MMAJunkie has posted a good recap of Fedor’s status with M-1 Global as well as the chances of an Emelianenko/Couture fight happening in UFC.
In an interview on M-1 Mixfight’s Web site, Couture said, “I care at this point that [a fight with Fedor’s] not in the UFC… But outside of that, I don’t care where it happens so long as it happens.”
Additionally, Sherdog says that Fedor was actually never under contract with M-1 Global, only signing a letter of intent. He will be returning his $1.5 million signing bonus this week to officially become a free agent. According to Sherdog, a source is telling the site that the early leader to sign Fedor “comes from the purported partnership between Affliction and Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, which Sherdog.com has learned could debut on June 28.”
On Yahoo! Sports today, Kevin Iole writes that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer confirmed that the company will do MMA events later this year with Affliction, but that the promotion is un-named thus far, and while he has spoken to HBO officials, no deal is in place. He also teased talks with a “very wealthy, very well known, very well-connected individual” (Iole speculates this is Mark Cuban), and that fighters will be offered an equity stake in the new MMA company, just as is the case on the boxing side of Golden Boy.
