Press-conference in Japan. Fedor's fight against Hong Man Choi. Sherdog's fuckup.

Sherdog.com has news about the press-conference I previously reported.

M-1 Global and former members of Dream Stage Entertainment announced Wednesday in Tokyo that they will collaborate on a New Year's Eve event at Saitama Super Arena.

Among the representatives present at the news conference, which was held at the arena, were M-1 Global executive committee member and M-1 Mix Fight president Vadim Finkelstein, PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, former PRIDE president Nobuhiko Takada, PRIDE's former public relations representative Keiichi Sasahara, DEEP boss and former Bushido matchmaker Shigeru Saeki, former PRIDE MC's Kei Grant and Lenne Hardt as well as Daisuke Sato, the man behind the production for the company.

The large group of former and current power brokers of the Japanese MMA market announced a joint venture for Dec. 31 that will have Emelianenko fight in the main event against Korean kickboxer Hong Man Choi.

Other possible participants named were former Bushido aces Hayato Sakurai, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida and Kazuo Misaki. Top foreign free agents mentioned were Joachim Hansen, Ricardo Arona, Gilbert Melendez and Luiz Azeredo. M-1 also brought up Russian heavyweights Aleksander Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov.

Although the event will not be available on Japanese cable TV, SkyPerfecTV has agreed to carry the show on pay-per-view.

© unknown Fedor Emelianenko and other fighters at the press-conference in Japan's Saitama Super Arena

Unfortunately the former Pride fighter Ricardo Arona won't be attending this show. He told about it in the interview made to GracieMag.com.

When queried about M-1 Global and Fedor, the athlete [Ricardo Arona] responded: “M-1 Global hunted me down to fight at the end of this year, but I’m having some personal problems and will not be able to go. They also offered me a fight in February and there is a great possibility of that. As for Fedor, nobody’s said anything about that to me; I’d be stoked to fight him, I think weight will not be a problem, he can either drop a bit or I’ll go up.”

So all this is official information. What about the unofficial (from the M-1 camp) one? Here you go: do you see Sherdog't sentence about the sure Fedor Emelianenko vs Hong Man Choi fight? That's bullshit! Don't trust this information!

The thing is that according to the contract, the receiving side can choose the opponent for Fedor Emelianenko. Hong Man Choi is only one of the candidates, even though a very good one. But nothing is 100% sure yet.

Hong Man Choi has been already training to fight Fedor. Actually, Asian promoters already approached Fedor Emelianenko and his management this summer with the proposal to fight Hong Man Choi, but it didn't work out because of the Fedor's negotiations with the UFC at a time.

People at the M-1 camp are angry for Sherdog for publishing this kind of rumours. By doing this they:

• Increased the chance for negotiations to break up
  
• Increased the monetary demands of the parties (Hong Man Choi, K-1?)
  
• Increased the chance of this fight not to come true
  
• Increased their own chances of being blamed for giving incorrect information (like I do now and like many people will do if Fedor will be fighting somebody else)

Now who knows where this leaked information will lead...

And now my personal opinion. I don't understand people, who call Hong Man Choi "a bag". He is not. Well, at least we don't know it yet. He is one of the top K-1 fighters in the world. Can we look at his fighting record and decide if he will be a good match up for Fedor Emelianenko? No. We can't really draw any conclusions from his only MMA win. Can we say anything about the success of people coming from the kickboxing/K-1 background and their results in MMA? No. On one hand we have such people as Mirko CroCop and Igor Vovchanchin, who were very successful. On another, we have Semmy Schilt, who wasn't that good at MMA.

What can we say about Hong Man Choi? He is young, he is tall and strong. He is successful in K-1. His background is in Korean style of wrestling (sumo-like), which should be only to advantage in Mixed Martial Arts. He has been training a lot in MMA.

Does it mean he will be successful? No. It only means that anything can happen. Obviously, Fedor Emelianenko will lose, sooner or later. Maybe Hong Man will be that guy? He might, even though I personally am doubtful. What is not doubtful, is that if Fedor Emelianenko and Hong Man Choi will fight, it will be a fight of perhaps two biggest stars in Asian fighting scene, and it makes a lot of sense for M-1 Global from the marketing and business perspective.

Let's wait and see what happens! If we will see this fight at all...

Aleksander and Fedor Emelianenko fighting in Japan on a NYE

Breaking news!

According to mixfight.ru web site, Fedor Emelianenko, Aleksander Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov will be fighting at the Saitama Super Arena, Japan on a New Year's Eve, in the first M-1 Global organized event.

M-1 Global will hold its press-conference on November,21 which will be dedicated to the first event of the organization.

The event is scheduled to take place on New Year's Eve at the Saitama Super Arena. The league Mixfight M-1 will be represented by Vadim Finkelstein and Fedor Emelianenko.

www.mixfight.ru cought up with Fedor before his departure and asked him to comment on this situation with the fight on the Japanese soil that became kind of home to Fedor.

Among other questions Fedor was asked this: "You will fight again in Japan but do you feel sorry it won't be under the Pride banner anymore?"

Fedor said: "Pride was a great organization with the best fighters and I believe that now M-1 Global will become new Pride".

Other Russian athletes scheduled for this event are Alexander Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov.

The name of Fedor's opponent will be announced later.

Monte Cox, the CEO of M-1 Global, has confirmed that Fedor Emelianenko will indeed be fighting on a NYE in Japan against 7’2” (218cm) and 352lbs (160kg) Korean Hong Man Choi. Hong Man Choi has MMA record of 1-0 (he won Bobby Ologun in only 16 seconds in his only MMA bout), but has a very good kickboxing record of 12-3 (with wins over Gary Goodridge, Mighty Mo, Semmy Schilt, Bob Sapp and others).

Emelianenko will fight (Hong Man) Choi, according to (Monte) Cox, as part of a show being organized by the promoters of the Japanese professional wrestling organization Hustle. Several of Hustle’s employees were involved in operation of the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships.

Fedor Emelianenko won gold at the World Combat Sambo Championship

Fedor Emelianenko has won gold at the World Combat Sambo Championship in Czech Republic.

Thus he became the four times world champion in Combat Sambo (additionally with being four times Russian champion, and one-time European champion)! Our sincere congratulations!

I will publish more details today (on Sunday), so check back a little later!

Revision: Fedor Emelianenko not fighting on a NYE?..

Have to go back to the previous article about Fedor not fighting on a New Year's Eve.

Here is the quote from the Tatame.com site mentioned in a previous post.

The Heavy Champion of the Art of War, Pedro Rizzo, who travelled yesterday to Netherlands to help his friend Peter Aerts in the preparation for the K-1 GP final, also has the aim of sharpening his exchanges for a possible fight against the Russian Fedor Emilianenko. "Actually, we received a proposal, but we can't say from whom. Now it's too early to speak", said Jorge Guimarães (Joinha) Rizzo's manager.

Sam Caplan, the Lead Writer/Editor of ProElite.com , said that this situation doesn't seem to be true.

But I wouldn't believe him... I mean, I have investigated a little bit the issue of Fedor Emelianenko not fighting on a New Year's Eve and could find nothing specific. The only bit of information came from MMA Weekly (quoted in previous post) and the information by the same Sam Caplan guy. Here is what he had to say.

I was a guest during the "Insider" segment on Tuesday's edition of Fight Network Radio with Mauro Ranallo. You can hear the audio of the segment by clicking here.

During the segment I broke the news that Fedor Emelianenko will not be fighting in Japan on New Year's Eve. According to M-1 Global CEO and President Monte Cox, the promotion was considering an opportunity for Fedor to fight but the timing simply wasn't right.

So what did he really say? That M-1 Global wasn't able to organize event on the NYE because of the time issues? Cool... Thanks for the information, but it's nothing new - I told you the same info about two weeks ago. When asked about the possibility for Fedor Emelianenko to fight in K-1 New Year's event, Caplan said that it's possible. So what's the new information here, then?

The correct answer is: there isn't! Therefore my guess is can still be very valid.

So here is my wild guess: we will see Fedor Emelianenko fighting in Japan at the end of this year. The event will not necessarily be the first M-1 Global event, but can be organized by a Japanese partner of M-1 (K-1 or World Victory Road?) and will be shown on a Japan's national TV channel (Fuji TV?). Fedor Emelianenko might be fighting Ricardo Arona.

Monte Cox: Fedor not fighting on New Year's Eve

According to MMA Weekly, Fedor Emelianenko will not be fighting on a New Year's Eve in Japan, like Fedor Emelianenko's recent public letter hinted.

“No. It’s not going to happen,” said M-1’s president and CEO, Monte Cox, of the proposed fight.

“There was an offer. We looked at it. We tried to see if it was possible,” he admitted. “But in the end, there just wasn’t enough time to pull it off.

“It wasn’t a bad idea. It was kind of planned to be a sort of goodbye to Pride fans for Fedor.”

The same article gives us some other information as well.

According to Tatame.com, an offer had also been extended to Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Pedro Rizzo (16-7-0) to oppose Emelianenko in the bout.

Although M-1 is still working on putting all the pieces in place before it announces a definitive date for its first event, Cox said that the plan currently stands for Emelianenko’s next fight to be at M-1’s U.S. debut.

“We’re tentatively thinking February (for M-1’s first event and Emelianenko’s next fight). Obviously things can change, but that’s the plan,” stated Cox.

Fedor Emelianenko training and tribute videos: The Baddest Man on the Planet.

MixFight.ru has published the second part of Fedor Emelianenko's training video. It's much less informative and interesting than the first one, but you still might want to check it out (duration 05:14 min.).

Here is also another Fedor Emelianenko video aired on FSN channel some time ago. This over 40 min. long video is a trubite to Fedor - hence the name "Fedor Video: The Baddest Man on the Planet." The program has some strange editing (for example they don't show all the cool parts of Fedor vs. Herring fight), but is still a must watch for everyone. This video tells about the progress Fedor made during these years, shows the clips from some of his fights, discusses the fighting tecniques (analysed by the experts and other fighers) as well as about Fedor Emelianenko's training philosophy, an attitude and work ethics.

Fedor Emelianenko's open letter to the fans

Fedor Emelianenko has been fighting every New Year's Eve in Japan during the last four years. Now, when Pride FC is gone and Fedor has signed a contract with a new M-1 Global organization, Japanise fans are worried, because they won't see him in a New Year's ring, like they have used to.

Fedor Emelianenko has received so many mails, that it is virtually impossible for him to answer each of them personally. Therefore he asked to publish his open letter for every MMA and Fedor Emelianenko fan to see. Below you can see the entire letter.

"It's always a pleasure to read fans' mail. And it's a great pleasure to receive it from the Japanese fans. It's them who I used to meet New Year with celebrating my victories. They've always inspired me through the toughest moments, hardest bouts of my entire career. Last years I thought a lot about the proverb saying "New Year's Eve defines the whole coming year."

Being in that country is a holiday itself. Exciting culture, one of the richest histories, wonderful traditions. We'd experienced it every year and now me and my team miss it a lot.

Still if you wish something really bad, the main thing is not to give up half way through, but to continue to pursue the goal. On my behalf, I contacted M-1 Global direction asking them to continue this tradition. You know what? They fully understood me in my wish to keep fighting in Japan on the New Year's Eve.

Now it all depends whether it's possible to organise such kind of event we all got used to. That's why I address all of you fans out there. Me and M-1 Global will do our best to give you one more Championship in this New Year's Eve taking place in Japan. I would be extremely happy if our wishes come true.

Yours faithfully, Fedor Emelianenko.

This is such a huge news if it will really happen!

This information is also interesting because of some news and gossips this site has previously told you. Let's review them:

• On October 16th, a week before the M-1 press-conference, we told you about Fedor Emelianenko's interview, where he said that he will probably fight in December of this year. This information contradicted the information about Fedor Emelianenko's first M-1 Global fight taking place in February.
  
• Ricardo Arona denied the previous information about signing with M-1 Global. But he still said that he wants to fight in December "I've gotten a few offers from the US, Canada and Japan, but I'm still weighing in my options before I sign. I'll probably have a contract to fight in December."
  
• The source from the M-1 camp previously told us: "There was an opportunity to make an event in Saitama, Japan for this New Year's Eve, but the decision was made not to do it, because American partners weren't sure that they were able to make everything "right" on time." At that time the information from the source made me realize that M-1 Global already has an access to the huge Japanese Fuji TV, either independently or through the local partner organization (K-1 or World Victory Road?)

For people who don't know it: showing MMA bouts on a New Year's Eve is a very popular Japanese tradition, which can perhaps be compared to showing New Year celebration on a New York's Times Square. And demise of Pride FC, the Japanese MMA organization, which has shown these highly popular New Year's Eve fights on a Fuji TV, was therefore a huge blow for the Japanese MMA fans.

So here is my wild guess: we will see Fedor Emelianenko fighting in Japan at the end of this year. The event will not necessarily be the first M-1 Global event, but can be organized by a Japanese partner of M-1 (K-1 or World Victory Road?) and will be shown on a Japan's national TV channel (Fuji TV?). Fedor Emelianenko might be fighting Ricardo Arona.

From comments: If the fight is part of the NYE K1 event the opponent could be Sergei Kharitonov.

Fedor Emelianenko prepares for the World Combat Sambo Championship

Fedor Emelianenko prepares for the World Combat Sambo Championship (Czech Republic, November 7-11).

Fedor Emelianenko is a member of Russian team among not solely experienced fighters, but young athletes as well. All of them are proud and ready to represent their country at the championship of such a high level. There are 40 of them in total. By the way Fedor's Red Devil teammate Radmir Gabdullin has earned his right to represent Russia in combat sambo, too.

© Kirill Kasyan Fedor Emelianenko at a training for the World Combat Sambo Championship

This training took place in VGUFK hall on two sambo mats. It all started with some running, warm-up and then the main part which consisted in its entirety of working on wrestling skills.

Since the hall wouldn't hold all the 20 simultaneously fighting pairs, first were the lightweights (including females). Then it was heavyweights' turn including Fedor Emelianenko.

During one of the bouts a sparring-partner who Fedor was training with got injured following a hard handfall. Fortunately it was the last accident that day and no more accidents occured.

This report was made by a MixFight.ru site. They has also published some photos and a video (the first video on a page) of Fedor Emelianenko preparations for the World Combat Sambo Championship.

Here you can see Fedor Emelianenko's two wins at the World Championship 2005 in Combat Sambo. You can get pretty good view of what kind of Martial Art the Russian Sambo is. By the way, Fedor's first opponent is the Sambo Champion of the USA.

Video interview of Monte Cox, CEO of M-1 Global

A new interview with Monte Cox, CEO and the President of M-1 Global, taken after the New York press-conference.

The most important thing he said is that M-1 Global will not be an organization, which collects all the not-so-good fighters, who didn't make it to other MMA organizations.

Many have said that M-1 Global will be just a training camp for the Red Devil Sports Club fighters. I strongly disagree. I don't think that there will be any obvíous "cans" in there. The general level of Russian MMA fighters is not that great, to be honest, and my guess is that there will be less that ten Red Devil fighters in total (probably about five).