M-1 Global News - Page 1

Gold medalist Rulon Gardner talks about why he turned down a fight against Fedor Emelianenko, why wrestlers are heading into mixed martial arts and more on the latest MMA Hour.

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After much speculation, Fedor Emelianenko is calling it a career. Following his June 21 bout against Pedro Rizzo in St. Petersburg, Russia, Fedor will hang up his gloves for the final time. “June 21 will be the last fight of my career,” Fedor said, according to iSport.ua. Fedor ruled the Japanese mixed martial arts scene, dominating many of the best heavyweights in the world during his tenure under the Pride banner.

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Fedor Emelianenko will next compete in June in his home country of Russia against an as of yet unnamed opponent, but a new contender has entered the fray. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and student of legendary trainer Renzo Gracie, Rolles Gracie is now under consideration for the bout with Emelianenko on June 21 in St. Petersburg. While there is no deal in place at this time, Gracie is one of the leading candidates to potentially land the spot against the former pound-for-pound king later this year. With a 6-1 record overall, Rolles Gracie may have far less experience in the cage than Emelianenko, it doesn’t mean he’s not a competitor who has show drastic improvements over the last year.

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Yasubey Enomoto fought on M-1 Challenge 31 against Rashid Magomedov in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was his first title defense of the M-1 Global Welterweight Championship he won last December and it proved to be a very tough outing for the Swiss-Japanese fighter. Against a very tough Russian opponent, Enomoto battled through multiple eye pokes and groin kicks, and eventually lost a decision (50-45, 49-47, 50-45) in a fight that was definitely much closer than what the scorecards portrayed. Those hardships weren't the only challenges Yasubey had to face though, as he had a much tougher battle outside the ring. A challenge that is relatively common in MMA but very dangerous to its athletes. "He fought with an infection on his shin and was on antibiotics the whole week prior to the fight," said his brother Felipe Enomoto in an interview with BloodyElbow.com, "That's why it was taped, because he had a huge open wound there" Felipe, who is currently training for a ONE FC bout against Zorobabel Moreira, said that his brother's infection got even worse. It has been almost two weeks after the bout, and Yasubey is still getting treated in the hospital

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Mar 13, 2012 - Champions generally don't leave their promotions while in the midst of a title reign, but that's exactly the route that Vinny Magalhaes is planning to take. As he tells it, the decision to part ways with M-1 has been a foregone conclusion for months, and the impetus came smack in the middle of his last match. Last October, Magalhaes was in the midst of successfully defending his light-heavyweight championship against Mikhail Zayats at an M-1 show in Phoenix when his manager Juan Sanchez heard M-1's director of operations Evgeni Kogan openly rooting for and instructing Zayats. "Once that happens, I don't know how you can trust somebody," Magalhaes told MMA Fighting. As it turns out, he can't. And so on Tuesday, Magalhaes (9-5-1) declared his free agency, saying he's lived out the terms of his contract. While Sanchez told MMA Fighting that M-1 has a matching period, he doesn't expect them to equal any new deal. There's little doubt he'll be a hot commodity, as the 27-year-old has gone 7-1 since ending his first UFC run in April 2009.

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"At this moment, for us, the key thing is the level of the opponent, and not how much we get paid. I can say that if we were unable to agree with Ishii, we wouldn't participate in this tournament. We had concurrent offers with other DREAM fighters, but this is not for Fedor's level, and we didn't want to have a fight with mediocre fighters, taking a step backwards. We want to be taking steps forward and we will follow this in the future. We want to have three fights. One in Russia, one in Europe, and one in the USA. We really want to get a rematch with Werdum, but he is locked up in the prison called UFC, and because of that arranging for him to fight Fedor would be very difficult. Dana White is like a dog on hay -- he neither eats it himself, nor lets the others eat it. There are many other good fighters, whom we are considering. For instance, Josh Barnett. We need to wait for the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament to end and then we can see how likely it is that we can arrange a fight."

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"It was just an unlucky break. Obviously, it affected my mobility, but it was a good kick by him…. He didn't let me do my game plan, which was put him against the ropes and get him on the ground…. He executed better than me. Dan Henderson and Fabricio Werdum, he got to aggressive when he knocked them down, he was more patient this time. He didn't want to engage in a bad situation, which was to his benefit, so he can beat anybody I think."

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Thank God I have no injuries ... I'm very grateful to God for losses and for wins, so I feel very good. I was very happy with [the outcome] because everything we planned before with my coaches, I did exactly what they asked me to do. I went for the kill once before against Fabricio Werdum and I paid dearly for that. This time I thought I better change my strategy. I was very happy with my performance the way I strategized the entire fight. Monson was a tough fighter and I was just happy that I won.

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Instead, Emelianenko treated the fight much like a kickboxing match, and he dropped Monson on multiple occasions – including three times in a dominant second round –with single shots. However, unlike Strikeforce, where his aggression sometimes proved an unwise gamble, he remained patient, refused to follow his opponent to the mat, and simply chopped him down with stinging leg kicks and lunging punches once they were standing. By the third round, Monson was battered and bloodied, and his flatfooted fighting style and telegraphed shots made him easy prey. Emelianenko didn't get the finish, but he thoroughly dominated the fight to pick up the judges' nod.

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M-1 Global to Bellator: not so fast. The Russia-based promotion on Tuesday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that a recent Bellator talent acquisition, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (15-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC), is still under exclusive contract with M-1 until February 2013. "We were exceedingly surprised at [Tuesday's] announcement and disappointed at the lack of background work done by Bellator in this matter," wrote M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan in a statement. Kogan said Vasilevsky was expected to fight UFC vet Mario Miranda at an M-1 Challenge event scheduled for Saturday in Ufa, Russia, but Vasilevsky withdrew from the bout citing a lingering hand injury. He alleges Vasilevsky's manager told Bellator officials the fighter was free and clear. "We are currently working on resolving the situation with our legal counsel and will make sure that not only will Vyacheslav be appropriately handled but that this situation does not arise again," Kogan said.

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The Emelianenko brothers have had a rough go as of late. Aleksander Emelianenko (17-5), brother of the legendary Fedor, returned to action Saturday for the first time in almost a year as he took on the much less experienced Magomed Malikov (4-1) in the M-1 Challenge 28 main event at the Star Centre in Astrakhan, Russia. Although Malikov only began fighting professionally in January of this year, he took the fight on just a couple days notice against a fighter not long ago considered one of the top 10 heavyweights in the world. As you will see in the following video, Emelianenko throws a left jab and is countered with a big overhand right that immediately drops him to the canvas and into the ropes. Malikov follows up with two more big rights and the referee is forced to step in to save Emelianenko who went limp. Official fight time — 23 seconds.

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Notably quiet and reserved, it’s rare that Emelianenko really elaborates about his fights, whether he wins or loses. “Fedor’s mentioned to me after his last three fights that he could have won, but that he felt something went wrong at a certain moment in the fight,” said Finkelstein, “but he felt like he could’ve totally won the fights.” Another subject Emelianenko won’t broach is his family life. I’ve asked him about it in the past and he’s always politely declined my questions. Emelianenko’s also the type of fighter who doesn’t make excuses for his losses, but Finkelstein filled me in on the drama that followed the Russian fighter to America last July “Prior to his last fight (against Henderson), Fedor’s wife was giving birth right as he was flying over,” said Finkelstein. “He actually found out about the birth of his (third) daughter as he made a connecting flight in Germany on his way to Chicago. There were some medical complications with the birth and he was extremely worried. It was a difficult time and there was a lot of psychological pressure, so maybe he wasn’t all there in his mind.”

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If you want to see Fedor Emelianenko's next fight, be prepared to set your alarm clocks. The former PRIDE great and recent Strikeforce fighter meets onetime UFC title challenger Jeff Monson on Sunday, Nov. 20, at "M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson," which takes place at Olympic Arena in Moscow. The pay-per-view event comes with a $29.95 pricetag, and the broadcast begins at 7:30 a.m. ET (4:30 a.m. PT). Same-day replays are available. The PPV can be purchased through iN Demand, DIRECTV, DISH Network and Avail-TVN...

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Arizona has learned its lesson: What works for football, basketball, soccer and the like does not work for MMA. Following this past weekend's "M-1 Challenge 27: Magalhaes vs. Zayats" event, the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission has decided against using a whistle to mark the 10-second warning that accompanies the end of a round.

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"After rewatching the whole fight, i just realized that everytime i fought for M-1 against a Russian fighter, i was the hand picked guy... i mean, i am assuming that after seeing one of the M-1 directors rooting for my opponent everytime he'd hit me, but not having any reaction when i'd hit him nor when dropped him. Thanks M-1, i appreciate your business, you can have your belt back." - Vinny Magalhaes

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Earlier this week I shared the word that M-1 was planning to bring grappling champion Vinny Magalhaes in to help train Fedor Emelianenko for his bout with Jeff Monson. MMA Mania's Brian Hemminger recently sat down with Magalhaes and the subject came up. Vinny made it very clear that he has no intention of helping out unless the Russian's team pays him for his time. From the interview: Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): There's a report that came out today and I've read rumors about this in the past as well that there's the possibility of you helping train Fedor for his fight with Jeff Monson. Is that something that you're planning on doing after your title defense? Are there plans in the works? Vinny Magalhaes: I've been asked this question a couple times today, nothing actually came up to me yet, I've just heard rumors like the head of M-1 he talked about bringing me to Holland to train with Fedor. That happened before too. My manager tried to negotiate with them and at first they agreed to come, blah, blah, blah but then when it was time for me to go, they said, "A lot of guys will train with Fedor for free just because he's such a legend," but I was like, "I can't go three weeks, not working. I have to pay bills. My son was 2-3 months old at the time. I couldn't train there for free," so I ended up not going.

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It's been a long fall for Fedor Emelianenko. From a long reign as the best fighter on the planet and a position where he and his camp could afford to not bow to the UFC's demands in contract negotiation to now riding a three fight losing streak and a debate between retirement or bouts with the likes of Jeff Monson. Fedor chose to go with the Monson option over the retirement option and now we're to the point where M-1 is talking the fight up. First, Fedor talks his last three fights (via RT.com): "In the three bouts I lost, I felt like I could've won. But the win somehow eluded me. I felt I could do it. I had chances, but God's will was different," says Fedor. And on who they intend to bring in to prepare Fedor for Monson: "Fedor will have a great training camp in the Netherlands with both strong wrestlers and stand-up fighters there. I'm going to invite Vinnie Magalhaesh. He's just won the world submission wrestling championships, and beat no less than Fabricio Werdum in the finals. So he can be considered the world's best wrestler at the moment," Fedor's promoter Vadim Finkelstein shared.

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An injury has forced heavyweight champion Guram Gugenishvili (11-0) out of next week's M-1 Challenge 27 headliner. In his place steps Maxim Grishin (9-5), who now meets Kenny Garner (7-3) for an interim title. M-1 Challenge 27 takes place Oct. 14 at Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, and the main card airs on Showtime. According to M-1 officials, Gugenishvili, who was wrapping up his camp at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, suffered an elbow injury during a Wednesday training session. After meeting with a physician, he wasn't cleared to fight and is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks. "This is tremendously unfortunate as it is now the second time this has happened," M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan stated. "No one is more disappointed about the change in circumstances than Guram himself. He was absolutely gutted when breaking the news to us. We hope Guram makes a swift recovery so he can return to action as soon as possible." Garner was supposed to rematch Gugenishvili, who earned a submission win a year ago in their first meeting. Since the loss, Garner has picked up a pair of knockout victories (and owns five KOs in his seven career victories).

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According to the American Top Team fighter he will be facing former Pride champion Fedor Emelianenko in M-1 Global on Nov 12 in Russia. Monson made the announcement via his Twitter account on Tuesday night. “Nov 12th vs Fedor in Russia M-1 confirmed,” Monson wrote.

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Fedor Emelianenko might have lost three fights in a row and been released from Strikeforce, but he's not hanging 'em up yet. He intends to continue his career, and he will apparently be doing it in his home country of Russia. This was posted on M-1's page yesterday: Vadim Finkelstein, co-founder of M-1 Global, has confirmed today that Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko will fight in his homeland for the first time since April 2007. "Fedor is going to fight in late fall in Russia, we have already reached all the necessary agreements on his fight" Date, place and opponent will be announced soon.

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