We’ll be posting the major points from Dana’s conference call. He starts with his usual ‘We did everything to get Fedor, he’ll never get paid like this’ disclaimer. The media will lap this up like kittens lapping at a bowl of milk, but with Fedor’s ownership equity in M1 Global and the possible implications of that to his bottom line, and his many options internationally that’s not something you should buy unconditionally. The reality is without knowing who gets what in what circumstances both in the UFC and elsewhere its not possible to say that one deal is better than the other. Of course its Dana’s job to spin it in favor of the UFC, and he just did. The fact that he immediately shot down questions before anything else leads me to believe that ‘negotiations are ongoing’ otherwise he’d have taken this opportunity for some more ‘crazy Russians’ blasts.

–UFC 103 main event will be Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin. That should be an excellent fight. It’ll be at 205.

–Tito Ortiz back in the UFC and he’s already back up to speed on the Zuffa spin dance suggesting there were no challenges elsewhere. Claims he would kill Frank Shamrock if they fought again–a bold statement since Shamrock beat Tito back in 1999 on ’submission due to strikes’. Of course that was the Paleolithic Era for MMA and most of the fans that have come into the sport since don’t know this and won’t bother to do the research. The reality is that no one else was willing to pay Tito what he thinks he’s worth, and that–combined with his value in selling PPVs and tickets to the UFC–is what prompted the reconciliation. Dana says that they’re thinking about Tito v. Mark Coleman, presumably in the UFC’s new ’senior’s circuit’.

–Dan Henderson next in line for middleweight title shot sez Dana. Maia-Marquardt winner probably after that.

–UFC will go everywhere including Russia. We can’t be stopped says Dana sounding more like an imperialistic minded dictator than a fight promoter. He’s apparently forgotten his ‘the yakuza would kill me in Japan’ comment from last Friday. Obviously Russia is a different matter since they have no underworld or organized crime.

All in all another ‘overhype and under deliver’ press conference from Dana. You’ll recall that his last two ‘huge announcements’ were a content deal with Yahoo and Lorenzo Fertitta coming to Zuffa on a full time basis. In all fairness, both had a significant impact on a business level but not exactly to the general public.