Jerome LeBanner, one of the kickboxing and K-1 legends, has said in the interview to French TV channel, that he will challenge Semmy Schilt to fight him on April 26th in the K-1 Europe GP event held in Amsterdam for the K-1 Super Heavyweight Champion belt.
The list of other announced bouts look like this.
Match 1. Pajonsuk vs Tarik El IdrissiWhat does this all mean from our perspective? A few things.
Match 2. Perry Ubeda vs Stephen Tapilatu
Match 3. Paul Slowinsky vs Gokhan Saki
Match 4. Buakaw Por Pramuk vs Faldir Chabhari
Match 5. Murat Direkci vs Nickey Holzken
Match 6. Drago vs Albert Kraus
Match 7. Andy Souwer vs Joerie Mes
Match 8. Gilbert Yvel vs Alistair Overeem
Match 9. Two finalists of the "It's showtime" reality show
First of all, although Jerome LeBanner vs Semmy Schilt fight might not happen, the pure possibility of it greatly reduces the chances of Fedor Emelianenko vs Semmy Schilt fight happening in the first real M-1 Global event (which is rumored to be moved even further, from April 11th to early May).
I actually very much doubt that Fedor will be fighting Schilt in the first American event. Schilt is a huge star in Japan (Asia) and Netherlands (Europe) and they (M-1 Global) can make a huge bucks organizing a fight there (for a "huge show", mentioned in the article). They need American fighter for American market. Someone big, muscular and scary. And to be honest, someone like Bob Sapp or Gracie is one of the best alternatives out there... Although I'm sure it will be either Ben Rothwell or Jeff Monson (who has been rumored to fight Sergei Kharitonov during one of the K-1 events).
Fedor has to fight "not the best fighters" to put some momentum in M-1 Global, so the Couture fight would become possible and successful. This is why, I'm sure, the first M-1 Global event will be shown on one of the free channels. They can't make any good PPV numbers anyway, so why bother? It would seem smarter to get more coverage and PR, which could be benefited later on. And M-1 Global people seem to not to be stupid.
Another thing which came to my mind with all these talks about the possibility of Fedor Emelianenko vs Semmy Schilt fight, is the politics. As everybody understands, business is quit different in reality compared to what it looks from outside. Mixed Martial Arts business is not an exception. Read some great inside from Bas Boon, manager of Dutch Golden Glory club (the club for many great Dutch fighters including Semmy Schilt) telling about the conflict with other promoters (including Apy Echteld and Vadim Finkelstein) during the Pride era. The talk about Fedor vs Schilt fight can suggest that the conflict between Bas Boon and M-1 has been sorted out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment