I dont know much about this guy, but he has to be better then Eddie Sanchez.

all Fedor bashers and Dana white Nuthuggers should read this article before criticizing Fedor for not signing with the UFC:

“Why didn’t Fedor just sign with the UFC?

To understand him is to recognize that given the circumstances, it was never a choice.

Hearing Fedor discuss the UFC negotiations and understanding his background and motivation, it is obvious that he was as likely to accept the UFC’s offer as he was to become a completely different man.

In particular Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, cited the harshness of the UFC’s terms and the organization’s inflexibility as two issues preventing an agreement. There were some specifics, such as the widely publicized clause that wouldn’t let Fedor compete in combat sambo and the UFC’s refusal to sign some of his Red Devil teammates.

“I never met Dana White, never spoke to him on the phone, never exchanged e-mails,” Fedor said. “However, I did read a lot on the Internet about what he said in regard to me and Vadim []. I also read e-mails that he sent to Vadim; all of his correspondence was very upsetting. The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn’t be signed — I couldn’t leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

“Basically I can’t leave undefeated. I can’t give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don’t have the right to do anything without the UFC’s agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn’t have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It’s my national sport. It’s the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn’t suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document.”

Fedor is a man who fought all of his life to be independent of the system, to belong to himself and to forge his own future. He is where he is because of the people around him.

In his view the UFC offer, which was not open for reasonable negotiation, proposed that he exchange everything that makes him who he is — his team, his freedom and his future — in return for more money than anyone else at the time was making and the possibility of fighting in the strongest heavyweight division in the sport.”

Seriously F*ck Dana White……I am furious after reading this Article…as a fan I am dissapointed to not see Fedor in the UFC, but as a Man, I admire him, what he stands for, and putting his beliefs before MONEY (something rarely seen in sports). I am actually happy that Fedor laughed at Dana’s offer. Dana tried to OWN his life and thats not right. Fedor didnt sell out who he is and his principles….and I have to commend him for it!

Eddie Sanchez hasn’t showed me much to make me believe he’ll beat Soa..So I got Soa TKO 2nd round.

[quote post=”4317″]Hard-hitting Australian heavyweight and UFC newcomer Soa Palelei (8-1) talks to UFC.com about his upcoming battle with fellow rising star Eddie Sanchez (7-1) at UFC 79: “Nemesis” on December 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.[/quote]

Rising star? When did that happen?

[quote comment=”245436″]all Fedor bashers and Dana white Nuthuggers should read this article before criticizing Fedor for not signing with the UFC:

“Why didn’t Fedor just sign with the UFC?

To understand him is to recognize that given the circumstances, it was never a choice.

Hearing Fedor discuss the UFC negotiations and understanding his background and motivation, it is obvious that he was as likely to accept the UFC’s offer as he was to become a completely different man.

In particular Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, cited the harshness of the UFC’s terms and the organization’s inflexibility as two issues preventing an agreement. There were some specifics, such as the widely publicized clause that wouldn’t let Fedor compete in combat sambo and the UFC’s refusal to sign some of his Red Devil teammates.

“I never met Dana White, never spoke to him on the phone, never exchanged e-mails,” Fedor said. “However, I did read a lot on the Internet about what he said in regard to me and Vadim []. I also read e-mails that he sent to Vadim; all of his correspondence was very upsetting. The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn’t be signed — I couldn’t leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

“Basically I can’t leave undefeated. I can’t give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don’t have the right to do anything without the UFC’s agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn’t have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It’s my national sport. It’s the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn’t suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document.”

Fedor is a man who fought all of his life to be independent of the system, to belong to himself and to forge his own future. He is where he is because of the people around him.

In his view the UFC offer, which was not open for reasonable negotiation, proposed that he exchange everything that makes him who he is — his team, his freedom and his future — in return for more money than anyone else at the time was making and the possibility of fighting in the strongest heavyweight division in the sport.”

Seriously F*ck Dana White……I am furious after reading this Article…as a fan I am dissapointed to not see Fedor in the UFC, but as a Man, I admire him, what he stands for, and putting his beliefs before MONEY (something rarely seen in sports). I am actually happy that Fedor laughed at Dana’s offer. Dana tried to OWN his life and thats not right. Fedor didnt sell out who he is and his principles….and I have to commend him for it![/quote]

Thanks for sharing this article John..I agree word for word. F’m..I have more respect for Fedor. I knew that these contracts the ufc offer fighter’s are one sided..to favor Zuffa. I hope something can happen to the powers that be of MMA to give us fans..the best fights out there regardless of organization/banner. I’m ordering ufc79 to see some great fights..it’s the fighters that make the ufc breath..while Dana/Zuffa want to put MMA in a chokehold. MMA can not be compared to NFL or NBA/MLB its whole different entity..John/VM..others alike and myself must stand our ground..point out the truth of the matter and hope MMA as a sport can grow as much as Zuffa’s pockets..under Danaisim.

[quote comment=”245440″][quote post=”4317″]Hard-hitting Australian heavyweight and UFC newcomer Soa Palelei (8-1) talks to UFC.com about his upcoming battle with fellow rising star Eddie Sanchez (7-1) at UFC 79: “Nemesis” on December 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.[/quote]

Rising star? When did that happen?[/quote]

I’m not sure why there’s so much contempt for Sanchez. He is 2-1 in the UFC with his only loss to Cro Cop. He is 9-1 as a pro. He may not be a huge prospect in the UFC, but anyone who can win 66% of his fights in the UFC is pretty good. He doesn’t have any impressive wins in the UFC yet but if he beats this monster he moves into contendor status in the weak HW division.

What I remember most about Eddie Sanchez is he ran the whole time from Cro Cop. Its like all the hype prior to the fight beat him before Cro Cop did. You can tell in his face and his confidence that HE KNEW he wouldn’t win.

Whats funny is that UFC has exposed Cro Cop that he can lose just as easy as any one else. He is not this Juggernaut that is unstoppable with the lethal leg kicks and all that jazz. I guess the lesson Eddie should know is to believe in himself because no one else will!

[quote comment=”245436″]all Fedor bashers and Dana white Nuthuggers should read this article before criticizing Fedor for not signing with the UFC:

“Why didn’t Fedor just sign with the UFC?

To understand him is to recognize that given the circumstances, it was never a choice.

Hearing Fedor discuss the UFC negotiations and understanding his background and motivation, it is obvious that he was as likely to accept the UFC’s offer as he was to become a completely different man.

In particular Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, cited the harshness of the UFC’s terms and the organization’s inflexibility as two issues preventing an agreement. There were some specifics, such as the widely publicized clause that wouldn’t let Fedor compete in combat sambo and the UFC’s refusal to sign some of his Red Devil teammates.

“I never met Dana White, never spoke to him on the phone, never exchanged e-mails,” Fedor said. “However, I did read a lot on the Internet about what he said in regard to me and Vadim []. I also read e-mails that he sent to Vadim; all of his correspondence was very upsetting. The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn’t be signed — I couldn’t leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

“Basically I can’t leave undefeated. I can’t give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don’t have the right to do anything without the UFC’s agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn’t have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It’s my national sport. It’s the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn’t suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document.”

Fedor is a man who fought all of his life to be independent of the system, to belong to himself and to forge his own future. He is where he is because of the people around him.

In his view the UFC offer, which was not open for reasonable negotiation, proposed that he exchange everything that makes him who he is — his team, his freedom and his future — in return for more money than anyone else at the time was making and the possibility of fighting in the strongest heavyweight division in the sport.”

Seriously F*ck Dana White……I am furious after reading this Article…as a fan I am dissapointed to not see Fedor in the UFC, but as a Man, I admire him, what he stands for, and putting his beliefs before MONEY (something rarely seen in sports). I am actually happy that Fedor laughed at Dana’s offer. Dana tried to OWN his life and thats not right. Fedor didnt sell out who he is and his principles….and I have to commend him for it![/quote]

This is a great read and all but can we please stick to the subject and quit bringing Fedor up in unrelated forums? Now I for one am looking forward to this fight. I think its a great way to kick off the PPV. I remember Sanchez’s first UFC fight and seen how hard he hits. He has potential and am looking forward to “Hulk’s” debut.

[quote comment=”245436″]all Fedor bashers and Dana white Nuthuggers should read this article before criticizing Fedor for not signing with the UFC:

“Why didn’t Fedor just sign with the UFC?

To understand him is to recognize that given the circumstances, it was never a choice.

Hearing Fedor discuss the UFC negotiations and understanding his background and motivation, it is obvious that he was as likely to accept the UFC’s offer as he was to become a completely different man.

In particular Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, cited the harshness of the UFC’s terms and the organization’s inflexibility as two issues preventing an agreement. There were some specifics, such as the widely publicized clause that wouldn’t let Fedor compete in combat sambo and the UFC’s refusal to sign some of his Red Devil teammates.

“I never met Dana White, never spoke to him on the phone, never exchanged e-mails,” Fedor said. “However, I did read a lot on the Internet about what he said in regard to me and Vadim []. I also read e-mails that he sent to Vadim; all of his correspondence was very upsetting. The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn’t be signed — I couldn’t leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

“Basically I can’t leave undefeated. I can’t give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don’t have the right to do anything without the UFC’s agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn’t have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It’s my national sport. It’s the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn’t suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document.”

Fedor is a man who fought all of his life to be independent of the system, to belong to himself and to forge his own future. He is where he is because of the people around him.

In his view the UFC offer, which was not open for reasonable negotiation, proposed that he exchange everything that makes him who he is — his team, his freedom and his future — in return for more money than anyone else at the time was making and the possibility of fighting in the strongest heavyweight division in the sport.”

Seriously F*ck Dana White……I am furious after reading this Article…as a fan I am dissapointed to not see Fedor in the UFC, but as a Man, I admire him, what he stands for, and putting his beliefs before MONEY (something rarely seen in sports). I am actually happy that Fedor laughed at Dana’s offer. Dana tried to OWN his life and thats not right. Fedor didnt sell out who he is and his principles….and I have to commend him for it![/quote]
That’s interesting, I have a totally different outlook on Fedor now but still who is he gonna fight after Randy and maybe Barnett. Dana White is a sorry piece of shit and I can see why Fedor didn’t sign. So I guess everyone needs to be pissed at Dana and not Fedor. I wonder if this is how all of the Pride guys were treated or if it was just Fedor. Hey John where did you read this?

PhilQNY: Good post man….I like the DANA-ism remarks……If you read the article its hard to side with Dana White in this case. Look at some of the ridiculous clauses..He cant leave the UFC undefeated. If he lost 1 fight, the UFC had the right to terminate his contract. The UFC wouldnt sign any of his red devil fight team teamates, which I dont understand, there are a lot of real promising red devil fighters most notably KIRIL Sidelnikov who has been called the Next Fedor, by many people including Fedor himself. Fedor’s lawyers said that the contract was unsignable….and with bullsh*t stipulations like that, I would have to agree.

How about the claus: No unsanctioned UFC interviews….Get the F outta here.

Dana should be Hung, or stoned to death!!!!!!!!!

marcbjr2: This subject blows…so no, I wont stick to the subject. We will continue to have our meaningful blog convo’s while you can sit there and talk about Eddie Sanchez! F-Off to u too.

I never come on this site and attack people, but after reading the Bullsh*t contract Dana tried to get Fedor to sign, I am furious, and all a-holes on here should feel the wrath of my blogging today!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I can give Fedor the benifit of the doubt but How is M-1 gonna make it doing cross promotions with Fedor alone? Maybe Andrei Arlovski will sign but what then?

This is the complete interview…Mania I strongly suggest that u re post this as its own thread for tomorrow’s conversations, because people need to read the kind of crap Dana is trying to pull with FIGHTERS:

STARY OSKOL, Russia — To really understand a man and the choices that he makes, you have to know where he comes from.

Beyond his public image, beyond your own projecting, you have to understand his place in the world. You have to understand how he has been influenced by the physical and psychological manifestations of his country’s politics. Most importantly, you have to know his outlook on life.

It’s easier said than done. Real understanding is often all but impossible.

In March, Dream Stage Entertainment sold the PRIDE Fighting Championships to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. The Zuffa co-owners gained rights to PRIDE’s fighter contracts, but the most important contract had expired. Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), the top heavyweight in mixed martial arts, was a free agent.

A bidding war ensued. There was strong speculation that Fedor would sign a multi-fight deal with Bodog. Vadim Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, said later that a number of organizations had made offers. He said K-1’s bid was good, but he called the UFC’s offer “the most financially attractive.”

The UFC’s negotiations for Fedor were one of the most discussed subjects of the year in MMA. In the end, the fighter passed on the sport’s biggest promotion and instead chose to sign a two-year deal with the newly established M-1 Global.

Shock and speculation, criticism and debate followed. Some of the disapproval was aimed at the UFC, and some of it was for Fedor.

In the aftermath of Fedor’s signing with M-1 Global, I traveled to Stary Oskol, Russia — the fighter’s hometown — in an effort to really understand the man who many consider to be the best fighter in the world. I went there to understand his decision.

A Fighter is Born

Stary Oskol is a small mining city in the Belgorod region. It sits on one of the largest iron ore deposits on the planet. Getting here requires an overnight train from Moscow to Belgorod, then a three-hour ride through the frozen landscape in a bus that is sometimes heated, sometimes not.

The city has a bleak, industrial and archetypal Soviet presence in a pristine setting. It is most beautiful here right now, in the dead of winter. The uniform concrete buildings — built to one of three or so designs like every other Soviet apartment building in the whole country — are like so many graying, moss-stained teeth paradoxically protruding from the white of the snow.

A forest of birch borders Stary Oskol, stretching almost as far as the eye can see, lost in the frost haze of oblivion. The air here is pure and crisp and fills the lungs like rejuvenation. It makes you feel as if you could run forever.

Fedor is still in awe of the nature in Stary Oskol, still struck by its capacity to give him strength. Seeing him running past the snow-covered trees as the sleeping forest glides on endlessly like an ocean, his breath instant condensation in the frost, you can start to appreciate the man through the landscape. His roots here sip from the land’s strength. This is the foundation of his power.

However, he was born in Rubezhnoe, Ukraine, in 1976 to Vladimir and Olga Emelianenko. His father was a steel worker, and his mother had been trained as a teacher. According to Communist propaganda, they were an iconoclastic Soviet family.

Soon after Fedor’s birth, his father finished compulsory service in the Red Army and moved to Stary Oskol — a young, bustling city then — to work in the production of construction materials. Left in Ukraine with his mother and older sister, Marina, Fedor spent the next two and a half years separated from his father. He was a sickly child with a weak immune system and was frequently ill. Eventually, in 1978, doctors recommended a change of climate that allowed the family to join Fedor’s father in Russia.

In Stary Oskol the Emelianenko family lived in a tiny room originally intended for drying clothes. The room was in a communal apartment — a frequent arrangement during Soviet times that typically housed a number of families in single rooms while the kitchen and bathroom were shared.

During the weekdays, while their parents were working on the other side of the city, 2-year-old Fedor and 5-year-old Marina were locked in the family’s tiny room. The little girl looked after her baby brother just as her mother would have: feeding Fedor, cleaning him and playing with him until their parents came home in the early evening.

“My soul was torn apart,” remembered Fedor’s mother, Olga. “I kept putting in requests to be moved to a different school, even as a cleaner but closer to my home, so that I would have an opportunity to come home during my lunch breaks. I was at the end of my tether when I was taken on as a teacher at School #22, and my children were given spaces in the school’s kindergarten.”

Fedor attributes much of what he has accomplished to his mother. She is hardworking, smart, resourceful. She’s the one who taught his father how to ride a motorcycle. When there wasn’t enough money to feed her three growing sons, she grew vegetables in a makeshift garden.

“My mother not only loves me as a son,” Fedor has proudly said, “but respects me as a person.”

Olga Emelianenko also encouraged her son’s sambo and judo training. In fact, she was the one who took Fedor to his first practice.

john, instead of posting the whole article, just give us the link.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=10538

That was easy.

[quote comment=”245436″]all Fedor bashers and Dana white Nuthuggers should read this article before criticizing Fedor for not signing with the UFC:

“Why didn’t Fedor just sign with the UFC?

To understand him is to recognize that given the circumstances, it was never a choice.

Hearing Fedor discuss the UFC negotiations and understanding his background and motivation, it is obvious that he was as likely to accept the UFC’s offer as he was to become a completely different man.

In particular Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, cited the harshness of the UFC’s terms and the organization’s inflexibility as two issues preventing an agreement. There were some specifics, such as the widely publicized clause that wouldn’t let Fedor compete in combat sambo and the UFC’s refusal to sign some of his Red Devil teammates.

“I never met Dana White, never spoke to him on the phone, never exchanged e-mails,” Fedor said. “However, I did read a lot on the Internet about what he said in regard to me and Vadim []. I also read e-mails that he sent to Vadim; all of his correspondence was very upsetting. The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn’t be signed — I couldn’t leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

“Basically I can’t leave undefeated. I can’t give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don’t have the right to do anything without the UFC’s agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn’t have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It’s my national sport. It’s the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn’t suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document.”

Fedor is a man who fought all of his life to be independent of the system, to belong to himself and to forge his own future. He is where he is because of the people around him.

In his view the UFC offer, which was not open for reasonable negotiation, proposed that he exchange everything that makes him who he is — his team, his freedom and his future — in return for more money than anyone else at the time was making and the possibility of fighting in the strongest heavyweight division in the sport.”

Seriously F*ck Dana White……I am furious after reading this Article…as a fan I am dissapointed to not see Fedor in the UFC, but as a Man, I admire him, what he stands for, and putting his beliefs before MONEY (something rarely seen in sports). I am actually happy that Fedor laughed at Dana’s offer. Dana tried to OWN his life and thats not right. Fedor didnt sell out who he is and his principles….and I have to commend him for it![/quote]

great article john, i know alot of people are douting m-1 but i think more fighters will join and they seem to have the right people involved, it will take time but i think they will be a great organization and most importantly good for mma fans and fighters to have some choice or at least make the ufc work a litlle harder at kepping there fans and fighters.

[quote comment=”245544″]marcbjr2: This subject blows…so no, I wont stick to the subject. We will continue to have our meaningful blog convo’s while you can sit there and talk about Eddie Sanchez! F-Off to u too.

I never come on this site and attack people, but after reading the Bullsh*t contract Dana tried to get Fedor to sign, I am furious, and all a-holes on here should feel the wrath of my blogging today!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

John…keep them coming Brother. You always give us bloggers some good stuff to read. I’m out got to go to rehab..(post surgery)…then I’ll link back up here on Mania. Peace.

[quote comment=”245552″]This is the complete interview…Mania I strongly suggest that u re post this as its own thread for tomorrow’s conversations, because people need to read the kind of crap Dana is trying to pull with FIGHTERS:

STARY OSKOL, Russia — To really understand a man and the choices that he makes, you have to know where he comes from.

Beyond his public image, beyond your own projecting, you have to understand his place in the world. You have to understand how he has been influenced by the physical and psychological manifestations of his country’s politics. Most importantly, you have to know his outlook on life.

It’s easier said than done. Real understanding is often all but impossible.

In March, Dream Stage Entertainment sold the PRIDE Fighting Championships to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. The Zuffa co-owners gained rights to PRIDE’s fighter contracts, but the most important contract had expired. Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), the top heavyweight in mixed martial arts, was a free agent.

A bidding war ensued. There was strong speculation that Fedor would sign a multi-fight deal with Bodog. Vadim Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, said later that a number of organizations had made offers. He said K-1’s bid was good, but he called the UFC’s offer “the most financially attractive.”

The UFC’s negotiations for Fedor were one of the most discussed subjects of the year in MMA. In the end, the fighter passed on the sport’s biggest promotion and instead chose to sign a two-year deal with the newly established M-1 Global.

Shock and speculation, criticism and debate followed. Some of the disapproval was aimed at the UFC, and some of it was for Fedor.

In the aftermath of Fedor’s signing with M-1 Global, I traveled to Stary Oskol, Russia — the fighter’s hometown — in an effort to really understand the man who many consider to be the best fighter in the world. I went there to understand his decision.

A Fighter is Born

Stary Oskol is a small mining city in the Belgorod region. It sits on one of the largest iron ore deposits on the planet. Getting here requires an overnight train from Moscow to Belgorod, then a three-hour ride through the frozen landscape in a bus that is sometimes heated, sometimes not.

The city has a bleak, industrial and archetypal Soviet presence in a pristine setting. It is most beautiful here right now, in the dead of winter. The uniform concrete buildings — built to one of three or so designs like every other Soviet apartment building in the whole country — are like so many graying, moss-stained teeth paradoxically protruding from the white of the snow.

A forest of birch borders Stary Oskol, stretching almost as far as the eye can see, lost in the frost haze of oblivion. The air here is pure and crisp and fills the lungs like rejuvenation. It makes you feel as if you could run forever.

Fedor is still in awe of the nature in Stary Oskol, still struck by its capacity to give him strength. Seeing him running past the snow-covered trees as the sleeping forest glides on endlessly like an ocean, his breath instant condensation in the frost, you can start to appreciate the man through the landscape. His roots here sip from the land’s strength. This is the foundation of his power.

However, he was born in Rubezhnoe, Ukraine, in 1976 to Vladimir and Olga Emelianenko. His father was a steel worker, and his mother had been trained as a teacher. According to Communist propaganda, they were an iconoclastic Soviet family.

Soon after Fedor’s birth, his father finished compulsory service in the Red Army and moved to Stary Oskol — a young, bustling city then — to work in the production of construction materials. Left in Ukraine with his mother and older sister, Marina, Fedor spent the next two and a half years separated from his father. He was a sickly child with a weak immune system and was frequently ill. Eventually, in 1978, doctors recommended a change of climate that allowed the family to join Fedor’s father in Russia.

In Stary Oskol the Emelianenko family lived in a tiny room originally intended for drying clothes. The room was in a communal apartment — a frequent arrangement during Soviet times that typically housed a number of families in single rooms while the kitchen and bathroom were shared.

During the weekdays, while their parents were working on the other side of the city, 2-year-old Fedor and 5-year-old Marina were locked in the family’s tiny room. The little girl looked after her baby brother just as her mother would have: feeding Fedor, cleaning him and playing with him until their parents came home in the early evening.

“My soul was torn apart,” remembered Fedor’s mother, Olga. “I kept putting in requests to be moved to a different school, even as a cleaner but closer to my home, so that I would have an opportunity to come home during my lunch breaks. I was at the end of my tether when I was taken on as a teacher at School #22, and my children were given spaces in the school’s kindergarten.”

Fedor attributes much of what he has accomplished to his mother. She is hardworking, smart, resourceful. She’s the one who taught his father how to ride a motorcycle. When there wasn’t enough money to feed her three growing sons, she grew vegetables in a makeshift garden.

“My mother not only loves me as a son,” Fedor has proudly said, “but respects me as a person.”

Olga Emelianenko also encouraged her son’s sambo and judo training. In fact, she was the one who took Fedor to his first practice.[/quote]

Great Read.

[quote comment=”245544″]marcbjr2: This subject blows…so no, I wont stick to the subject. We will continue to have our meaningful blog convo’s while you can sit there and talk about Eddie Sanchez! F-Off to u too.

I never come on this site and attack people, but after reading the Bullsh*t contract Dana tried to get Fedor to sign, I am furious, and all a-holes on here should feel the wrath of my blogging today!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

No need for the personal attack. If you have a story then by all means go ahead and forward to mania for us all to discuss in the proper forum, but leave the personal attacks out of it. I did nothing to you.

This is F**ked up and all how Dana The Douche has tried to screw Fedor over but it still doesn’t really change the fact that there is limited competition out there other than the heavyweights in the UFC and I can guarantee that any new talent that comes along that might actually have a chance to give Fedor a good fight is probablly not going to try to sign with M-1. I can tell you this, if the UFC is treating fighters like this in 10 years they are going to have a rude awakening because figthers are going to sign with Mark Cuban and M-1 but it will take at least ten years for an orginzation this big to fall apart.

sucker looks like charlie weis.. lol

Funny how we all “bow down to Fedor” and believe his every word. Seriously guys. Don’t be so naive to believe that Fedor doesn’t have his own hype machine. He’s fighting in less than a month remember? Any attention he can generate for himself the better….(On a side note, make sure you source your article)

Back to the original thread. Did I read that right? This monster is cutting DOWN to 265? How tall is he?

[quote comment=”245436″]all Fedor bashers and Dana white Nuthuggers should read this article before criticizing Fedor for not signing with the UFC:

“Why didn’t Fedor just sign with the UFC?

To understand him is to recognize that given the circumstances, it was never a choice.

Hearing Fedor discuss the UFC negotiations and understanding his background and motivation, it is obvious that he was as likely to accept the UFC’s offer as he was to become a completely different man.

In particular Finkelchtein, Fedor’s manager, cited the harshness of the UFC’s terms and the organization’s inflexibility as two issues preventing an agreement. There were some specifics, such as the widely publicized clause that wouldn’t let Fedor compete in combat sambo and the UFC’s refusal to sign some of his Red Devil teammates.

“I never met Dana White, never spoke to him on the phone, never exchanged e-mails,” Fedor said. “However, I did read a lot on the Internet about what he said in regard to me and Vadim []. I also read e-mails that he sent to Vadim; all of his correspondence was very upsetting. The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn’t be signed — I couldn’t leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

“Basically I can’t leave undefeated. I can’t give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don’t have the right to do anything without the UFC’s agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn’t have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It’s my national sport. It’s the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn’t suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document.”

Fedor is a man who fought all of his life to be independent of the system, to belong to himself and to forge his own future. He is where he is because of the people around him.

In his view the UFC offer, which was not open for reasonable negotiation, proposed that he exchange everything that makes him who he is — his team, his freedom and his future — in return for more money than anyone else at the time was making and the possibility of fighting in the strongest heavyweight division in the sport.”

Seriously F*ck Dana White……I am furious after reading this Article…as a fan I am dissapointed to not see Fedor in the UFC, but as a Man, I admire him, what he stands for, and putting his beliefs before MONEY (something rarely seen in sports). I am actually happy that Fedor laughed at Dana’s offer. Dana tried to OWN his life and thats not right. Fedor didnt sell out who he is and his principles….and I have to commend him for it![/quote] i read this article a few days back as well and was wondering when you were going to post it. if this is true, then i dont blame fedor at all for not signing w/ the ufc, but then i asked myself why just fedor, why didnt the ufc sign cro-cop to this kind of contract, he lost 2 times and he’s still w/ the ufc. why not shogun, werdum, herring, hendo etc. they all lost their first fight in the ufc, but their still under contract, still being paid. why would they only single out fedor in this manner? i’m not saying it isnt true but it sounds kinda fishy to me. remember you cant beleive everything you read.

B.W: The answer to your question is they probably are trying to treat Fedor like this because of how much a bust cro cop turned into, and they are tring to protect themselves from that happening with Fedor. In this case its retarded Fedor is Fedor, he will not dissapoint, anything can happen and if someone where to beat him it would have to be a WAR which will provide the UFC there money’s worth anyway. Cro Cop was a glorified Kickboxer, who got outclassed in the UFC where all its fighters are well rounded, and train like animals.

Fedor isn’t Cro Cop, and because Dana didnt realize that, No Fedor in the Octagon.