MANILA, Philippines - Although ONE Championship is branded as Asia’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) organization due to its highly-publicized 90% market share, company CEO Victor Cui admits that the promotion did not take the initiative to sign up heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko.
Several organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Bellator MMA expressed their interest in acquiring Emelianenko’s services, except for ONE as Cui stressed that it is not financially viable.
“Getting some of the best fighters in the world is possible, but I heard he is paid for $5 million. That’s insane,” he told Rappler
The Filipino-Canadian promoter pointed out that he would rather invest in promising competitors such as Mark Striegl, Timofey Nastyukhin and Herbert Burns and to mold them into world-class fighters.
“The challenge is that you want to have a fighter like Mark [Striegl] that you can build the future of your business on. Maybe if you are a brand new or a start-up organization that doesn’t have a fan base, you need something like that,” Cui said.
However, Cui expressed that he is not disregarding possible negotiations with Emelianenko, who has a huge following in Japan and Russia, and rose to stardom through the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships.
“We would look at it if it would make sense for us and the market we go into. Maybe if we can have our next event in Russia, something like that will make a lot of sense,” he stated.
Emelianenko, a former PRIDE heavyweight champion, compiled a professional record of 34 wins and 4 defeats with one no contest before retiring in 2012.
The 39-year-old Russian excited MMA followers around the world when rumors spread about him coming out of retirement and finally signing with the UFC, but he chose to partner with a new regional organization in Japan under the tutelage of former PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara for a co-promoted New Year’s Eve show with Bellator. – Rappler.com
