$ 3.000.000,- voor Couture-Fedor

[RNLMC]

New MMA Organization Cage Fighting Championships, Inc. (CFC) Offers $3 Million Purse for Randy Couture VS Fedor Emelianenko

DAVIE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Cage Fighting Championships (CFC) Spokesperson Crawford Grimsley announced today, “The CFC will put up a $3,000,000 purse to bring the Couture vs Emelianenko fight to Pay-Per-View. $1,000,000 will be guaranteed to each fighter while the winner takes home an additional cool million, making this the largest single purse for any one MMA fight.”

Grimsley, a former heavyweight boxer who went 12 rounds with big George Foreman for the world title in 1996 said, “I don’t know who set up the current MMA system of sanctioning bodies locking fighters into exclusive long term contracts. I do know who is out to change this system though, we are, the CFC. We are not going to try to reinvent the wheel, but we would like to add a little of the business model that professional boxing has adopted for decades. Can you imagine if professional boxing would not allow champion to fight champion. How many great boxing matches would we have missed?”

Grimsley added, “The UFC has made this sport into what it is today and my hat is off to them, but in the same regard, we feel the sport must allow the best from any league to fight each other when the time is right. We are willing to sit down with any and all parties necessary to make this fight happen including the UFC, Randy Couture, the Gersh Agency, Fedor Emelianenko, his manager Vadim Finkelstein and M-1. It happens everyday in boxing. That’s how you get an undisputed champion. This exclusivity only hurts the sport, the fans, the fighters and the amount of money a fighter can make. We are going to do everything we can to bring this fight and many others currently prohibited. It’s time for the MMA to change for the benefit of the fighters and fans, not the sanctioning bodies.”

The first CFC event took place October 6, 2007 and has already hit the radar of Mark Cuban’s HDNet Network, which only broadcasts in 1080i High Definition, and the hit show Inside MMA. Highlights of the first CFC Middleweight Title fight “Let the Rage Begin” aired this last Friday, October 12, 2007. For airing information, go to www.hd.net and look for the Inside MMA schedule.

About Cage Fighting Championships

The Cage Fighting Championships bring some of the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts professionals into battle inside a 6-foot high caged ring. Headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Rage in a Cage Promotions, Inc., Davie
Crawford Grimsley – Promoter/Media Coverage, 954-594-7288

[Jochem]

Neverrrrrr nooit niet gaat dit lukken.

[Tony]

ik zie het ook niet gebeuren...

Misschien als ze het budget verhogen naar $10.000.000,-

[Mickey]

Waarom niet? Het is echt een shitload of money..
Ik denk dat beide champs zelf hier wel oren naar hebben.

[el bastardo]

Zou wel erg cool zijn. ALS het al zou gebeuren, dan zou zoiets wel de manier zijn om het te doen denk ik.

[TOON]

kan de UFC dit niet dwarsbomen? Randy had toch nog een contract voor een wedstrijd of ie nu resigned is of niet, daar kan de UFC toch moeilijk over gaan doen.... dana white kennende...

[fedor]

Je vergeet 1 ding....ufc en dana zijn niet gebaat bij deze deal denk ik !
Als Dana geen grote $ tekens ziet, it aint gonna happen

[nanni149]

wel een goed initiatief om toppers uit diverse organisaties tegen elkaar te laten vechten
hopen dat dit gaat werken,maar het zal niet meevallen!

[Jochem]

De M-1 betaalt net grof voor Fedor, die laat hem niet ergens anders vechten. De UFC heeft "officieel" randy nog onder contract voor 2 partijen, die laten hun kip met gouden eieren niet ergens anders de vernieling in slaan. Alleen in hun eigen organisatie. Het is niet voor niks dat er steeds geen unification bouts waren tussen UFC en Pride. het lijkt mij NOG minder waarschijnlijk dat dit gaat gebeuren als een 3e partij het aanbied, eentje welke vervolgens dan meteen een serieuze concurrent van je is.

[Influcted]

Volgens mij staat in Fedors contract met M-1 dat hij overal mag vechten. Niet heel zeker van dit maar toch..

[Jochem]

Volgens mij staat in Fedors contract met M-1 dat hij overal mag vechten. Niet heel zeker van dit maar toch..

Sambo, niet MMA. Lijkt me vreemd als hij ergens anders MMA zou mogen vechten. Dan kan je net zo goed geen contract afsluiten.

[mossad]

Die kerel doet net alsof in het boksen alle kampioenen steeds tegen elkaar uitkomen. Het is dit jaar beter dan andere jaren maar al die bonden blokkeren unification in boksen juist. Dat is altijd 1 van de sterke punten van MMA geweest dat iedereen tegen elkaar vecht.

[Marco (scheids)]

Ik scheids die partij wel voor 1% van hun gage ... betaal ik mn ticket ook zelf...lol....

[Peete]

easy $ voor Fedor.

[Biiyen]

Zou wel mega vet zijn! Al zie ik dit jammer genoeg niet gebeuren.

[Evilman]

kicken idee.
moet couture doen.. hij wil zo graag
die laatste uitdaging.
nou.. laat m dan maar verliezend retiren

[MB667]

The old adage goes, "what's in a name?" Apparently, the answer is a lot, at least when it comes to describing Randy Couture's (Pictures) departure from the UFC.

The subtle dispute between Couture and UFC president Dana White in their subsequent war of words may turn out to be the most important.

Couture has steadfastly described his act as a "resignation," while White has consistently used the word "retirement." The reason behind the careful parsing of words is becoming clear as purported details of Couture's UFC contract begin to trickle out.

On Tuesday, Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole cited non-UFC sources claiming Couture's contract with the UFC was worth $13-15 million. Couture told Sherdog.com that his four-fight contract paid him $250,000 per fight in addition to guarantees on pay-per-view bonuses.

Late Wednesday, Couture's agent Matt Walker told Sherdog.com the figures reported by Yahoo! were "extremely inaccurate" based upon what Couture had been told were pay-per-view numbers from the UFC heavyweight champion's last two fights.

"When I first read the story on Yahoo! I actually laughed because they are so far from fact," said Walker.

"If he were getting $3.25-$3.75 million a fight then Randy's compensation would not be an issue," said the agent, who was lambasted by White as a Hollywood parasite after Couture announced his resignation on Oct. 11. "However, I can tell you those salary numbers for Randy are severely inflated and I would love to know where they got the information."

Yahoo! Sports' Iole told Sherdog.com on Thursday that he stands by his report.

According to another report on Yahoo! Sports, this time by Dave Meltzer, most of the top star's contracts with the UFC include a clause that freezes the contract if the fighter retires. Therefore if Couture's departure is a retirement, he would remain under UFC contract indefinitely until he fulfills the remaining fights on his deal.

Couture's public statements reflect his belief that he will be free of the contract nine months from now. The UFC counters that Couture has two fights remaining before the deal can be fulfilled.

Walker declined to comment on the specifics of Couture's contract, but said "everything will make sense when the dust settles.

"I can tell you that this decision was made out of principle and would have been made regardless of the outcome. Randy is a man of integrity and felt he needed to make a stand. The story will be told in the results and I think everyone knows the type of man Randy is, as has been demonstrated over the decade, while others may have built a different type of reputation."

Without access to the contract itself it is impossible to draw legal conclusions on the validity of a "retirement" clause, however, some preliminary research suggests that Zuffa might face an uphill battle in attempting to enforce such a clause regardless of whether Couture's action represented a retirement or a resignation.

The reported clause might be construed as an attempt by the company to compel specific performance through a contract in equity. In layman's terms, the clause appears to be an attempt by the UFC to compel Couture to fulfill his contract according to terms laid out in the deal. The problem with the clause is that it appears to be an attempt to contract for a remedy, which is the proper role of the court.

The general rule is that courts will not compel specific performance of a personal services contract. However, according to Corpus Juris Secundum, a leading legal encyclopedia, "the breach of a contract to render special, unique, or extraordinary personal services may be restrained," meaning that Couture is a unique property and is not easily replaced.

Unless prohibited by statute, it is now widely held that while the law will not compel specific performance, it will enjoin the employee from "working for others or doing positive actions in violation of the contract" if irreparable damage will be suffered as a result of the breach. In those cases an injunction may be issued to prevent the employee from furnishing those services to another employer for the duration of the contract.

The clause could also conceivably be construed as a type of non-compete clause.

Generally speaking, a restrictive clause in an employment contract such as a non-compete clause is valid and enforceable by injunction so long as it is for a reasonably limited time and space. However it must not go beyond what is reasonably necessary to protect the employer's business, must not be unreasonably restrictive on the employee, and must not violate public policy. The court will normally modify an unlimited or overly broad restriction and enforce it to its reasonable extent.

As a result of the foregoing analysis, based on the scant information available, there are reasons to doubt Zuffa's ability to retain Couture under contract longer than the scheduled duration of the agreement.

The situation seems ripe for litigation. It is hard to imagine that Zuffa is anxious to test the enforceability of its contracts in court due to the dire results that could accompany an adverse ruling. The company could face a legitimate labor crisis were key provisions of Couture's contract to be found invalid, allowing other fighters to follow suit in leaving the company or demanding new contracts.

Regardless of the outcome, Walker said that Couture is satisfied "because he made a stand on not only his behalf, but on behalf of some of the other top and upcoming fighters who aren't being treated fairly. The money isn't even the issue; it is just the final straw that, combined with other indications, showed him how the UFC appreciated what he's brought to the sport, which is far more than just his success in the Octagon."

Adam Swift is the author of Payout: The Business of MMA.

[fedor]

Als dit klopt zou Zuffa misschien toch nog genegen kunnen zijn om wat centen te pakken met een fedor-randy deal als het alternatief is om randy anders na 9 maanden "gratis" te laten weglopen...