Fedor Signs Multi-Fight/M-1 Co-Promotion Deal w/Strikeforce

[Wet Bandit]

Does anyone really want to see Fedor fight Rogers, Overeem, or Werdum? I mean, come on, Rogers is nothing but a good striker who's had his opponents picked to play into his style. Don't you think Cheick Kongo would have loved to not have had to fight anyone with an ounce of wrestling ability? Overeem is less than two years removed from his 5-losses-in-7-fights demolishing, and the guys he's been allowed to build his ranking back up on were Paul Buentello, Tae Hyun Lee, Mark Hunt, and Gary Goodridge. Fabricio Werdum might be the best of the bunch, and he was a mid-level UFC heavyweight.

This deal really kills Fedor's legacy for me. The guy hasn't had a real challenger, a top-level, this-guy-actually-has-a-chance-to-beat-him challenger since Crocop back in 2005. And he's probably not gonna have a real challenger for at least two more years. That's six years during the prime of his career. That can't be ignored.

[Scoop_Brady]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wet Bandit

Does anyone really want to see Fedor fight Rogers, Overeem, or Werdum? I mean, come on, Rogers is nothing but a good striker who's had his opponents picked to play into his style. Don't you think Cheick Kongo would have loved to not have had to fight anyone with an ounce of wrestling ability? Overeem is less than two years removed from his 5-losses-in-7-fights demolishing, and the guys he's been allowed to build his ranking back up on were Paul Buentello, Tae Hyun Lee, Mark Hunt, and Gary Goodridge. Fabricio Werdum might be the best of the bunch, and he was a mid-level UFC heavyweight. This deal really kills Fedor's legacy for me. The guy hasn't had a real challenger, a top-level, this-guy-actually-has-a-chance-to-beat-him challenger since Crocop back in 2005. And he's probably not gonna have a real challenger for at least two more years. That's six years during the prime of his career. That can't be ignored.

But it will be ignored by the media and the Fedorites. I totally agree with you though.

[sven]

Well it was nice knowing you Strikeforce.

[Keith121212]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wet Bandit

Does anyone really want to see Fedor fight Rogers, Overeem, or Werdum? I mean, come on, Rogers is nothing but a good striker who's had his opponents picked to play into his style. Don't you think Cheick Kongo would have loved to not have had to fight anyone with an ounce of wrestling ability? Overeem is less than two years removed from his 5-losses-in-7-fights demolishing, and the guys he's been allowed to build his ranking back up on were Paul Buentello, Tae Hyun Lee, Mark Hunt, and Gary Goodridge. Fabricio Werdum might be the best of the bunch, and he was a mid-level UFC heavyweight. This deal really kills Fedor's legacy for me. The guy hasn't had a real challenger, a top-level, this-guy-actually-has-a-chance-to-beat-him challenger since Crocop back in 2005. And he's probably not gonna have a real challenger for at least two more years. That's six years during the prime of his career. That can't be ignored.

Agreed!

[Stumbleweed]

It's just beyond me why StrikeForce would accept any kind of co-promotion deal when they literally have 3 guys for Fedor to face. They have Randleman signed, but who wants to see that again? Unless they make another signing (who's even out there as a "free agent" HW?), they painted themselves into a corner here I think.

Fedor's not enough of a draw to pick up more than a few thousand Showtime subscriptions, he can't sell big PPV numbers if they elected to go that route, and casual fans have no idea who his opponents are either (Rogers, Werdum, Overeem)... where's the draw? Definitely not worth giving co-promotion rights to M-1.. even if it's less than 50% of the profits, it still won't mete out financially unless they are able to magically create a huge amount of interest in Fedor himself.

The only thing that would turn Fedor into a huge household name and a draw to the casual fan is to go and beat Brock... otherwise he'll continue to be a hardcore fan's favorite fighter and a casual fan's urban legend at best. The Affliction events only did a combined 300K PPVs I think compared to 1.5 mil for UFC 100... and Fedor was the headliner at both of those. Just doesn't make sense for StrikeForce.

[Keith121212]

I actually wouldn't mind seeing him fight Brett Rodgers just because of the punchers chance he has but that's the only Strikeforce guy I'd care to see him fight.

[damien6663]

Im so sick of this guy by now, and the blame can't all be on vadim...if fedor wanted to fight and beat the best, he woulda had his manager negotiate with the ufc...dana really bent over for him in the last negotiations.

[MC Fatigue]

At this point, I don't even care about Fedor anymore.

If he wants to show he's a top fighter, and stop letting other people control his fighting career - then I'd be happy to see him fight in the UFC against the top HW fighters in the world.

If he wants to continue doing what he's doing, then forget about him.