Blame the Past for Fedor, UFC Drama

If the sport continues to expand the way it is, then in the future this can be one of the biggest blunders in sports negotiating due to the degree of talent being thrown aside by a pissing contest.  I also understand that Fedor has people who have an influence on him, but it just seems like a person would regret never acheiving the top stage when they were also considered the best.

In addition, can Strikeforce afford to grab Fedor? I see them sinking badly if they do.

The only real hurdle in these negotiations is Fedor’s hesitancy to step into the UFC ring and get mauled badly by Brock Lesnar.  Saying that the evidence that Fedor can compete against Lesnar is that Fedor beat Sylvia and Arlovski is a joke.  Those two weren’t fighting for the UFC for a reason.  They weren’t that good.  Take a look at who Fedor has fought and watch how he beat them instead of just believing the hype Simply put, Fedor is a big fish in a small pond at Pride and he is not anxious to follow Mirko Cro Cop, who looked unbeatable in Pride and ten just about got his head separated from his body in the UFC.  Now he’s just a little fish in a big pond.  Fedor is no dummy.  He can make a lot of money fighting tomato cans in Pride, and hid behind bad faith negotiations to shield him self from critics.  He’s not fooling me.  He saw what Brock Lesnar did to Couture and he’s not anxious to get his butt whipped like that.  Brock can come out and call Fedor every insult in the world, and Fedor will still hide behind these negotiations as the reason he won’t fight.  Are you a fighter or not Fedor?  Step up to the plate.

Can Strikeforce afford to grab Fedor? Most likely. Scott Coker isn’t going to be able to offer anything close to what the UFC, DREAM, or any of these apparent boxing promoters that are chasing after Fedor are dangling out there, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the financial backing to be able to go out and grab him.

According to Fedor, money isn’t the biggest factor in terms of where he’s going to sign. Strikeforce entices him because they’re able to offer the things that the UFC can’t - an agreement to co-promote and a non-exclusive deal that would allow Fedor to fight in Japan.

I don’t necessarily think that Strikeforce is going to sink if they sign him and things don’t pan out. Coker has been intelligent enough not to build his promotion around a single fighter. Cung Le hasn’t fought in well over a year, yet Strikeforce is doing as well as ever.

Mosh, i dont think that Lesnar is the “only hurdle”... Fedor was hesitant long before Lesnar was even in MMA.  And Fedor isnt fighting PRIDE so i dont know what you are talking about. 

To doubt Fedors talent by assuming that he would perform the same as Mirko is unfair.  With the performances Mirko has given in the Octagon he would have lost to the same people he dominated in the ring.

I dont understand the Fedor hate that comes around, you cant deny the guy has talent.  And when you have many proffessionals from Bas Rutten to Frank Mir all praising him and saying he IS the best in the world, that should count for something more than a guy sitting on his couch watching the PPV in Atlanta bashing Fedor because he doesnt hop on the first plane out to the US to fight Lesnar just because Lesnar says “f**k Fedor”.

It should be noted that it is not totally analogous to draw conclusions based on how a fighter performed in PRIDE versus UFC. While PRIDE was still extant, the two MMA organizations had different rule sets which promoted different strategies. PRIDE had the 10 minute first round, no elbows to a grounded opponent, allowed kicks, knees and stomps to the head of a grounded opponent, penalized fighters for stalling, resumed grounded grappling in the center of the ring when the fighters were against the ropes, 20-foot ring instead of a caged octagon, etc. I suspect the UFC rule set favors Lesnar style moreso than the PRIDE rule set would have. Lesnar may have been penalized, or fights may have been resumed in the standing position when Lesnar stalls matches by smothering his opponents. I suspect, along with generally poor performances, the inability to adapt to the different rules is why Cro-Cop performed poorly in some of his UFC matches.

Anyway, I think Fedor must fight what is considered the top talent to remain relevant. When he fought Arlovski and Sylvia they were still both ranked within the top 5 in the world universally. And Arlovski left the UFC not because they let him go for being an ineffectual fighter but because they couldn’t agree to terms. Dana White stated that he wanted to keep Arlovski after he left.

Sherdog has Barnett ranked #2 and Bret Rogers #7. So a fight against Rogers wouldn’t be too bad but after that the talent runs thin. Perhaps a fight against Barnett could take place in Japan.