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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Fedor [artist Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]
The on again, off again, "will-he-or-won't-he" sage with Fedor in the UFC has stalled yet again, as the latest round of negotiations has fallen through yet again. According to Lance Pugmire at the Los Angeles Times, who was the first to report a deal was close earlier this week, reported that those negotiations came to an end on Wednesday.
The sticking point for M-1 Global is the issue of co-promotion, and Fedor said on Wednesday, "The offer which was made by UFC is not interesting to us."
M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein said about the deal, "The UFC proposal doesn't give us a chance for us to do what we want to do."
What, exactly, that mission statement is has not ever been clearly laid out, though they claim it involves building the sport around the world, a goal the UFC is actively, and successfully, working toward.
Fedor's not signed with anyone yet, and it's possible talks could still continue with the UFC, but as Finkelchtein put it, "They took a timeout and we took a timeout...We will work only on co-promotion conditions." He added that he was 100% positive Fedor would fight this year.
Penick's Analysis: This entire saga is getting tiresome. It's a rinse and repeat issue from every "negotiation" that M-1 and the UFC have seemingly had. While it's impossible to know what was on the table from either side or what was demanded by M-1 without being involved in active negotiations, the fact is every time Vadim Finkelchtein opens his mouth on the subject he helps paint the UFC's side in this deal in a sympathetic light. There's a lot of hardcore fans, those that were actually purchasing the Affliction shows and watching Fedor in PRIDE, that are simply fed up with what seems like an illogical refusal on M-1's part to be reasonable in these negotiations, and quite simply they want to see him fight on the biggest stage. It's not going to happen with Strikeforce and they won't be able to pay him what the UFC will, so if co-promotion for M-1 means they can leech off another organization to it's death bed, then I suppose that's just how Fedor will go out.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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