Archive for the 'M-1' 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?

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

M-1 Challenge is the newest program to enter the MMA TV lottery and is the brain child of Vadim Finkelstein. In the US, it’ll be brought on a weekly basis by the good folks over at HDNet, who have to be considered something of a necessity for the hardcore fan by now. The one hour show will, on a weekly basis, show 5 full and edited fights from the M-1 Challenge Tournament. This tournament features 10 teams from across the globe with 5 fighters per team in weight classes from 155 to heavyweight. Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? There are 2 teams from Russia (Team Legion and Team Red Devil), then the US, Japan, South Korea, Finland, France, Spain, Germany, and Holland. Interesting that no UK team was chosen for the inaugural season or whatever they wish to call this. Our first episode comes to us from The Netherlands and there’s a pretty good size live crowd present. Recording date goes all the way back to March of this year.

Read the rest of this entry »