Does anyone actually blame Fedor...

[synyster]

For not wanting to sign a UFC contract... How many examples of fighters being mistreated do we need to see before people(More people I know there are quite a few already) acknowledge he was probably very smart for never signing those papers.. Fedor has said the main reason for not signing was a lack of respect, here are some people that probably agree with him..


http://mmajunkie.com/2016/10/now-an...t-with-the-ufc-i-dont-get-peoples-due-respect

http://www.mmafighting.com/ufc/2013...te-on-randy-couture-i-dont-respect-him-at-all

http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/7/24/9028283/wanderlei-silva-i-can-prove-the-ufc-fix-fights

http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/10/...awyer-calls-ufc-contract-something-out-of-the

http://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/...ana-white-brock-lesnar-relation-ufc-200-fight

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/9/2...to-ufc-i-have-a-hard-time-with-how-dana-white

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/4/8...nce-about-issues-with-ufc-dana-white-responds

http://mmajunkie.com/2016/11/follow...c-to-give-him-a-title-shot-not-fake-contracts

http://mmajunkie.com/2016/10/jose-a...k-they-have-the-rights-even-over-my-breathing

This is off the top of my head, anyone care to add to this of great fighters the UFC has shown a complete lack of respect towards?

 

[cookdaddy]

Ben Askren.

 

[Mixfight]

I dont blame him. I was such a nuthugger back then I thought he was doing everything right by not going to the UFC. Making millions, still fighting top fighters and fighting on CBS was great but I still think he caught the short end of the stick working with Vadim which is why they probably dont even talk anymore. Looking back I think the smartest move for Fedor would have been to kick the shit out Randy in the UFC for the title. That would have just made his career more decorated. Fighters should be fighting in their prime, not choosing where to fight based on if they can get a "co promotion" agreement from the other party. Looking back I think its sad and idiotic that those things were going on around Fedor during his prime. What a waste.

 

[manboy<3]

Fedor would have made more money by a wide margin

The UFC hype machine would have taken care of Fedor "THE GOAT THIS SUNDAY ONLY ON PPV DON'T FORGET YOUR DUDE WIPES ON SALE FOR ONLY 99CENTS AT AMAZON USE CODE #ASS WHEN CHECKING OUT"

Rogan and Dana are ass lickers and would have licked Fedor's ass 24/7

It would potentially mean that the UFC would have expand into Russia already

Fedor in the UFC would do more for Russian MMA and Russian image than Fedor not in the UFC

Fedor would have needed to do stupid media conferences/promotional work/other annoying shit in return but he also did it in Afflication and Strikeforce..

Fedour would be trapped in the cage but not like he wasn't trapped in the cage in Strikeforce

People who say that the UFC did not respect Fedor are wrong IMO. He would mean $$$$$ for them and they would show him all the respect he would ever want had he signed

At the end of the day I feel like the UFC made a mistake too, they sent DANA WHITe to negotiate with Fedor when they should have sent someone who wasn't a complete tool

 

[Mixfight]

Fedor would have made more money by a wide margin

The UFC hype machine would have taken care of Fedor "THE GOAT THIS SUNDAY ONLY ON PPV DON'T FORGET YOUR DUDE WIPES ON SALE FOR ONLY 99CENTS AT AMAZON USE CODE #ASS WHEN CHECKING OUT"

Rogan and Dana are ass lickers and would have licked Fedor's ass 24/7

It would potentially mean that the UFC would have expand into Russia already

Fedor in the UFC would do more for Russian MMA and Russian image than Fedor not in the UFC

Fedor would have needed to do stupid media conferences/promotional work/other annoying shit in return but he also did it in Afflication and Strikeforce..

Fedour would be trapped in the cage but not like he wasn't trapped in the cage in Strikeforce

People who say that the UFC did not respect Fedor are wrong IMO. He would mean $$$$$ for them and they would show him all the respect he would ever want had he signed

At the end of the day I feel like the UFC made a mistake too, they sent DANA WHITe to negotiate with Fedor when they should have sent someone who wasn't a complete tool

What happened was UFC lowballed Fedor the first time just after buying Pride FC which was their fault.

Then Affliction came around and was offering Fedor a million dollar signing bonus + 1.5 mill a fight against Sylvia and Arlovski (Top 5 Ranked ex UFC champs) so Fedor signed with Affliction which was understandable.

Then Fedor smashed Tim and AA in the first round and his stock shot up even higher, perhaps to the point where it was slightly over inflated.

Affliction folded and UFC threw millions at Fedor but by then his stock was high without them, Strikeforce was offering millions and to fight on CBS with 5 million Americans watching. Looking back now, thats when Fedor should have signed with the UFC but by then they had disrespected him a lot and it was too late.

Then Fedor lost in 2010 and his stock plummeted and there wasnt nearly as much interest.


Overall I would say UFC fucked up first and set a horrible tone for future negotiations and Fedor fucked up by not eventually signing with them while still somewhat in his prime.

Both parties at fault IMO.

 

[manboy<3]

What happened was UFC lowballed Fedor the first time just after buying Pride FC which was their fault.

Then Affliction came around and was offering Fedor a million dollar signing bonus + 1.5 mill a fight against Sylvia and Arlovski (Top 5 Ranked ex UFC champs) so Fedor signed with Affliction which was understandable.

Then Fedor smashed Tim and AA in the first round and his stock shot up even higher, perhaps to the point where it was slightly over inflated.

Affliction folded and UFC threw millions at Fedor but by then his stock was high without them, Strikeforce was offering millions and to fight on CBS with 5 million Americans watching. Looking back now, thats when Fedor should have signed with the UFC but by then they had disrespected him a lot and it was too late.

Then Fedor lost in 2010 and his stock plummeted and there wasnt nearly as much interest.


Overall I would say UFC fucked up first and set a horrible tone for future negotiations and Fedor fucked up by not eventually signing with them while still somewhat in his prime.

Both parties at fault IMO.

Yeah I agree I don't think most people begrudge Fedor for signing with Affliction

At that time the UFC had a lot of heavyweights (Arlovski, Couture, Sylvia) complaining about fighter pay and lack of respect and that's when Affliction turned up and was cool about fighter pay and respect and everyone tried to jump ship to Affliction so it was a very good business move by Fedor

It's the Strikeforce thing that everyone is kinda upset about and Fedor holding a grude and the UFC messing up negotiations

Everyone is at fault but they are all kinda silly too because they could have made so much money off each other and really gave the fans what they wanted

 

[cheesus]

I don't blame him, I had hopes for Fedor but after the Maldanado fight I think novelty fights are the best fit for him at this stage..he has done enough in his career to warrant a few ' entertainer ' type fights. I'd like to see him matched up against some fellow mma vets/legends or mid tier types, although the thing that worries me with that is Fedor is still a small HW and those guys have shown that they still have huge power..where Fedor seems to have ditched his grappling ability, looks to have lost strength and some mass.

It's hard to tell how far done he is, maybe the Maldando fight was just a fluke ? Pretty much all the HW's have had some pathetic performances as of recently...Barnett just got submitted by Ben fucking Rothwell, AA has been finished a bunch of times, Werdum displayed beginner level boxing, Hunt didn't do anything in his last fight, Cain is injured all the time, Bigfoot is as slow as a pregnant woman, Struve still has no jab etc. I'd prefer Fedor take the CC path and fight mid tier journeymen types.

Personally, I think the Mitrione fight is a very dangerous fight for him and is pretty high risk / low reward. Mitriones a lot better than people give him credit for...Fedor could potentially win this if he actually uses his grappling but I'm afraid he'll get in there and start throwing wild casting punches as per usual.

 

[Mga223]

Fedor should of learnt that the pay days he was getting would bankrupt companies or make it to the point they didn't earn money.

Fedor would of never seen a pay day like him vs Brock.

The stupid co promotion they wanted was absolutely laughable.

 

[Phrozenspite]

I don't blame fedor personally. His management however.. i think they probably share a fair amount of the blame along with the UFC. He was the best in the world and the lineal champ of the org that had the strongest division. at that point in time it was okay to say you have to pay me what my standing requires. the copromotion thing was a joke and i think that the zuffa hate vs fedor hate is overshadowing what really should be hatred towards his old management, they screwed over the fans and they fucked fedor out of huge PPV cash(not to mention sponsorship dollars since this was pre reebok)

 

[Mga223]

I don't blame fedor personally. His management however.. i think they probably share a fair amount of the blame along with the UFC. He was the best in the world and the lineal champ of the org that had the strongest division. at that point in time it was okay to say you have to pay me what my standing requires. the copromotion thing was a joke and i think that the zuffa hate vs fedor hate is overshadowing what really should be hatred towards his old management, they screwed over the fans and they fucked fedor out of huge PPV cash(not to mention sponsorship dollars since this was pre reebok)

They took advantage of fedor, if fedor had beaten brock he could of been a massive star, the road to Russia would of been 10x easier.

His record
His streak
his size

Everything about him, he could of been massive... brock fight would of taken him to stardom.

It's sad really, strikeforce run was absolute shit.

 

[HHJ]

Never blame Fedor. In retrospect he woulda been better off skipping strikeforcr and goin to ufc when barnett popped,but we cant know everything. He was one of those guys makin great money outside ufc.

 

[caged_mma]

I might still be a little salty about it, but I lay the responsibility of Fedor never signing with the UFC at the feet of M-1 Global. I'm positive there were other things surrounding the situation, but in my memory, that's the biggest splinter in my foot.

M-1 co-promoted with a lot of other promotions for Fedor, but a lot of those promotions aren't around these days. For his sake, I hope they made it worth Fedor's time.

 

[Edwin]

He was smart for not signing with the UFC and it's not because they don't respect him, it's because of pay.

He's made 7 digits fighting lesser competition outside of the UFC.

He wouldn't have made 6 digits fighting tougher competition in the UFC.

 

[manboy<3]

He was smart for not signing with the UFC and it's not because they don't respect him, it's because of pay.

He's made 7 digits fighting lesser competition outside of the UFC.

He wouldn't have made 6 digits fighting tougher competition in the UFC.

Fedor always said it was because of disrespect and the UFC has always mantained that they offered him huge money post Affliction

They would have made him into a star and paid him accordingly because that would have made them more money

The UFC is all business isn't it ? look how quickly they turned Mark Hunt into a star after they realized that fans actually wanted to see him fight

They managed to make an Obese ex kickboxer who was knocked out by a middleweight into a highly paid title condender because that's what the fans wanted

The UFC has the ability to turn any pile of shit into a mega star if there is money to be made

 

[Edwin]

Fedor always said it was because of disrespect and the UFC has always mantained that they offered him huge money post Affliction

They would have made him into a star and paid him accordingly because that would have made them more money

Fedor may have said what he said and it maybe true, may not be true, but it makes more sense to make 7 figures taking easier fights than to make 5 figures, possibly 6 figures fighting tougher competition.

Huge money from the UFC back the was low 6 digits with $400,000 pretty much being the max.

They don't pay anyone accordingly and it's known fact and something that's been discussed excessively in the UFC section of this forum.

 

[trustno1]

Fedor keeping it real.

 

[gspieler]

The UFC does whatever it can to take any leverage away from the fighters. On top of which, Dana seems to make a point to act publically disrespectful to fighters, Fedor included. There was no reason for Fedor to sign with such a company, in light of the fact there were other companies willing to pay him millions and accommodate his other requests. Not that Fedor's management company were innocent either, though.

 

[LORDTENSAIMMA]

Definitely blame him

 

[skylolow]

I think being disrespected was very low on the reasons for him not signing. The single biggest reason Fedor never signed with the UFC was his deal with Fink/M-1 and that is 90% of it. Take a look at how that deal was structured with Affliction. http://mmapayout.com/2011/06/detail...y-cancellation-and-ufcaffliction-deal-emerge/ The UFC isn't getting involved in shit like that. Then you read or hear the rumors of how the Strikeforce/Showtime/M-1 deal was structured and once again, nightmare that included a hell of a lot of than just he usual fighter "x" fighting for Org "x".

TS........You could take just about any org and create list of fighters not happy with the org/owner. There is a lot of fighters that have said a lot of negative things about the UFC and went right back to the UFC and it will continue till the end of time.


P.S.: Do I actually blame Fedor??? A little on some level. The Fedor/Fink/M-1 deal was a very out the box way of thinking. Yes they found some takers and made some cash. But it also on some level because of the money and special stipulations going well beyond the norm it hindered each promotion they tried to work with severely from a money perspective. Like Coker said, we never made money on a Fedor show. Fedor signed off on this very odd way of doing business so he has to hold some responsibility in it all.

 

[Stan]

Fedor is the man!! The #1 P4P Heavyweight in the world at that time refused to sign with the UFC because of the way Dana treated fighters and how the organization owned you the fighter. Dana at that time and even now treats fighters like shit. The UFC back then and now owns you and your likeness to be used in games and whatever else they want to use it in and the fighter gets 0 from any of the profits. You can't fight another fighter in another Org as Randy Couture tried to fight Fedor back in the day. The UFC put a stop to that fight and threatened Couture with a lawsuit if he tried to fight. If Dana would've kept his mouth shut and the UFC allowed fighters to get fights in other Orgs Fedor would've been in the UFC when Pride was bought out.