Where can you find this deal? Why, on eBay of course!
Middle Easy found the auction yesterday when bidding opened at a penny coupled with an outrageous $49,999.99 shipping fee for "171 large mouth Sony HD Cam 124 minute tapes." (The winner also receives an autographed Fedor glove!)
Why the exorbitant asking price? According to the description, the tapes were being sold as a result of non-payment for production costs. Presumably, $50,000 covers most/all of those costs.
The seller's account, m1clearencesale (and tag a big ol' sic on that), led back to one man: Gary "Jerry" Millen. Middle Easy caught up with him:
"I left M1 and it was amicable, but there was a huge amount of money still owed to me for the M1 Series production. I was told I would be taken care of, and I never was. A portion of the money owed was supposed to be for the M1 commentators, Jimmy Smith and Sean Wheelock. They were never paid by M-1, so I paid them out of my own pocket."
"I'm selling these tapes as a way to recoup the substantial amount of money that is owned to me. M1 didn't pay the invoices and the past year and a half they've been giving me BS excuses. I know financially things aren't well for them, but this is a complete reflection of M1. This is not aimed to hurt Fedor Emelianenko in anyway. He's been completely mismanaged. I hate to say that Dana White is right, but he's 100% right with most of the comments he's made towards M-1. They unfortunately ruined Fedor's career. Can it be salvaged? Sure. But M1 as a management company is ridiculous. You got to remember everyone at M1 left and they put Evgeni Kogan, a translator, virtually in charge of the company. Director of Operations? What is that? When we were there, we actually had revenue coming in and was producing a product. Now they have nothing coming in and it's in complete disarray. You can't put a translator in charge of running a company."
Or can you?"I'm selling these tapes as a way to recoup the substantial amount of money that is owned to me. M1 didn't pay the invoices and the past year and a half they've been giving me BS excuses. I know financially things aren't well for them, but this is a complete reflection of M1. This is not aimed to hurt Fedor Emelianenko in anyway. He's been completely mismanaged. I hate to say that Dana White is right, but he's 100% right with most of the comments he's made towards M-1. They unfortunately ruined Fedor's career. Can it be salvaged? Sure. But M1 as a management company is ridiculous. You got to remember everyone at M1 left and they put Evgeni Kogan, a translator, virtually in charge of the company. Director of Operations? What is that? When we were there, we actually had revenue coming in and was producing a product. Now they have nothing coming in and it's in complete disarray. You can't put a translator in charge of running a company."
Since the auction opened, Millen has reduced the shipping to $2,000. The current bid, as of midnight ET, has climbed to $202.50 (though the reserve has not been met). Bidding ends in six days.
Think of all the M-1 highlights you could put up on Youtube.