Link to Sherdog's article NEW YORK, Oct. 22 -- During his 34 years working in the entertainment industry, Mitchell Maxwell has seen many contracts. So Vadim Finkelchtein, the Russian manager of Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), listened to the Broadway show producer when it came time to discuss a deal that was designed to deliver the heavyweight star to the UFC.
"I said, as an entertainment guy, you can't have anybody sign this," Maxwell told Sherdog.com following Monday's press conference to officially announce the M-1 Global mixed martial arts organization, for which he now sits as chairman. "It's too one-sided. You can't exploit somebody like this."
Link to MMA Weekly's article Highlights from the two articles:
- Understand there will be hurdles in marketing Fedor in the US
- Wants to fight Randy, but respects him a great deal and wants to be friends with him
- Offered to send Fedor to the UFC to fight whoever is champ
- Offered UFC champ to fight Fedor for $1 MIL over his UFC deal plus $1MIL win bonus
- Expects UFC fighters to jump ship to M-1 when their contracts expire (isn't AA in contract negotiations?)