Dana White Vs The Crazy Russians

I feel like this is the cold war or something.

Why is Fedor Emelianenko, the undisputed best heavyweight in the world not fighting in the UFC?

As has been the case for a long time, Dana White and the Crazy Russians are accusing eachother of being the cause of the problem.

M-1 Vice President Jerry Millen has stated that M-1 and Affliction would welcome the opportunity to co-promote an event between Fedor and UFC Champion Brock Lesnar.

This statement seems like a fair offer to some people who dearly want to see Fedor fight top competition.  In fact, there are many people who are angry at Dana White for not doing the most possible to sign Fedor.

However, it is this writer's opinion, that the reason Fedor is not fighting in the UFC, is because of the "Crazy Russians" who are managing Emelianenko.

It has been long rumored that had Fedor signed with the UFC, the contract would have made him the highest paid MMA fighter in the world.  Somehow, though, Affliction Entertainment managed to give Fedor a better offer, and so Fedor signed with Affliction.

However, this move may turn out to be bad for Affliction, and good for the UFC.

Affliction Entertainment has bled money very badly since they went into operation.  A large part of that problem has been that they are paying a large amount of money for their fighters.

They also know that just being the best fighter in the world doesn't guarantee pay-per-view buys. For example, Anderson Silva's PPV numbers aren't as dominant as he is as a fighter.

While the reported payday for Fedor's win over Tim Sylvia was a few hundred thousand dollars, it is widely speculated that in actuality, Fedor has been payed well over a million dollars.

Affliction cannot continue to spend this kind of money, if they wish to become profitable.  So, while the UFC pulled in about $40 million in their last pay-per-view, Affliction has bled money, and Fedor has been limited to just a single fight in 2008.

It doesn't seem like Fedor is in a good sittuation to bargain.

It seems clear to me that while Fedor may be able to make more money fighting for Affliction, Affliction cannot be profitable when they are paying so much for their fighters.  Therefore they are overpaying Fedor.

In doing so, and continuing to try to compete directly with the UFC, they run the risk of financial ruin.

Now, considering that Affliction is a competitor of the UFC, why would the UFC want to co-promote an event with Affliction?

Here's my analogy.

My worst enemy is out dying of thirst.  I've got all the water.  He's got Gatorade sugar crystals.  He's out there threatening to destroy me, but then he says to me, "Hey, I'll share my Gatorade crystals, if you let me have some water."

Is this a fair trade?

He's going to die if he does'nt get some water.

If I don't get some Gatorade crystals, I may need to replenish my electrolytes eventually.

Plus, the guy is trying to KILL me!

This guy can't do anything useful with his Gatorade crystals without my help, they're useless to him, so why is he holding them as a bargaining chip?  He is in no position to bargain.

If he doesn't give me exactly what I want, the smartest thing would be to just let him dehydrate, and then take his crystals after he's gone.

Now we all would like to have Gatorade.  But the price we would pay is just a little bit too high.

Fedor Emelianenko should realize that as good of a fighter as he is, he isn't bigger than the UFC, and doesn't bring as much to the table.

Hopefully Affliction dehydrates soon, so that we can all appreciate Fedor and his electrolyte replenishing capabilities.