Vadim Finkelchtein, longtime manager of Fedor Emelianenko, recently spoke with Submission Radio about Fedor’s upcoming MMA fighting return.
In regards to Vadim’s rocky history with UFC President Dana White, who has often referred to him as “Va-Dummy,” Finkelchtein said the following:
“Dana talked a lot. [He] talked a lot about Fedor, about Vadim, and he talked bad. But Fedor understands that it all was just PR. He’s not in a bad relations with Dana and he doesn’t feel anything bad about him.”
Another big hangup between the UFC and Fedor during previous negotiations was Fedor’s promotional contract with M-1 Global, and the fact that M-1 mandated that any shows Fedor fought on would have to be co-promoted, something that is no longer a factor.
“Well, when it comes to M-1 we are not really interested in any kind of co-promotion. M-1 is a self-contained, European promotion which has no less than 12 shows a year, and this number is about to grow every year. I don’t think that a co-promotion with Bellator is possible. The other time when we co-promoted with Strikeforce [it was] because Fedor had a contract with M-1. Now it’s a different story. And, well to repeat what I said before, I want to say that M-1 don’t really need any co-promotion.”
