Yesterday, M-1 Global’s president, Vadim Finkelchtein, invited Dana White to meet Fedor at “Day of Reckoning”.
Finkelchtein, who is also Fedor Emelinenko’s manager said, “Dana White has a tendency towards arrogance and everything not Dana White is either crazy or stupid. All this stuff about us not wanting to work with UFC is just utterly and completely untrue.”
He continued, “We’ve always been completely open to basically working with anybody, including the UFC, because our goal has always been to put the greatest fighters against each other. And if the greatest fighter is a part of the UFC, fine, let’s put him up against our best guy and see how they do.”
Many may remember for over a year now, Dana White has referred to the management of Fedor as “the crazy Russians”.
Fedor’s management seems more than willing and eager to meet with the UFC president. “The invitation is right there,” Finkelchtein expressed through his interpreter. “If Dana wants to sit down at the table, he can come to St. Petersburg…he is very welcomed here. He can meet up with (me), he can meet up with Fedor. It’s not a problem at all.”
And, if Dana White didn’t have the time to travel to Russia, he offered an open invitation to have him meet with the WAMMA Heavyweight Champion in California prior to his fight against Andre Arlovski at Affliction “Day of Reckoning”.
Finkelchtein also went on to say that M-1 only wants to share in the success of MMA. “We’re not going to eat the UFC pie, but we want to share,” said Finkelchtein. “The invitation stands. They are welcome at any point in time and definitely at the Jan. 24 event. We’ll talk about it (and) discuss it. We’re open to any kind of deal.”
If asked who they would most like to see in the UFC, the majoirty of hardcore MMA fans would, without a doubt say Fedor. The question is, in the fan’s best interest, Will Dana White meet with Mr. Finkelchtein to discuss Fedor’s possible future with the UFC? Only time will tell.
Here are links to the 3 part video interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etPY2Gh1Q30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mulgRV9x-v0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7RLaYWMsE
-Jeff Howard (CageFighter72)
Before Dana flushed Pride down the toilet he publicly stated that the best fighters should fight in the other organizations. That’s why Liddell and others like Yves Edwards were allowed to fight in Pride.
They also promised to have the “Superbowl” of MMA as Dana called it. However that never happened, instead all the crossover fights were held under the UFC banner with zero attention focused on the Pride belts in the “unification”.
Considering these and the UFC’s recent change of stance towards their competitors this event is HIGHLY unlikely to ever come to fruition, especially since Fedor would most likely destroy Lesnar in short order and then the UFC would have their champ’s reputation in shambles while the winner isn’t even under contract to the organization.
What happened with PRIDE is very sad.