Have you watched the fight Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez? If yes, what are your impressions?
Vadim Finkelstein: I have long said that Lesnar is more of a product of UFC’s PR rather than a serious fighter and that fight clearly confirmed it.
And how do you assess Velasquez?
In my opinion, he is a very good fighter and also in his abilities and strengths. UFC now presents him as the best in the world and it is certainly debatable, but he is a real fighter, not a product of PR.
And what about the rumors that you are still negotiating with the UFC?
It’s ******ity. We are not conducting such negotiations.
Now we are in active negotiations with Showtime on a contract extension, and perhaps we will renew it. But the UFC does not offer such opportunities and imposes its monopoly conditions. They believe that everyone should be in the UFC. We would love to fight with Lesnar, and Velasquez and all but why should we give up all these undertakings, all the years spent on Fedor’s development will go to them? Fedor did not grow in the UFC, right? So why should he go to the UFC? If Dana White wants to fight, he can easily hold it, because we do not mind. And while the contract with Showtime gives us more opportunities.
Fedor is now ready to fight. He is 34, he feels fine and is ready to work. He is ready to sign a contract for five or six fights, and do the job very well. He always says he’s ready to act. We need to protect our interests.
Should we expect Fedor to fight in Japan on New Year’s Eve?
We discussed this possibility with the Japanese themselves were happy, but they had more difficulty and with an interesting opponent for Fedor, and many others. As a result, the negotiations did not even happened because there was no concrete proposal. Therefore, in the very near future have to wait for the completion of negotiations with Showtime, and even then it will become clear when and with whom Fedor will fight next.
Vadim Finkelstein: I have long said that Lesnar is more of a product of UFC’s PR rather than a serious fighter and that fight clearly confirmed it.
And how do you assess Velasquez?
In my opinion, he is a very good fighter and also in his abilities and strengths. UFC now presents him as the best in the world and it is certainly debatable, but he is a real fighter, not a product of PR.
And what about the rumors that you are still negotiating with the UFC?
It’s ******ity. We are not conducting such negotiations.
Now we are in active negotiations with Showtime on a contract extension, and perhaps we will renew it. But the UFC does not offer such opportunities and imposes its monopoly conditions. They believe that everyone should be in the UFC. We would love to fight with Lesnar, and Velasquez and all but why should we give up all these undertakings, all the years spent on Fedor’s development will go to them? Fedor did not grow in the UFC, right? So why should he go to the UFC? If Dana White wants to fight, he can easily hold it, because we do not mind. And while the contract with Showtime gives us more opportunities.
Fedor is now ready to fight. He is 34, he feels fine and is ready to work. He is ready to sign a contract for five or six fights, and do the job very well. He always says he’s ready to act. We need to protect our interests.
Should we expect Fedor to fight in Japan on New Year’s Eve?
We discussed this possibility with the Japanese themselves were happy, but they had more difficulty and with an interesting opponent for Fedor, and many others. As a result, the negotiations did not even happened because there was no concrete proposal. Therefore, in the very near future have to wait for the completion of negotiations with Showtime, and even then it will become clear when and with whom Fedor will fight next.
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