BodogFight founder
Calvin Ayre responds to remarks made by Fedor
Emelianenko's agent
Fedor Emelianenko
continues to be ranked among the best - if not
the best - fighter in Mixed Martial Arts today.
His status, however, remained unclear. He is
the current PRIDE World Heavyweight Champion, but
whether he stays with that organization now that
they have been bought out by the UFC remains to be
seen.
With a special
clause in his PRIDE contract that allowed him to
fight under the banner of any mixed martial arts
organization as long as the event was held on
Russian soil, Emelianenko accepted a match in
BodogFight against Matt Lindland. The fight was held
on April 14, 2007 at the "Clash of the Nations"
event in St. Petersburg, Russia. Lindland moved up
two weight classes (from middleweight to
heavyweight) for the match and came in weighing 218
lb to Emelianenko's 233 lb.
Since the purchase
of PRIDE by the majority owners of UFC and the
expiration of Emelianenko's contract with PRIDE,
there has been speculation about the possibility of
him fighting in the UFC. In a June 2007 interview
with the Baltimore Sun, Chuck Liddell suggested that
Emelianenko was on his way to the UFC. Dana
White has also expressed interest in signing
Emelianenko, but considers his management team to be
the primary barrier left to the inking of a
contract, whereas manager
Vadim Finkelstein
has cited difficult
negotiations as the reason.
"At the moment we
are in negotiations with a number of organizations
who have put offers on the table,"
Finklestein stated in an
an exclusive interview with Sherdog. "I'll
be blunt in saying that the UFC offer is the most
financially attractive one. However they are very
harsh in their terms and are not very flexible in
actually negotiating them.
"Fedor has now been the PRIDE heavyweight champion
for four years and I think we have earned the right
to negotiate a contract that suits both parties.
Instead we are faced with a blunt "you are either in
or you're out." This does not really suit us. If the
negotiations continue in a similar manner, we'll
prefer to fight for less money but with an
organization which is more flexible."
Coverage of BodogFight
Fedor Emelianenko event in Russia
Finklestein hasn't
exactly embraced BodogFight either following their
triumphant pay per view feature in Russia. It
did look at the time like Emelianenko could
potentially sign up with the Bodog organization.
Finklestein,
however, hasn't had the nicest things to say about
Bodog. Finklestein told Sherdog that "BodogFight
is not an organization that has integrity" and
insisted he would never work with them again.
"They used us to
get a foot in the door in Russia and have now
started developing their own business here on their
own," Finklestein told Sherdog.
BodogFight founder
Calvin Ayre denies his organization undermined
Finklestein or Emelianenko in any way.
"We have a Russian
partner for Russian MMA things we do," Ayre told
Sports911.com on Sunday. "He is the same
partner we use for everything we do in Russia. He
organizes all other organizations we work with in
Russia.
"We are not directly involved with any of them. One
of them is M-1 and as far as I know they did a great
job for us. We do not work directly with anyone
there and have fulfilled all our commitments to date
as we have
promised. We are however also competing with M-1
now, as we have
just done a TV deal for Bodog Fight Content in
Russia."
BodogFight's
founder also insists the event they put on in Russia
was 100% financed by his organization.
"As far as we are
aware, the event we put on in Russia was our idea
and we financed it 100%. The branding was done
according to the deal
we had in place. If anyone did not like the deal the
time to object
was before they agreed to it not after.
"I would think that
our moving further into the Russian market is most
likely the reason for any after the fact complaints.
As far as I was aware, everyone was happy at the
time of the event. We are going to continue to let
our one Russian partner sort out all things in
Russia for us as we see
the Russian market as a good one. We see no reason
why we would not
work with M-1 again in the future if the fit is
there."
Ayre and his team
will begin filming the next installment of their
BodogFight television series in Vancouver, British
Columbia over the next few weeks. The
Sports911.com crew will be there, though it is
highly likely there will be any Fedor Emelianenko
sightings this soon.
Calvin Ayre, who
appeared on the cover of last year's Forbes
Billionaire issue, might be able to change
Finklestein's tune if the price were right.
There is little doubt that Ayre is able to pay.
While he expressed an interest in Emelianenko
earlier this year, Ayre has offered no indications
of a firm commitment.
Despite
Finklestein's ill-feeling towards the BodogFight
organization, he did admit to Sherdog that Bodog
will help foster awareness of Mixed Martial Arts in
Russia.
"I found out that
they have landed a weekly spot on Channel One here.
In fact this makes me happy when you get down to it,
as it's all contributing to the development of the
sport here, and I think that's the most important
thing."
Fedor Emelianenko:
What's Next?
BodogFight's
founder also insists the event they put on in Russia
was 100% financed by his organization.