Details of Fedors Deal with Affliction

[Guest]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/12/1143...etails-of-fedor

 

 

The Promotional Agreement.

 

--Fedor is to be paid a $300,000 purse per fight.

 

--The contract arranges for four first class tickets and three coach tickets from St. Petersburg to wherever the fight is. It also arranges for four first class hotel rooms for up to five nights, round trip transportation on the ground, and meal allowances. This section is more extravagant than equivalent UFC contract provisions for its top stars.

 

-- The contract calls for three fights under the Affliction banner, and makes Affliction the exclusive home of Fedor fights in the United States. However, the contract states that any fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Randy Couture is excluded from the contract and can take place elsewhere. It's clear that when this contract was signed Fedor and M-1 were still shopping around a potential Couture fight incase he ever got out of his contract. This also further confirms that Affliction never had the rights to this fight.

 

--The contract states that it ends on the earlier of two dates: March 31, 2009 or after Fedor's last fight, unless the contract is extended. This will be a serious litigation battleground; M-1 will argue that Affliction extended the contract by promoting a third show. I find this argument fairly convincing.

 

--Affliction agreed to make all efforts to feature a M-1 logo on the mat. Fedor was allowed to choose any sponsor as long as there was no conflict with Affliction.

 

--Fedor Emelinaenko reserved all rights to distribute and exploit his bouts in Russia and Asia. He had the right to retain all revenue from the sale, license, or any other exploitation of his reserved rights to market the broadcast. There are other specifics regarding Affliction's responsibility to provide Fedor and M-1 with a high definition feed. The rights include streaming rights, and extend beyond Fedor's fights to the undercard and preliminary fights. You can imagine the UFC would never agree to such a term.

 

There are a number of other important and interesting terms, but those are the essential ones.

 

The Consulting Agreement

 

--M-1 was to provide consulting on all the following topics: International bout consulting, international television, fighter scouting, location for future bouts recommendations, television-related opportunities, international sponsorships, and bout tourism.

 

--M-1 was also required to fully cooperate and assist in the advertising and promotion of each fight.

 

--In exchange for these consulting services, Affliction agreed to pay M-1 a consulting fee of $1,200,000 per fight.

 

--Affliction was required to promote the M-1 Global brand through promotional activities including: Articles in event programs, M-1 Global's logo incorporated into Affliction advertising, M-1 logo recognition with event advertising, public address announcements during the bouts, the airing of M-1 videos announcements during events, and the creation and sale of co-branded M-1 and Affliction event posters.

 

 

 

 

Maybe old news but I thought this was interesting. there are some points that I could see being a real sticking point for the UFC but some things that could be a real benefit to Strikeforce, at least in the short term.

[watchman817]

yea you can totally see why UFC wouldnt agree to that.

[Guest]

That'a stupid on the Affliction side Fedor is playing them like a pack of cards little puppets lol. No wonder the UFC didn't sign him.

[Guest]

I love that M-1 Global gets 1.2 million dollars per fight for doing absolutely nothing. What a ridiculous scam Vaddy the Fink is running.

[ElGeecho]

Does anyone know the nature of Fedor's relationship with M1? Did he just have a contract with them, or does he actually have an ownership stake?

[Guest]

I believe he is part owner, yeah.

[Guest]

I believe he is part owner, yeah.

 

Fedor is making bank. He's more than just a fighter...smart fella.

[Guest]

Fedor has a contract with M-1 as their fighter. Thus, any offers made are expected to include co-promotion. Also, he cannot join another promotion unless they allow it because he's their fighter, first and foremost.

 

As a method to get more money into his pocket because they all felt he was getting fucked over until his later Pride days, he was given a 20% stake in the company. It is not at all a controlling interest. It's just to give him extra money. He has no say in their operations.

[Guest]

I still can't get over these points:

 

--M-1 was also required to fully cooperate and assist in the advertising and promotion of each fight.

 

--In exchange for these consulting services, Affliction agreed to pay M-1 a consulting fee of $1,200,000 per fight.

 

Yet there is nothing to indicate that for this "co-promotion" M1 actually contributes anything in terms of paying for advertising or promotion. It's a 1.2 million dollar per fight tax that M1 is leeching out of a good hard-working promotion. And people wonder why everywhere Fedor goes somehow keeps collapsing...

 

Apparently M1 has also rigged it so Mousasi can only fight with Strikeforce on cards that Fedor is also on.

 

Can you ever imagine the UFC agreeing to not only pay another one of their top stars a few hundred G just to show up, but then also being forced to pay a fight-by-fight bribe to that fighter's management group on top of that? And at the same time having their fight bookings restricted based on the absolute requirement to have certain fighters fight on the same day? It's insanity.

[ElGeecho]

It is insanity, and it's starting to remind of boxing's promotional nightmares.

[Guest]

M-1 asks 1.2 million from the organization they are co-promoting with, while they organized everything and made a loss every event. So Affliction had to take all the risk and M-1 had guaranteed profit. The offer they made to the UFC was a little better, half of the profit or loss. Well of course they know that the UFC doesn't make loss.

 

Fedor has a contract with M-1 as their fighter.

That's the problem to begin with. I'm not saying that they can't offer Fedor anything as an investor, but M-1 on it's own can't offer him anything as a fighter. Fedor made a pact with the devil and every MMA fan is paying for it.

[backelie]

Yet there is nothing to indicate that for this "co-promotion" M1 actually contributes anything in terms of paying for advertising or promotion. It's a 1.2 million dollar per fight tax that M1 is leeching out of a good hard-working promotion. And people wonder why everywhere Fedor goes somehow keeps collapsing...

 

To be fair though M-1 isn't exactly the only reason Affliction folded. They paid Tim Sylvia $800k, and Arlovski 750k for the Rothwell fight and 1.5M for the Fedor fight, then Barnett fucked up the third show.

[Guest]

All this talk about money makes you wonder is Fedor worth the bother?

[Guest]

this is the part that I think is a huge problem:

 

-Fedor Emelinaenko reserved all rights to distribute and exploit his bouts in Russia and Asia. He had the right to retain all revenue from the sale, license, or any other exploitation of his reserved rights to market the broadcast. There are other specifics regarding Affliction's responsibility to provide Fedor and M-1 with a high definition feed. The rights include streaming rights, and extend beyond Fedor's fights to the undercard and preliminary fights.

 

This is a huge concession for any company to have to make to a fighter. Especially in conjuction with the "consulting" fees for international television rights.

[Guest]

To be fair though M-1 isn't exactly the only reason Affliction folded. They paid Tim Sylvia $800k, and Arlovski 750k for the Rothwell fight and 1.5M for the Fedor fight, then Barnett fucked up the third show.

 

Paying Timmah 800k to get abused for a minute is great value compared to giving Vaddie the Fink 1.2 to do jack all.

[Guest]

Do we know for a fact that M1 didn't pay for any promotion? I could see it being a reasonable deal if M1 used their influence and reputation with the international market to promote the events overseas. Especially for an upstart promotion like Affliction that has no international ties or history. I'm not an expert but I think if M1 actually were to promote the events internationally than 1.2 mil wouldn't be so hard to swallow. As much as the name M1 is slagged off in North America, they do have an extensive history and presumably a decent following internationally. Had Affliction been able to capitalize on that perhaps things wouldn't have gone so terribly wrong. Than again, they did have a whole slew of flaws in their business model.

[Guest]

M-1 asks 1.2 million from the organization they are co-promoting with, while they organized everything and made a loss every event. So Affliction had to take all the risk and M-1 had guaranteed profit. The offer they made to the UFC was a little better, half of the profit or loss. Well of course they know that the UFC doesn't make loss.

 

That's the problem to begin with. I'm not saying that they can't offer Fedor anything as an investor, but M-1 on it's own can't offer him anything as a fighter. Fedor made a pact with the devil and every MMA fan is paying for it.

 

I agree with this statement, the situation mirrors all that is wrong with boxing. Politics, and money men controlling a fighter's destiny to maximise profits; and if that means he misses a few galactic fights that could really boost the sport...what do they care.....they can make stupid money without the fights the fans want to see.

 

This is why orgs should control contracts primarily and not private companies and promoters, it could hurt the sport if it became widespread with top fighters.

[Guest]

this is the part that I think is a huge problem:

 

-Fedor Emelinaenko reserved all rights to distribute and exploit his bouts in Russia and Asia. He had the right to retain all revenue from the sale, license, or any other exploitation of his reserved rights to market the broadcast. There are other specifics regarding Affliction's responsibility to provide Fedor and M-1 with a high definition feed. The rights include streaming rights, and extend beyond Fedor's fights to the undercard and preliminary fights.

 

This is a huge concession for any company to have to make to a fighter. Especially in conjuction with the "consulting" fees for international television rights.

 

Yea, that part is probably the biggest issue. That is worth tons of money to M-1 and Fedor, probably more money than the UFC can pay and they can't agree to a deal like that. When Fedor's fights are broadcasted in Russia I doubt they care if it's in Strikeforce or the UFC so to Fedor fighting for Strikeforce was worth more than fighting for the UFC.

[Guest]

These threads always make me laugh. We're discussing multi-millionaire companies yet people keep acting as if they're all naive little children that M-1's robbing without even needing to use force. If these were just one-sided, exploitative deals, these companies wouldn't be agreeing to them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have that kind of money in the first place. Affliction folded because they wanted to. They got banned from UFC events, overpaid every fighter they had, and Josh Barnett gave them out and so they took it. BodogFights stint with M-1 was short. The two sides got annoyed with each other and split early on. Bodog went out of business on it's own merits.

 

I still can't get over these points:

 

--M-1 was also required to fully cooperate and assist in the advertising and promotion of each fight...

 

Yet there is nothing to indicate that for this "co-promotion" M1 actually contributes anything in terms of paying for advertising or promotion...

 

Apparently M1 has also rigged it so Mousasi can only fight with Strikeforce on cards that Fedor is also on.

 

Can you ever imagine the UFC agreeing to not only pay another one of their top stars a few hundred G just to show up, but then also being forced to pay a fight-by-fight bribe to that fighter's management group on top of that?

LOL. What do you think fully cooperating and assisting in the advertising and promotion of each fight actually consists of, just spamming Affliction links in the comment sections of MMA articles? Furthermore, you're reading off summarized points, not the actual contract, page by page.

 

M-1 didn't rig anything. It's a term of their deal that Strikeforce agreed upon. Strikeforce has been around for over 10 years. They aren't some brand new company that doesn't understand business. It makes a lot of sense for M-1 and Strikeforce to set this up. Mousasi is one of the biggest prospects in the world of MMA. Featuring him on the same show as Fedor maximizes the crowds he's being showcased to. Additionally, it saves Strikeforce a lot of money. M-1 Global's consulting/co-promotion fee is 1.2 million. If the two were showcased on different cards, Strikeforce would be paying that fee twice over. Or did you forget that Mousasi is signed to M-1 as well?

 

Also, I never knew Fedor was on the Cyborg/Carano card. You know, the card Mousasi debuted on Strikeforce with.

 

-Fedor Emelinaenko reserved all rights to distribute and exploit his bouts in Russia and Asia. He had the right to retain all revenue from the sale, license, or any other exploitation of his reserved rights to market the broadcast. There are other specifics regarding Affliction's responsibility to provide Fedor and M-1 with a high definition feed. The rights include streaming rights, and extend beyond Fedor's fights to the undercard and preliminary fights.

 

This is a huge concession for any company to have to make to a fighter. Especially in conjuction with the "consulting" fees for international television rights.

M-1 put all that together, not Affliction. At the same time, Affliction was being given serious international exposure if the numbers Fedor/Rogers did internationally are any indication.

 

I could see it being a reasonable deal if M1 used their influence and reputation with the international market to promote the events overseas. Especially for an upstart promotion like Affliction that has no international ties or history. I'm not an expert but I think if M1 actually were to promote the events internationally than 1.2 mil wouldn't be so hard to swallow.

They were.

 

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/3/11129...clusive-m-1-and

 

Figured everyone had seen that by now.

 

That's the problem to begin with. I'm not saying that they can't offer Fedor anything as an investor, but M-1 on it's own can't offer him anything as a fighter. Fedor made a pact with the devil and every MMA fan is paying for it.

Speak for yourself. I love it. Poor Mousasi though. None of the M-1 haters ever seem to remember that he's signed to M-1 too. It's always Fedor, Fedor, Fedor.

[Guest]

Speak for yourself. I love it. Poor Mousasi though. None of the M-1 haters ever seem to remember that he's signed to M-1 too. It's always Fedor, Fedor, Fedor.

I meant the normal fans Invictus. Of course not you. Why would you like to see Fedor fight in the UFC if he can fight against lower competition in Strikeforce? That wouldn't make sense, you are the antiman.

 

These threads always make me laugh. We're discussing multi-millionaire companies yet people keep acting as if they're all naive little children that M-1's robbing without even needing to use force. If these were just one-sided, exploitative deals, these companies wouldn't be agreeing to them.

I hope you don't pay taxes. I'm sure Affliction got the best out of those 3, no wait, 2 events.

[Guest]

I meant the normal fans Invictus. Of course not you. Why would you like to see Fedor fight in the UFC if he can fight against lower competition in Strikeforce?

Lesser known, not lesser quality. Excluding Lesnar, no one on the UFC Heavyweight roster interests me more than Fedor/Overeem or Fedor/Rogers.

 

I hope you don't pay taxes. I'm sure Affliction got the best out of those 3, no wait, 2 events.

Taxes aren't robbery. Affliction's failures are their own, not M-1's.

[soyster89]

Lesser known, not lesser quality. Excluding Lesnar, no one on the UFC Heavyweight roster interests more than Fedor/Overeem or Fedor/Rogers.

 

I don't see Overeem as a top quality fighter. I don't see Overeem beating Carwin, Mir, Big Nog, or Velasquez, but that's my opinion. Overeem couldn't handle Little Nog or Shogun, and was destroyed by a pure striker in Chuck Liddell. If anything, he's slower at this weight than he was at 205 and that wouldn't bode well against any of the UFC fighters I mentioned. As for Fedor/Overeem, it would make the Fedor/Sylvia fight look close.

[Guest]

No one on that list poses a problem for Fedor and I could see Overeem defeating them all except Nogueira. Against Liddell, Shogun, and Little Nog; he wasn't the massive freak of nature that he's become these days. When Liddell destroyed him, he was only 23 years old. He's become a much better striker since then. Right now, he's kind of like a black Brock Lesnar but with a Kickboxing base instead of a wrestling one. It justs interests me more, especially considering we KNOW he's on steroids.