Monte Cox interview (MMA Madness)

Here is another interesting interview of Monte Cox by the MMA Madness. Once again he answers about the conflict of interest.

MMA Madness: What will this mean for the fighters you currently manage?

Monte Cox: Well, we’re going to make a deal where, if a guy wants to fight in M-1, that I manage, the M-1 board will negotiate an offer for him. If the fighter accepts the offer then I’m going to have to place him with somebody else. I’ll pick a promoter. I’ll pick someone that I trust who will do a good job for him. Anyone that’s going to come over – I just can’t do anything. I hate it because these guys are all my friends. But that’s fine. We’ll do that for them. On the other guys, we just don’t know yet. I leave it up to the fighters. I don’t know if you know – I do no contracts for my guys. So they’re free to go any time they want.

Some details about organizing the fights.

MMA Madness: Who is going to be doing the matchmaking for M-1?

Monte Cox: I will – I’m the CEO. So I’m in charge of the matchmaking, with help from Joost [Raimond] and Apy [Echteld] – especially for foreign fighters. But as far as American fighters and such, that’ll be me.

It's nice to see how they (M-1 Global) position themselves and what kind of expectations they have.

MMA Madness: One of the huge advantages the UFC has is that they are able to do a live event every single month, so they stay in the public consciousness. How does M-1 compete with that realistically?

Monte Cox: We’re not going to be the UFC. We can’t be. Anybody who says they’re going to come into this and we’re going to be just like the UFC after ten weeks – I wouldn’t put any money in that stock. We just have to do what we can do. My job is to put on a good event, an exciting event, at the same time promoting Fedor and make money doing it. And as long as we do that, we’ll be around. But we’re not going to be the biggest thing in the sport right away. We know that.

But the most interesting quote is below.

MMA Madness: How did you become involved with M-1 Global?

Monte Cox: One of [Maxwell’s] backers is Russian and is friends with Fedor’s manager and said, ‘Hey, do you know anyone who knows MMA?’ And Mitchell said, ‘You know, I’ve worked with SFX [Media and Events] before and I think they’re doing something with MMA.’ And they [SFX] were working with Elite. So he [the Russian backer] called them [SFX] and they were working with Brian Patton. Brian Patton does endorsements for Matt Hughes. And Brian goes, ‘Well I’m in MMA but the guy you want to talk to is Monte Cox.’ So that’s the way it came around. That’s how they called me. In the beginning you’re like, ‘I’m not sure how this is going to go.’ It was just amazing and things just started clicking. I went out to Amsterdam. I met all the guys and they seemed knowledgeable and sincere. Then they signed Fedor [Emelianenko] and I’m like, ‘I’m in. Let’s do it.’

Aleksander Emelianenko, ex-Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, Jean-Claude Van Damme, president of Russia Vladimir Putin, Fedor Emelianenko. Saint-Petersburg, April 2007

Did you notice that? There is some kind of mystical Russian investor, who seems to play a significant role in the history of M-1 Global, and nobody even heard about him, let alone knows something about him! When M-1 Global rumors started to fly around, I was half-jokingly proposing the idea that there is some kind of rich Russian oligarch, who decided to put some money into the MMA field (similar to Roman Abramovich who bought the Chelsea Football Club, an English Premiership football team), and doesn't want to advertise it (that's the Russian habit, it doesn't mean that there is any illegal stuff going on). So it might be a realistic scenario after all?..