Dana White / Zuffa refuse to renew Fedor Emelianenko's contract?

Fedor Emelianenko

I was browsing the internet a second ago when I saw this fucking news. Let me start by saying that this most probably is a bullshit rumor but one that is worth analyzing.
It was posted on somebody's Facebook wall  - a link to a Russian sports web portal: http://lifesports.ru/news/54627

Basically, what the news says is that a "source" close to Fedor told the Russian news agency that the Zuffa guys have refused to renew Fedor's contract.
The source's commentary was that Fedor's price has dropped down dramatically after his latest back-to-back losses in Strikeforce. The Russian article says that Fedor was offered two options: to serve as a stepping stone to young fighters or to leave.
Hmmm.. That sounds pretty fucking phony, if you ask me.

I really don't know if this fucking news is true or not, but if it is true, let's analyze the reasons why Zuffa wouldn't want the former Pride FC heavyweight champion's contract to be continued. They may be more complex than it seems.
And before all you nutcases start ripping on Dana White & Co. for being a bunch of Fedor "haters", please be aware that Dana never takes things personally - he doesn't give a flying fuck about what a person or a manager has to say about him. Dana only cares about Zuffa's market, Zuffa's business and about the money this or that fighter can generate for Zuffa.

So, one reasonable explanation may be that Zuffa sees M1 as the new competition on the MMA market. Especially now, when M1 have a Showtime deal. So why resign and build up M1's most prominent fighter? Why not kill M1's cash cow and thus make them die off? Why not erase Fedor from history and in this way solve a whole bunch of potential problems in the future?
Sounds like a good business plan to me.

Or maybe it is that Dana made a market research and it showed that Fedor is not that big of a draw as the fans think that he is and therefore is not worth the money his management is asking?

Maybe all of sudden Dana cares about fighters' legacies and Fedor's 1:2 record in Strikeforce is the reason? Haha, not likely, I know...

We have a lot of "maybe's" going on here but whatever the real reason is, I am sure that it is not a personal thing. It is something money-related. As it has always been the case - business as usual.
Dana's dirty business.

One more time: let's not forget that this whole shit is not confirmed yet. It could be just a fucked up-rumor. And most probably it is.

So stay tuned for confirmation or disapproval of this shit.

Was Scott Coker robbed by Zuffa & Dana White? Update on the UFC / Strikeforce purchase

Scott Coker.

In my recent blog post (here) I suggested that the Strikeforce crew must have been offered a ton of money to sell out their profitable and flourishing business.

But maybe there is more to it.
As time goes by, new details about the UFC's purchase of Strikeforce become apparent.
It is rumored that recently Scott Coker tried to gain control over the Strikeforce brand, the MMA brand that he created and built up, but was unsuccessful at doing that and as a result was forced to play the game his business partners wanted to play and basically to just give his company away to Dana White & Co.
Don't know if this is true or not but it sucks big time for MMA if it is.

Here:  http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=6209923

UFC / Zuffa purcase Strikeforce. Another step in monopolizing MMA.

Well, it's a fact that we all have to deal with. The UFC's owners, Zuffa, just bought Strikeforce. Good news for Dana & Co, bad news for the hardcore MMA fans.
But what the Strikeforce guys did doesn't make sense to me.
Granted, I don't know what their real goals were or what was going on behind the scenes of their organization.  Maybe their plan from the very beginning was to make a couple of Mil and call it quits? Maybe they were not ready to handle the monster that Strikeforce turned out to be? Fuck knows... But the fact remains - they just sold out a flourishing business, a business that by no means was in danger of bankruptcy, a business that was going up and up only, to their biggest competitor.
And in this case it may look like they just made a pile of fast/easy money. But the reality is that this must be the biggest loss a company can possibly suffer. A huge mistake.

It was not like the Zuffa purchase saved them from bankruptcy, was it?

Selling out your ass while you are having so much momentum doesn't make any sense. Because Strikeforce were doing more than good and Dana White himself admitted that in his interview with MMAFighting.com.
They had the best Heavyweight division, they had the better shows, with lots of action, lots of finishes and more importantly - they had the sympathy of the hardcore MMA fans, the portion of the MMA community that Dana White has been dreaming to put in his pocket for so long.
Congrats, Dana, that dream just came true. Not sure how many of us will still support Strikeforce after it is officially owned by Zuffa but I'm guessing a big portion of the hardcore MMA population will still root for them. Until they are gone in a year or two...
And until all the lay-and-pray, wall-and-stall, play-it-safe-or-lose-your-job shit starts happening in Strikeforce.

What the fuck happened?
The only explanation is that Strikeforce were offered A TON of money. It must be it.
Even if this was the case it doesn't compensate for all the missed opportunities that Strikeforce just sold out to Zuffa. Strikeforce could have become the N1 organization in a matter of 3 years. Easily!!! They had a great roster, a great and successful TV deal, great financial backup, they had all that was necessary to do that.
But I guess it all required a lot of work and dedication, so why bother? Why not just sell that shit and let other people do the hard work?
You guys are all delusional for believing the promise that you will keep your jobs.

R.I.P. Strikeforce.