JUSTBLEED.COM

Vadim Signs With Strikeforce

That’s right folks, Vadim Finkelchtein has signed a deal to allow his M-1 Global fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, to fight against some of Strikeforce’s fighters.  Fedor is not fighting for Strikeforce.  Fedor is fighting for M-1 Global.  He represents the M-1 Global side of this 50/50 “co-promotion”.  Strikeforce didn’t sign anyone.  It’s interesting to watch how this is misrepresented in all the other mma media outlets and blogs.  It’s a strange thing to observe and makes me wonder about the underlying psyche taking place here.

Using a quote from Vadim Finkelchtein just last week regarding another promotion:

“We want to talk to the UFC about having Fedor compete against some of their fighters, but only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global.“

It’s no different for Strikeforce.  Fedor is competing against Strikeforce.

Strikeforce is now giving up half of everything they’ve worked hard for.  Strikeforce is going to allow their name to be associated with a group that has a bad track record of “co-promotion”.  They’re taking a big risk.  Not that they would go out of business, that seems unlikely at the moment (however anything is possible), but that they could be financially hurt here enough that it weakens them tremendously, setting them back a couple of years.  It could also weaken their brand name that they’ve worked so hard to make.  Let’s face it, Strikeforce is a decent company run by a guy who actually knows the fight business, Scott Coker.  He’s built a brand that has, for the most part, delivered.  Can they keep delivering under this new business model?  Did they too rush into a deal, dueling with the UFC?  It’s not a single fight they’re co-promoting here, it’s several full events.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  I wish them luck in this and look forward to see who they put up as their half of the deal against Fedor.  I just hope they didn’t fall victim to a Trojan horse.

One thing for certain is, Fedor has chosen not to fight the best he could of.  The UFC’s division is much deeper with greater challenges.  It’s hard to argue that by looking at the majority of rankings around the web.  He and Vadim have also made a clear decision to go against what the majority of hardcore fans wanted to see.  They literally snubbed them.  And just one browse through the biggest forums and you can see those fans have noticed it.  In return, they’ve called him out on his failure to fight his most deserving and dangerous challengers.  Rightfully so.

It’s interesing to note that Vadim and Fedor always said it wasn’t about the money.  But it appears to me, it really was.  The UFC’s offer was good for Fedor.  Not good for M-1 as a promotion, but good for Fedor.  But Strikeforce’s offer is good for both.  In the long run, it likely means more money for him and M-1 Global.  It was about the money afterall.  Maybe not Fedor’s money, but definitely M-1 Global’s money.