Who knows what to believe?
M-1 COO: Report of six fight, $30 million offer from UFC “completely ludicrous”
Reports have surfaced over the course of the past 24 hours that M-1 Global officials and Fedor Emelianenko turned down a six-fight, $30 million contract offer from the UFC. But in a new exclusive interview with Sherdog.com’s Loretta Hunt, M-1 Global Chief Operating Officer Joost Raimond is quoted as denying that such an offer exists.
Raimond labeled the report as “completely ludicrous” while revealing that talks with the UFC never progressed to a point where a specified number of fights was finalized.
Raimond was also quick to point out that the UFC’s offer did not approach anywhere near the $30 million figure that many claim Fedor and M-1 was offered.
“I can say that the guaranteed — and the word ‘guaranteed’ is of great importance here — the guaranteed offer made by the UFC is less than what Fedor made before,” Raimond told Hunt. “The five-million (per fight) is way, way, way out of range. Half of that is even way out of range of what they offered.”
Regardless of the money, Raimond reaffirmed that a major sticking point in the negotiations is the UFC’s insistence to sign Fedor as a UFC fighter with no connection to M-1.
“We made it clear that Fedor, now and forever is part, even part owner, of M-1 and those two cannot be separated,” Raimond is quoted. “If the rest of M-1 is excluded from any kind of deal, it makes the deal difficult.”
http://www.m-1global.com/lang/en/200...rous%e2%80%9d/