CHESSNOID

I still watch MMA but have lost some enthusiasm for it.  UFC is definitely dominating the mma world as far as PPV sales, but for some reason they don’t really do the sport justice.  If you are a UFC fan-atic, then you will disagree with anything I have to say.

Recently, I saw a couple of articles about UFC owners Fertitta and UFC president White attacking Fedor.  Both of them, in a spiteful and whiny way, were complaining that Fedor is not that good and they don’t need him.  They even argue the fact that Fedor needs the UFC.   They think money is the only thing that motivates all people.  That is why they can’t understand why Fedor won’t come fight for them.

In the past,  UFC pres White stated that his UFC champs Tim Sylvia and Andre Arlovski could beat Fedor easily and that they would be no match for them.  Of course, after they left the UFC to fight Fedor on Affliction and lost, White said those 2 former UFC champions were already washed up and that is why he let them go.  White is known to be a jerk and to lie through his teeth.

Fedor explained why he didn’t sign with the UFC simply because the contracts are not fair and that they would basically make you a slave if you win.  Just look at Randy Couture.  He couldn’t leave when he was the champ and was bogged down legally so he couldn’t fight anywhere else. And obviously, the UFC denied the fight of Randy vs Fedor from ever happening.

Time:

According to Fedor, White offered him a UFC deal two years ago. “What they wanted was very rigid,” says Fedor, through an interpreter, during a recent interview in New York City, where he had gone to promote the Aug. 1 fight. In conversation, Fedor is serene, but his narrow eyes are piercing, just like those of one of his biggest fans, Russian Prime Minister (and martial-arts practitioner) Vladimir Putin. “The bottom line was that the UFC was a one-sided offer, and you know, that’s something that can never be acceptable,” he says.

Fedor says White demanded that he fight exclusively with the UFC. Given his stake in his own promotion company, M-1 Global, that would have been a significant sacrifice. Fedor also insists the UFC would have virtually owned him if he won and would have been able to dump him if he lost. “If I was the UFC champion, I would never be able to leave the UFC,” Fedor says. “The contract would just keep extending and extending. But if I lost, they could just kick me out of the UFC.”

Further complicating matters, Fedor also specializes in another form of martial arts called sambo. This judo-like sport was developed for the Red Army after World War I and is now a Russian pastime. Under White’s dictates, says Fedor, he’d have to stay away from sambo. “That’s something I do for the pride of my country and is very important to me,” says Fedor.

TIME asked White to respond to Fedor’s accusations, and he pulled no punches. “Let me put it to you this way. I’ve done fight contracts with all the best fighters in the world,” he said, working his way to the knockout blow. “With big huge superstars — Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell, the list goes on and on. Who the f___ is Fedor? Are you serious? The guys who fight for me have a chance to make a lot more money fighting with me than with anybody else. If he signed with us, he’d find his place in history, find out if he really is the best heavyweight in the world. It’s all semantics. It’s all bulls___.” It wasn’t the first time White had used fighting words. At a UFC-fight press conference in April, White said, “Fedor is not the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world … Fedor is at a buffet somewhere in Russia.”

So despite growing pressure from ultimate-fighting fans who want White to sign Fedor, it doesn’t look like the pair will be doing celebratory vodka shots anytime soon. “Fedor doesn’t make or break my business one way or the other, you know what I mean?” says White. “The reality is, I don’t need Fedor.” Still, over the long term, the Fedor-White standoff could leave mixed martial arts much like pro boxing, decimated by warring promoters and fighters, with talent spread across too many divisions for followers to keep count. After all, no sport can keep rolling in the dough if fans keep feeling shortchanged.

My feeling is that the UFC people just hate not being able to buy Fedor like they buy everyone else and that many MMA fans and fighters alike consider him to be the best fighter in the world bar none. That just bothers the heck out of them for some reason. They are making a ton of money already and yet they cry over something they just can’t have because they are little girls.