Archive for the 'Fedor Emelianenko' Category

Repost from K-1 LEGEND

Vadim Finkelstein is a name that many MMA fans have learned over the past few years, especially within the last few months and Fedor’s epic contract negotiations with the UFC then the signing with Strikeforce. M-1 Global has shot into the minds of MMA and combat sports fans with all of this, never mind the M-1 vs The World series that airs on HDNet. M-1 Global has a big co-promotion coming up with Strikeforce, with M-1 fighter Fedor Emelianenko taking on Brett “Grim” Rogers on CBS.

Our passion may be kickboxing, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get excited over stuff like this, so we had to get to the root of matters and talk to the man himself, Vadim Finkelstein.

K-1 LEGEND: Has M-1 Global lived up to your expectations so far?

Vadim Finkelstein: Basically, I’m satisfied with the evolution of M-1 Global. The organization, in the format you can see today, has been functioning less than 2 years. The last year we had many experiments. A new system for the fighters moving up the ladder will be introduced starting from the next year’s season. It will be a more robust Olympic-like system.

K-1 LEGEND: What are your plans for M-1 Global and who do you see as the top prospects to reach possible Fedor levels?

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Recently I spoke with Bas Boon of European fight powerhouse Golden Glory. Golden Glory, if you aren’t familiar, is a camp that is home to the likes of Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Ruslan Karaev, Gokhan Saki, Errol Zimmerman and, well, you get the picture. Bas Boon is one of the G.G. managers, and has in the past dealt with the likes of Fedor and Aleks Emelianenko, helping Vadim Finkelstein and Apy Echteld of M-1 with contract negotiations, training and general booking throughout Europe.

It was a simple question about some recent comments he had made about Appy and Vadim being “mobsters” that has sort of sparked some interest in the past few months about Fedor’s management. Fedor, a man who left his previous management after he felt he was being mismanaged, does not seem like the type of guy who would move from one corrupt camp to another. But from everybody I’ve spoken to about Bas Boon and M-1, Bas might exaggerate some things, but has been noted as a stand-up guy who takes nothing from anybody and will tell it how it is. Here are some of the juicy bits.

I posted an article on a Dutch forum, people were making excuses why Alistair was not fighting in the USA, believe me we really wanted this fight it would have been perfect in our schedule like we planned it for 2009, NYE Japan , March Japan, April/May or August Strikeforce and then back to Japan. Then the 50 ct incident came, some people were saying on the Dutch forum all kinds of excuses why Alistair would not come to the US. The reality was that Alistair ended up in the hospital after his brawl and in detention and had a very serious infection in his hand. On the forum in Holland people from M-1 were thrashing Alistair and telling how good M-1 was doing their business.

Then I made a comment on this saying that every organisation Fedor fought in went bad and  that Fedor was not fighting much and that Appy and Vadim still have unfinished business with the management of G.G., because they got Fedor through Golden Glory and we made a legal deal about this.

Then some clown (I imagine that it was somebody from the camp of Simon Rutz as Appy was caught on tape, hiring killers from Russia to blow away the whole European Fighting Network Office from Simon Rutz, which there is an official police report!) [I can't find this anywhere, sadly] translated the part what I said on his forum (out of context – why I said it, the thread on the forum says I made excuses for Alistair not fighting in the States) and then the person who made the translation made it look like I made an official statement. The translated piece went also to a forum called www.valetudo.ru

Then a chain reaction came, which caused Appy [Apy Echteld, member of M-1 management] to call me, he told me call Vadim becuase the Russians this and that!) you have to because big problems blah blah. I called Vadim and told him what happened, I told him, I would write him by mail: my version of the story and what still was bothering me. I did this, but then Vadim just translated a small part on his M-1 forum and the title on his article said Bas Boon made excuses to Vadim?

If you were a sucker, like me, you would have just called in to Fedor’s conference call this afternoon in an attempt to hear what the big news was going to be from Fedor and his camp. Instead, we were treated to the delight of Jerry Millen, Vadim the Fink and a woman translating for Fedor ducking any and all questions of substance. MMAHQ has a pretty intensive list of what went down, which is more than I could tolerate.

The only real news that came out of this call could have easily been gathered if you are an avid Twitter follower and have the EA SPORTS MMA account on your follow list. This post summed everything you’d need to know up;

First three fighters announced for EA SPORTS MMA are Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi and Babalu Sobral

Boom. Right there is all you need to know. There is talk of Fedor being on the cover, but until you see a mock-up, like everything else having to do with Mr. Emelianenko, don’t buy it. Other things to note is that Vadim and Co. are still not saying anything all that positive about a possible offer with the UFC. Vadim went on to say that the offer extended to them yesterday might of sold them two years ago, which of course is evasive. It does not answer the question of if Vadim will allow Fedor to fight in the UFC.

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There are times when it takes a while to come down off of a buzz, and for the second time, a fight card presented by a t-shirt company has done just that. The internet will be abuzz, as usual, with talk of production values, buy rates and attendance. I think pushing all of that aside for a moment what you will see is an ultimately satisfying fight card, with each of the fights providing excitement rarely seen on your average $45 PPV card. Capped off by a fight for the ages, an emotional rollercoaster that was Andrei Arlovski challenging Fedor Emelianenko for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship.

Affliction’s second card has been plagued since the day it was announced, being cancelled due to poor ticket sales and Affliction trying to seal a deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to help create a buzz around the show. The talk was always that Fedor was not a draw in the United States, but when push came to shove, the card not featuring Fedor was not selling tickets. When Barnett vs. Arlovski was no longer the featured main event, instead Arlovski vs. Fedor a few fans grumbled that Barnett was the better fighter and more likely the better fight for Fedor.

Instead Affliction chose the more memorable UFC Heavyweight Champion to headline against Fedor, and ultimately, it was an incredible decision. Not many fights get me excited anymore. Mixed Martial Arts is growing, and as a part of the growth comes a lot of cards featuring a lot of good, not great fighters facing off against each other. Even if the fighters facing off are great, the match ups are not exciting, they are competitive. They are guys with similar skillsets cancelling each other out, or simply guys with opposing skillsets trying to avoid the other’s strength. But this fight was different, this was two guys who aren’t afraid to engage, who are explosive, and easily the best heavyweights in the world. 

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I shit you not. If you understand how the finance markets work in the United States you understand just how surreal this is. I can safely say that this was the work of the Donald, but I am still completely baffled by this.

While it is kind of amazing to see Fedor and Tito ringing the opening bell for the Nasdaq market, something that is primarily reserved for politicians, board members of large public companies, companies with a new IPO and so on, having a fight promoter and fighter declare one of the world’s premier markets as open is just weird. Not only is it weird, it is a strange PR move. If you think about this logically, what fight fan outside of your random finance nerds really pay attention to the Nasdaq opening bell daily? Affliction tends to spend a lot of money and time on promoting their shows in places where their audience could not care less.

Do you care about this? Will your average UFC fan who might be interested in this show but has yet to see a television or magazine advertisement see this and get excited? Outside of the “EDOR IS COMING” ads during the last EliteXC show and Arlovski fighting there has been no mainstream press for this event. As Zach Arnold has pointed out, Oscar De La Hoya is the center of attention for the recent press conferences, with passing mention to some obscure ‘Martial Arts’ show he is promoting. Merely a parlor trick, a new passing interest for the biggest name in boxing.

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Affliction’s second offering, “Day of Reckoning” is right around the corner, and it sort of seems like there is very little in the way of advertising muscle put into it. While one could easily argue that the first Affliction show was not advertised heavily either, there was at least a bit more hype surrounding the show. It even seems like the websites that pushed Affliction: Banned heavily in the lead up to it in July (this one included) have not shown the same levels of support. Let’s face it, this card isn’t the blockbuster that the first card was.

Affliction have been a bit more sparse with sending out interviews and promotional material to the media that supported them the first time around as well. That said, once in a while they send something that is just outrageous, today was one of those times. Today they sent around a press release ‘Demystifying’ the great Fedor. Did you know that Fedor likes American action movies? Apparently he hasn’t seen any in a while, as his favorite actor is Bruce Willis. Here is, in list format, why Fedor is a real man’s man.

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The big questions right now seem to revolve around Affliction; will this second show finally happen? Will it draw? Can Fedor vs. Arlovski break 20,000 buys? The first time they attempted to run this show it was with Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski headlining, and apparently ticket sales and interest was so sluggish that the show was scrapped altogether. The second time, it was due to a possible Goldenboy deal that things fell through.

Posted in Andrei Arlovski, Dave Walsh, Fedor Emelianenko | 3 Comments »