M-1 Global is a very small fight promotion with one very big star and co-owner amongst it's ranks: Fedor Emelianenko. They had Gegard Mousasi as well, but he came to his senses recently and left. M-1 Global has always seemed to think that they are worth more than they are, and because they have Fedor to bargain with they have been able to weasel into the promotional picture. Being that Fedor is part owner in the company, he has a vested interest in letting the goons run the show and do whats best for the bottom line while making ludicrous demands to be a major player in a game they have done nothing to build. All this while picking and choosing opponents for Fedor and keeping him more protected than a fighter promoted by Don King. The most recent absurdity to come from the Russian click is the re-negotiating of Fedor's contract with Strikeforce in which they have some problems with the visibility of the M-1 name. If you remember the first Affliction card that was "co-promoted" by M-1, they were unhappy about the prominence of their logo on the fight posters and made a stink about it. This situation is more of the same, and I'm guessing a bit of money was involved as well. Here is a quote from an interview with Evgeni Kogan by Dave Meltzer at yahoo sports:
“The way the show was promoted, that was an issue to us, but we don’t have an issue with Strikeforce over it,” Kogan said. “M-1 isn’t a management company for Fedor Emelianenko. We are a fight promotion. We have done matches all over the world, U.S., Asia, Europe, Japan. But the media didn’t feature the M-1 name [in coverage of the November show]. Specifically, it wasn’t Strikeforce’s fault. They honored their agreement. The way the media perceived the event was it was Strikeforce. M-1 wasn’t promoted that much. That was an issue with us.”
CBS promoted the November show more as “CBS Saturday Night Fights” as opposed to promoting the Strikeforce or M-1 Global brand names. “For us, this is a really big deal,” Kogan said. “We’re concerned about our brand. For us, it’s an important piece of the big picture.”Kogan needs to remind us that M-1 is a fight promotion because of the fact that no one in the US, or any other part of the world, really cares or has any interest in knowing what they do. The shows that they put on in Russia are largely showcases for M-1 talent and the international shows are filled with fighters still working their way up the ranks. The fact that they believe that the media should give their brand more name recognition is on a whole other level of absurdity. Mentioning that CBS should rename their "Saturday Night Fights" to accommodate the M-1 brand name gives you an idea of how delusional they really are. As long as Fedor is managed by this group his legacy will forever be tarnished and fans will not get to see Emelianenko face truly elite competition because M-1 wants to milk the cash cow as long as they can and won't risk him losing. Georges Saint Pierre, Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, hell even Brock Lesnar will be higher up on my list of top fighters until Fedor gets back to fighting the best in the world on a consistent basis. That simply will not happen with the group of people surrounding him now. I have no problem with Fedor's people getting a piece of the pie, but this is getting ridiculous.
8 comments:
I think it is really strange when people try to paint M-1 Global as some ruthless, self-centred, arrogant promotion that only cares about advancing itself with it's crazy demands - to the detriment of MMA fans everywhere.
That sounds like the UFC, to me. The UFC is a megalomaniac organization that does not want to share MMA with anyone. If you don't fight in the UFC the UFC tries to destroy you with lies and subversion. The saying "live and let live" is obviously not the UFC motto. Listen to Dana White's garbage and then ask yourself really...who is the selfish, arrogant promotion. At least M-1 Global co-promotes. M-1 Global just wants to be dealt into the game. Nothing wrong with that. Some people act like M-1 Global has no right to even exist. Why? Because they are Russian?
I can just picture an M-1 rep making this complaint to someone at CBS. The poor schmuck would scratch his head and say "Wait... so WHO are you?"
I agree with this analysis to some extent. There's nothing wrong with having ambition and making an effort to attain prominence, as M-1 is desperately trying to do. But you must consider size and relevance.
It's like Papua New Guinea asking to be given the same political clout on international arena as United States or China.
In the end, you gotta know your place and role. If you grow to similar proportions as UFC or Strikeforce, then you can reasonably talk about the same treatment and media coverage.
P.S. Since Mousasi left, M-1 hinges solely on Fedor, and he's past his prime. Once Fedor goes, M-1 will be non-entity. Sad, but true.
you know what, Fedor should agree to terms to fight Lesnar for less than M1s asking price..after he beats him then M1 can act like they are now and control the terms...
I say isolate fedor from his managers and trainers. Get him to USA boost him very high in adverts while making sure he would lose. Bet some money and make a fortune when he unexpectedly goes down proving that the Americans are the best after all. Then get rid of him.
Before saying something about anything please remember that it is about making maximum money with minimum effort. Everything else follows.
1. Fedor is not managed by M-1, he is part owner. M-1 does well, Fedor does well.
2. Fedor is the #1 ranked heavyweight fighter. Not because I say so, because every ranking org out there says so, and he has earned it.
3. The UFC is a promotion company, not the major leagues and all others are minor. Sorry, but that is also a fact.
4. Russians are not all mobsters any more than Italians or Chinese or Japanese or Irish. All countries have organized crime. T.V. is not reality ladies and gents. M-1 is owned by a Dutch citizen.
5. Fedor has leverage to dictate terms because he is the champ. All champs get to dictate terms because contenders want what they have.
6. Fedor has been nothing but a stand-up mature guy since day one. None of his competition in the UFC can say the same, and none have fought for so long with so much success.
7. Calling someone a "nuthugger" does not constitute an argument.
I think M-1's plan is this, they want people to start to recognize their name for merchandise perhaps, i.e. Tapout. And/or they want to kind of weasel their own actual promotion here in the U.S that is televised and all under just M-1. So you will have ufc(wcw), strikeforce(wwf), and m1(ecw). They will ultimately want, i am sure, for them to be the only mma promotion, but that certainly wont happen.
And how it to paraphrase?
Post a Comment