting on last weekend's return to CBS, the on-going negotiations between Strikeforce and M-1 Global have put Fedor's absence squarely on the shoulders of Strikeforce. But M-1 Global says the onus is on Strikeforce to get Emelianenko back in the cage.
M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelchtein talked to MMAJunkie.com this week, and gave their side of the issues that have kept Fedor out of the cage.
"Fedor has been ready to fight for a long time now. Fedor could have fought this past weekend. He is constantly training and constantly keeping up his form. With the level of training he's doing, to get ready for a fight, he just needs to raise that level to a more intense training about five to six weeks out.
"The situation, as it is currently, is that we are discussing with Strikeforce getting the terms that were promised to us on the original deal prior to entering into the relationship. At this point, and for a while now, we have been officially waiting for the other side to give us a green light about going by those terms that we agreed on."
Finkelchtein also made it clear that M-1 was not re-negotiating the contract for more money, as they are trying to get Strikeforce to adhere to things originally agreed upon when the two companies entered into their agreement in 2009.
"I think it's fair enough to say that everyone who saw the Nov. 7 show essentially had no idea that it was a co-promotion between M-1 and Strikeforce," said Finkelchtein. "It looked like a Strikeforce show. The fact that we had our logo on the mat didn't make us stand out at all from any of the other sponsors. The small logos that we had and the graphics that we had, they didn't spell out co-promotion in the way that we had expected."
In addition to the appearance of the show, Finkelchtein said that M-1 Global put more money into the November 7 show than Strikeforce did.
"In terms of the financial side of things, we invested money into the project, and it was a considerably larger amount of money than Strikeforce. All we want going forward is what was promised to us. We don't want additional co-promotion. We don't want additional branding. We don't want additional money. We just want what was promised to us in the negotiations prior to this relationship being entered into. It's a little bit of this and a little bit of that, essentially, and nothing on top of what was promised."
Finkelchtein again stressed that Fedor is ready to fight, and it's just on Strikeforce at this point.
"Fedor has been ready to fight," he said. "He's able to fight in the June show, but we need the go-ahead from Strikeforce and to get the terms that we need and that were promised to us. Some of the requirements weren't adhered to for the first fight in November. That's our position. We just want was promised. If that position can't be arrived at, then I'm not sure. We're just waiting for the go-ahead from the other side."
Penick's Analysis: I'm not sure exactly what M-1 is expecting in this agreement to make the "co-promoted" shows seem like not just a Strikeforce show, but it's clear why the UFC wanted nothing to do with it. Strikeforce signed on with them, and if they agreed to certain terms that they haven't met than it's absolutely on them to deliver their side of the agreement. If that means more M-1 fighters on their cards, more of a clear M-1 presence during the broadcast or whatever, then that's exactly what they need to do to get Fedor back in the cage. Their major problem comes if they don't get things together to fulfill their side of the agreement before June. The longer Fedor and M-1 hold out the worse it is for Strikeforce, and unfortunately for them they've made their bed with M-1 in this deal and they need to come through with whatever terms they agreed to when they signed Fedor. They may have gotten a good spike in viewers in November for Fedor, but in retrospect it may not have been the smartest thing to get involved with on Strikeforce's part.
RELATED STORY: STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Scott Coker says Fedor Emelianenko will fight Fabricio Werdum in June: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
[Fedor Emelianenko art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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