Ennis' Take
ENNIS SHORT: Finkelchtein Article Clarification
Jul 28, 2009 - 5:52:16 AM ENNIS SHORT: Finkelchtein Article Clarification

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Fedor [artist Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]

There have been some comments in the original article that I posted the other day about the villainy of Vadim Finkelchtein that lead me to believe I was misunderstood a bit.

Don't get me wrong - I don't mind negative comments or those who disagree with me speaking their minds (it doesn't make me any less right,) but there is one point in particular that has been somewhat sticky.

Toward the end of the article, I said, "A great fighter in his prime who essentially dodges most of the top ten fighters in the world cannot be considered the greatest ever. He may have had the most impressive run of any fighter in Pride, but that was a long time ago."

Some have taken this to mean that Fedor has been dodging competition up till now. That's simply not the case. As opposed to the time period immediately after the collapse of Pride, Fedor has fought two (and it would have been three) top-ten fighters in the last two years. So that's not what we're talking about here. The point is that should Fedor choose not to go to the UFC, for whatever reason, he'll be the number one fighter in the game and won't be fighting top-caliber fighters anymore.

Sure, you've got the Barnett fight, should it ever come to fruition. Then what? You've got Overeem and Rogers in Strikeforce, and that's quality opposition, but it's still not as good as what awaits King Fedor in the UFC. According to the USA Today/SB Nation MMA Rankings (a compilation of rankings from MMA websites, including MMATorch,) fighters #3-7 currently reside in the UFC (Lesnar, Mir, Nogueira, Couture, Carwin.) And as for the future, is it realistic to think that most top heavyweight fighters (or fighters in any weight class for that matter) will be cultivated outside the Zuffa umbrella? With very few exceptions, I just can't see that being the case.

This isn't a case of, "Fedor should give up all his rights and go to the UFC." It'd be one thing if he were reluctant to go to Zuffa until there's a fighter's union, or until Zuffa makes their earnings public so that fighters can more easily negotiate pay, or some other development that would benefit all fighters (and non-exclusivity isn't that thing.) But what's keeping him out of the UFC is co-promotion, plain and simple. The point is, that shouldn't have anything to do with Fedor.

Look, there are a lot of people out there who want to deify Fedor as if he's above all the fray. "He doesn't care about how people see him," or "He doesn't care about the money." Everyone cares about those things. How much they care may be up for debate, but especially when you're a fighter on a big stage, you care about what people think and you care about how much money you're making. If Fedor didn't care about money, his asking price wouldn't be nearly what it is. If he didn't care about his legacy, he wouldn't have come to the States in the first place.

But I've said enough for now. The fact remains that Vadim Finkelchtein and Fedor's handlers are the main roadblock in bringing the best heavyweight in the world to the UFC. I'd wager quite a lot that Fedor's other concerns could be assuaged in contract negotiations, but co-promotion will never happen.