Mark Cuban + Fedor Emelianenko

manwhore · Post by **manwhore** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:37 am

from sherdog

Mark Cuban, the energetic and controversial owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, is negotiating for the services of Russian mixed martial arts star Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), Sherdog.com confirmed Sunday.

"I am in ongoing discussions with some of his people," Cuban revealed in an e-mail interview that will be published on Sherdog.com later this week.

Cuban's interest in Emelianenko has everything to do with HDNet, currently available in 6 million homes, nearing a major uptick in the amount of MMA programming on the HD network.

"I plan on making a significant investment in MMA with the goal of promoting it as a professional sport with professional athletes," said the 49-year-old Cuban, whose net worth was listed by Forbes in 2007 to be $2.3 billion. Cuban purchased the Mavericks in 2000 after selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in stock. "There is no reason that a fighter in an undercard match should be treated any differently than how I treat our players on the Mavs."

In Emelianenko -- the longtime PRIDE heavyweight champion who became a free agent after Zuffa purchased the PRIDE Fighting Championships in March -- Cuban would have his fighting Dirk Nowitzki.

"We would work with his promoters to place him in fights from affiliated promoters or in fights we promote ourselves," said Cuban, who plans on partnering with established MMA organizations to fill the weekly quota of bouts HDNet would need for its successful Friday Fight Night series.

"It's the highest rated sports programming by far [on HDNet]," Cuban said. "Our MMA programming on HDNet beats networks that have five times or more the carriage that we do. So it's been a big winner for us and we expect it to get even better."

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:50 am

Go Cuban.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:45 am

Wack as fuck Fedor needs to be the UFC with the rest of the top heavyweights.

FightOn · Post by **FightOn** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:03 pm

Prophecy wrote:Wack as fuck Fedor needs to be the UFC with the rest of the top heavyweights.

Unless Cuban plans on being a direct competitor to the UFC and stealing fighters after their contracts are up. There is no way he will have anyone worth a shit to fight Fedor, or put on a show with well know fighters.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:15 pm

FightOn wrote:
Prophecy wrote:Wack as fuck Fedor needs to be the UFC with the rest of the top heavyweights.
Unless Cuban plans on being a direct competitor to the UFC and stealing fighters after their contracts are up. There is no way he will have anyone worth a shit to fight Fedor, or put on a show with well know fighters.

best he could get right now that are free agents are:

Hunt
Barnett
Fedors Bro
Coleman

And im sure im forgetting a couple other cats that are obvious. Not a bad division IMO but nowhere near as good as the UFC's. Fedor has already beaten up on most of them. The UFC is where he needs to be because there are some fights hes never had before with some pretty good HW's.

Gregg Popabitch1 · Post by **Gregg Popabitch1** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:18 pm

if fedor is thinking about his legacy at all, he'll go to UFC

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:23 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:if fedor is thinking about his legacy at all, he'll go to UFC

Honestly i don't think going to the UFC will have that big of a influence on him unless Couture destroys big nog, cro cop and the guys Fedor beat in pride. As or right now the only people in the UFC that have been top contenders in the HW division are guys from pride that Fedor has beat. There is also a Valid argument that Couture is not a top heavyweight but was rather put into a great situation in a once depleted division where the new comers have to establish themselves to be marketed by the UFC. Couture was give a title shot on a platter against Big Tim who is a less than impressive HW IMO and then fought an unproven Gonzaga who's only victory of note is the cro cop KO which could be avenged. Fedor has already proven himself as the most dominant HW of this generation.

Also to Fedor himself:

Sambo Legacy>>>>>MMA legacy

Which is why not letting him compete in Sambo is such a big deal to him. Hes more known in Russia for Sambo than MMA.

FightOn · Post by **FightOn** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:32 am

For some reason I can't see Couture beating Minotauro. Truth be known unless the UFC gets Fedor. I expect Minotauro to be the next UFC Heavyweight champ in 4 to 6 months.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:43 am

FightOn wrote:For some reason I can't see Couture beating Minotauro. Truth be known unless the UFC gets Fedor. I expect Minotauro to be the next UFC Heavyweight champ in 4 to 6 months.

I agree with this too and if this happens it only cements that the UFC needs Fedor more than Fedor needs the UFC. Big Nog is way more well rounded than couture and would dominate the fight because couture couldn't do his patented get in a clinch and dirty box because Nog would be able to take him down from the clinch. Also people forget that Couture was knocked into retirement by Chuck Liddell (the most overrated fighter of our generation IMO) before getting offered a title shot which he didn't earn to come out of retirement.

FightOn · Post by **FightOn** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:04 am

I would like to see a Josh Barnett vs. Couture part 2. Its been 5 years since these 2 fought. Both have improved their fight games. But I think Barnett would whoop that ass again.

Gregg Popabitch1 · Post by **Gregg Popabitch1** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:26 pm

Prophecy wrote:
FightOn wrote:For some reason I can't see Couture beating Minotauro. Truth be known unless the UFC gets Fedor. I expect Minotauro to be the next UFC Heavyweight champ in 4 to 6 months.
I agree with this too and if this happens it only cements that the UFC needs Fedor more than Fedor needs the UFC. Big Nog is way more well rounded than couture and would dominate the fight because couture couldn't do his patented get in a clinch and dirty box because Nog would be able to take him down from the clinch. Also people forget that Couture was knocked into retirement by Chuck Liddell (the most overrated fighter of our generation IMO) before getting offered a title shot which he didn't earn to come out of retirement.

this might not matter to you or me, but the average fight fan probably doesn't know who fedor is. Fedor destroys everyone in UFC (again?), then his name is etched in stone by everyone and it's a consensus.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:00 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:
Prophecy wrote:
FightOn wrote:For some reason I can't see Couture beating Minotauro. Truth be known unless the UFC gets Fedor. I expect Minotauro to be the next UFC Heavyweight champ in 4 to 6 months.
I agree with this too and if this happens it only cements that the UFC needs Fedor more than Fedor needs the UFC. Big Nog is way more well rounded than couture and would dominate the fight because couture couldn't do his patented get in a clinch and dirty box because Nog would be able to take him down from the clinch. Also people forget that Couture was knocked into retirement by Chuck Liddell (the most overrated fighter of our generation IMO) before getting offered a title shot which he didn't earn to come out of retirement.
this might not matter to you or me, but the average fight fan probably doesn't know who fedor is. Fedor destroys everyone in UFC (again?), then his name is etched in stone by everyone and it's a consensus.

Thing is Fedor is Russian and doesn't give a shit about the American fan. Also most of the UFC's casual fans are the ones that don't understand the sport and boo good fights if they are anything less than stand up with both parties dropping bombs trying to knock the other out. Fedor caring what these people think is like F-1 drivers caring if NASCAR fans respect them or not.

Gregg Popabitch1 · Post by **Gregg Popabitch1** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:02 pm

this is why i hate russians.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:06 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:this is why i hate russians.

SuperFeen · Post by **SuperFeen** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:44 pm

haha daaamn I've been waiting for something like this to happen, Cuban is just the dude with the bankroll and the balls to give Fedor and his Mgmt anything they want. Not that I want this to go down, I hope this will be like a wake up call to Dana White letting him finally realize that Fedor doesn't need the UFC.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:46 am

The latest on Fedor

- FEDOR NEGOTIATIONS GOING DOWN TO THE WIRE [UPDATE]

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has taken over the worldwide mixed martial arts landscape, signing a majority of the premier fighters in the sport. But there are still a few notable fighters out there that have yet to call the UFC, or anyone else for that matter, home. Chief among them is Fedor Emelianenko, nearly universally regarded as the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world.

That situation isnגt likely to remain so for much longer though, as speculation has swirled around Fedorגs contract status, or lack thereof, as of late. The hot rumor over the past few days has been that he has inked a deal with the UFC.

Not so says Reed Wallace, President of White Chocolate Management, who represents Fedor Emelianenko in the United States.

[UPDATE] גFedor has not signed anything [as of Tuesday afternoon],ג Wallace informed MMAWeekly. גHeגs going to do something soon. They canגt negotiate forever.ג

Itגs quite obvious that the UFC would have to be the leading candidate for Fedorגs services, but that doesnגt mean that there arenגt still other suitors vying for the worldגs top heavyweight.

Fedorגs managers, Vadim Finkelstein and Apy Echteld, met with the UFC late last week, but a signed contract has yet to materialize. גUFC discussions went very well according to Apy,ג said Wallace in reference to the meeting. Initially it seemed the UFC was unwilling to make any modifications to their contract, but it now appears there has been some movement.

גI can say that they are very close to a deal, but some last minute players have stepped up as well,ג he said.

Speaking of his opinion on the interests of Fedor, Wallace continued, גIגd be happy for him to go to the UFC. He would get great exposure there. The world needגs to see Fedor fight. I get excited when I watch him. Heגs the greatest. Iגd just love to see him fight.ג

[UPDATE] Wallace confirmed, however, that there are at least two other major players vying for Fedor. One of those is Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the National Basketball Association Dallas Mavericks and the HDNet television network. Upon discussions with Echteld, Wallace verified that the other is an undisclosed party that has already presented a major competing offer to Fedorגs management.

Wallace indicated that he would be approaching Fedorגs management with an offer from Cubanגs group this weekend, assuming that he does night sign with the UFC or elsewhere prior.

Regardless of his contract status, Wallace did mention that Fedor will attend UFC 75 in London on Saturday, but donגt assume that his attendance is indicative of the UFC winning out amongst other suitors.

Wallace said that Fedor recently signed a sponsorship deal with Affliction, makers of the popular clothing line, and will be in attendance this weekend, along with UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture, for promotional purposes.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/tem ... &zoneid=13

Could this all just be a smoke screen so the announcement can be a surprise on saturday? I hope so...