Fedor signs with EA

[Dave Gray]

Tepop touched on this in the other thread.   Here's how I understand it:

Fedor is a big bad-ass who fights in K1 (a different MMA league, overseas).  He is a beast, but his critics say that he's made his name fighting "freaks", rather than skilled fighters.

Everyone wants him to fight Lesner in the UFC.

Tomorrow, Dana White (president of the UFC) is set to make some big announcement.  Most people thought that it was going to about signing Fedor to a contract, where he'll undoubtedly fight Lesner, in what would have been the most anticipated fight in the history of the UFC.

But then, yesterday, Fedor signs a contract to be the cover-boy on EA Sports' new MMA video game.  This directly conflicts with Dana White's rules about having rights to his fighters in the official UFC game.

So, nobody knows if something just fell apart, if it's just a red herring and that White will still announce a deal with Fedor tomorrow, or if something else is going on.

[bsmooth]

I am sure this was in the works well before the last Lesner fight. After Lesner's behavior, there has been even a louder calling from the fans for Fedor to come over to UFC.
Fedor fought in Pride in Japan nad has fought more than a few people who have sense come over to UFC.

[Brian Fein]

anyone have a picture of this guy?

[Dave Gray]

I found a particularly bloody one for you, Brian.  He's not really that big of a guy. ...Lesner is much bigger.

He's only 6 ft tall, but he's fierce.

[Brian Fein]

I had a college roommate named Fedor and he was kinda crazy at times, kinda big, and European.  I thought maybe it was him...

[Tepop84]

eh, i don't think that fedor signing with ea will block any deal.  I just think Fedor is overrated.  He has fought inferior competition his whole career. 

listen to the announcers blow fedor. His opponent is 2 weight classes under Fedor, which is obviously huge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC_5Cfky-o0

[Fau Teixeira]

check out this fight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QzX1ZadJM

[Tepop84]

check out this fight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QzX1ZadJM

Yea, that was the guys second career MMA fight, clearly a worthy opponent of fedor. He did get his MMA record back to 2-2 after his recent victory over Jose Canseco.

[Sunstroke]

All I really want is one more quality heavyweight "boxing" match in my lifetime...an Ali-Frazier, Holmes-Norton type battle.

Is that too much to ask for?

[MaineDolFan]

Lesner hasn't exactly been fighting forever.

[Sunstroke]

Yea, that was the guys second career MMA fight, clearly a worthy opponent of fedor. He did get his MMA record back to 2-2 after his recent victory over Jose Canseco.

Is that a serious statement...does an MMA match against washed up has-been baseball player Jose Canseco actually count toward a fighter's record?

If the answer is "yes," I will probably never consider MMA a real sport.

[MaineDolFan]

^^That would never happen in the UFC.  The UFC should be considered the "major league" of MMA.  It's heart attack serious.

[bsmooth]

eh, i don't think that fedor signing with ea will block any deal.  I just think Fedor is overrated.  He has fought inferior competition his whole career. 

listen to the announcers blow fedor. His opponent is 2 weight classes under Fedor, which is obviously huge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC_5Cfky-o0

Did you ever watch the Pride fights in Japan? A lot a top quality fighters went there over the UFC because they got paid a lot more for fighting. Now that Dana has taken over UFC and the fighters are making a ton of money, many of them came over.

[Tepop84]

Did you ever watch the Pride fights in Japan? A lot a top quality fighters went there over the UFC because they got paid a lot more for fighting. Now that Dana has taken over UFC and the fighters are making a ton of money, many of them came over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_Emelianenko

who has he fought that was quality? 

[Tepop84]

saw this .gif on another site.