All the cool kids are reporting it MMA Junkie and MMA Mania, FightLinker and CagePotato, so I thought I'd spread the word about it too since these news are brand spanking new!

 

Without any warning or even preceeding rumors, M-1 Global pulls a rabbit out of a hat and presents everybody with teaser video about their upcoming reality show about 16 heavyweights will train and fight each other for their one and only shot at fighting THE Fedor Emelianenko.  The 16 fighters will do all the training and fighting at the Red Devil fight club in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The video made it sound like the show will actually be aired on American television, but I didn't see any clues as to when or where. They used the guy that voices over all of the American movie trailers to give it more credibility I guess. The video was mostly a compilation of Fedor highlights and previous M-1 Global/Bodog promo clips.

Well, this is interesting and came out of no where. I guess it's a good strategy to promote M-1 Global brand and their 1 and only, so far, big name - Fedor Emelianenko. This definitely worked for UFC, so I don't see why another show based in exotic Russia with the goal of getting a chance to fight this enigmatic undefeated Russian heavyweight champion wouldn't  work as well as the Ultimate Fighter Show worked for UFC. Run the show, promote the hell out of Fedor's accomplishments, give him plenty of face time and have him fight in the finale.  They may even recoup some of the 2 million dollars per they'd be paying him in TV ads money.

Definitely interesting how this will pan out. What do you think?

I already posted the pictures from Fedor Emilianenko and Randy Couture's photoshoot for Affliction in my previous post.

Following that up check out a short clip on that same photoshoot.

Fedor Emelianenko visited United States this week to meet with Affliction and Randy Couture, check the news bits on that at M-1 Global news site and MMAJunkie.

Fightlinker.com also had nice find on Fedor possibly travelling with out babysitters.

Well the meeting between Fedor Emelianenko and Randy Couture did take place. Hopefully they talked about actually fighting each other and how to go about fighting each other. I personally, as many of you I'm sure, would love to have this fight actually happen sooner than later.

Anyways, I came across several pics from the photoshoot for Affliction. Last one is just precious.

(reposting this because somehow this post didn't make it to my rss feed)

I was checking in on Fedor Emelianenko yesterday and saw a recent interview he did for his official website fedor.bel.ru. Unfortunately for non-russian speaking Fedor fans, the interview was only available in Russian and it had some, new to me, neat information I have not heard about Fedor yet.  So what's MMA Ninja to do? Here is my professional translation, enjoy it readers.

<<Support of those close to me adds to my strength and confidence, but at the same time adds even greater responsibility for the outcome of a fight...>>

Correspondent: Fedor, first of all, we want to wish you a Happy New Year and Christmas and congratulate you with, of course, the most important for you event - changes in your family and the birth of your daughter Vasilisa. Who let you know about this wonderful event and what where initial emotions to the news of your baby coming into the world?

FEDOR: Yes, it's true, there were changes in my family. Me and Oksana are no longer together: already two years go Oksana and our daughter Masha moved to St. Petersburg....but we keep in touch, I still see Masha and Oksana too. Now I have a new family. I've known Marina for quite a while, and, as many already know, on December 29th our daughter was born.  Marina is the one who gave me the news. Vasilisa was born when we were in Japan. Marina called and gave me the wonderful news. Baby's height - 46 centimeters, weight - 2 kg 600 g. And what were my emotions - of course joy and happiness.

Correspondent: Is Marina also from Starii Oskol? (mmaninja's note: Fedor's hometown)

FEDOR: No, she is from Tula, but very soon I'll be moving mom and daughter to Starii Oskol, I'm just finishing up remodeling my apartment and getting ready for their move.

Correspondent: How are mom and daughter feeling?

FEDOR: The baby was checked out of the hospital, she is with grandma right now, and Marina is still at the hospital, she's having some complications with her health. But everything will get better in time and, I hope, we will all be together very soon.

Correspondent: Is grandma happy that she has another granddaughter now?

FEDOR: Both grandmas are very happy.

Correspondent: Do they trust you with taking care of Vasilisa?

FEDOR: Of course (laughing).

Correspondent: Trivial and common question, who does the baby look like?

FEDOR: She looks like me. Like Marina said "she is a total you!" And I think she looks like me too, my little copy of me.

Correspondent: Were you disappointed that you had a daughter and not a son?

FEDOR: No, not at all. I'm very happy. As far as a boy is concerned - everything is still ahead of us...

Correspondent: One of your fans said something concerting to that "Marina gave daughter for New Year's present and he in return gave her another victory!" With that said we have a few questions. It was your first time fighting for "Yarenokka", what was your impression of the event's organization and matchmaking? How was it different from Pride?

FEDOR: Regarding my present to Marina - while she, of course, is glad to see me win - that wasn't my main present for my daughter's birth. For us, definitely, the baby herself was an amazing present!  Regarding "Yarenokka", I can say that it was organized by former top-managers of Pride together with M-1 Global. Japanese organize this types of event at the highest level. The event wasn't boring, all the fighters gave it their all: fights were interesting, colorful and memorable. They got the fans riled up so much that they were loud non stop.

Correspondent: Your opponent had better physical attributes than you, does the difference in weight and height (Hong Man Choi's 218 cm and 165 kg versus Fedor Emelianenko's 183 cm and 106 kg) significantly affect way you fight?

FEDOR: I felt the difference in size when I tried to take Choi down but it turned out that he tripped me to take me down instead. Then I realized that my weight is not enough and strength is not enough either, so I had to take the fight by mastery. I attempted an armbar. It's important to never forget that in our sport if you slowdown for a moment or thrash around that you never know how things will end. That's why you have to finish a submission from the first try... though in the fight with Choi I managed to finish the submission in my second attempt.

Correspondent: What do you think of the fighting form of the Korean fighter? From what I know he's had some success in K-1.

FEDOR: Yes, Hong Man Choi is on of the leading fighters in K-1. He has a fairly positive fight record there: beating Semmy Schilt, Bob Sapp and Gary Goodridge...because of that  I can say he is a very worthy opponent...

Correspondent: Many famous people came to root for you, Jean Claude VanDamme, world champion boxer Natalia Rogozina, world famous woman-sumatori (anybody know what that is?) Olesya Kovalenko. Does their support help you?

FEDOR: I'm very glad that the guys came to support me...Jean Claude, Natasha, Olesya, several guys from Starii Oskol, few people from Moscow and St. Petersburg...Thank you everyone, it really does help, adds strength and confidence, but at the same time adds even greater responsibility for the outcome of a fight...

Correspondent: When will your next fight take place with M-1 Global and do you know your opponent?

FEDOR: A fight is planned for either April or March, in America, supposedly in Chicago, opponent is unknown...

Correspondent: How many fight are you supposed to participate in this year according to your M-1 Global contract?

FEDOR: According to the contract - 3-4 fights per year, and because the contract is for 2 years, I will have 6-8 fights.

Correspondent: Besides preparing for fights, what are your plans in the near future?

FEDOR: I'm slowly building a house, at the beginning of February I'll participate in Russian Combat Sambo Championship, then mid-February there a President's Sambo Cup... I'll be getting ready for my fight in America and, of course, most pleasant thing I'll be doing is parenting my daughter!

Correspondent: Thank you for the interview. Please, accept our most sincere congratulations and we wish you kindness, peace and prosperity to your family. We hope your baby will be very healthy and that she brings you more joy every day. And of course new a professional achievements in the sport!

-- end of interview.

I thought it was pretty interesting, changes in his family, being a new dad again and his assesment of Choi. While everyone written Hong Man Choi off as a complete scrub, Fedor didn't thinks so, especially after he felt his strength and size.

What did you think?

Hayato Sakurai is one of the most exciting lightweight fighters from who has been fighting for over 11 years since 1996. While his best fighting years were in Shooto during late 90's and early 2000's, he came back strong in 2005 during Pride Bushido 9 - The Lightweight Tournament (one of the best MMA shows to date btw) and defeated former UFC Lightweight champion Jens Pulver and former Shooto Lightweight champion Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen on the same night!!! It was truly an amazing night where Sakurai was at the top of his game twice to advance to the tournament final to face also amazing Takanori Gomi. While Sakurai lost to Gomi in the final, he went on a 3 KO/TKO win streak against some tough opposition including latest Ultimate Fighter 6 winner Mac Danzig. Sakurai has sharp aggresive striking game, great, often high amplitude, takedowns and also aggressive ground and pound, and a great ability to smoothly transition between all the aspects of his MMA game. So I was really looking forward to his return to MMA after almost a year long layoff. He was facing a very average journeyman Hasegawa. It should have been an easy fight where he could put a great show for the fans.

I initially overlooked him looking kind of soft as the first 30 seconds he was landing some snappy body kicks and some punches. For about a minute after Sakurai looked great, but then I could not believe my eyes. I thought I was watching the guy who beat two tough champions on the same night and just put together 3 vicious TKO victories. What I was seeing though was barely a shadow of Sakurai's even worst moments in some of his losses. He looked lethargic, his punches had zero power standing up or on the ground. I mean he was landing punches standing up and doing no damage, taking Hasegawa down and just laying on top and not doing any real damage.

During the break after round 1 Hasegawa, I'm sure of it, couldn't believe that he was hanging in there with Sakurai and was still in the fight. His corner literally slapped, see the screenshot, some more confidence into him and in Round 2 he came out swinging at Sakurai with his chin up. Ya, with his chin up against Sakurai with the sloppiest striking out there.  But he wasn't worried one bit because even when Sakurai hit him, there was zero power behind the punches. When Sakurai would take Hasegawa down, Hasewaga would just start playing the famous rubber guard until the ref would stand them up.

I was completely shocked and disappointed by Sakurai's worst performance ever. So I apologize not even really reviewing the fight itself, it was just too painful to watch what was happening. I only hope that Sakurai had some serious injury coming into the fight as an excuse for the poor performance and not finishing his way lesser opponent. I just can't imagine that his poor preparation for the fight was to blame.

I hope Sakurai comes back, where ever he ends up fighting, and at least somewhat resembles an exciting and agressive fighter he was just a meer 10 months ago.

MMA is a very popular sport in Japan. In fact it is so popular that on new year's eve several competing MMA promotions, for many years now, hold a "New Year" editions of their respective MMA events. PrideFC had Shockwave, K-1 has K-1 Premium Dynamite, Inoki had Inoki Bombaye. Each promotion goes out of their way to book the most dream matches for serious MMA fans and the most "spectacle" matches with famous sports and entertainment icons in Japan. There are always fights that will please a variety of fans and international audience too.

One of the best MMA promotions ever, PrideFC, is no more, UFC bought out the troubled organization back in March so there was no blockbuster Shockwave event at the end of 2007. But many of the same people that worked under PrideFC successfully co-promoted a new event, Yarenokka, together with a new MMA organization on MMA scene, M-1 Global. M-1 Global has a big ace under their sleve, only the most successful heavyweight fighter on the planet russian Fedor Emelianenko, who headlined a star-studded fight card with mostly Japanese MMA stars like Hayato Sakurai, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Kazuo Misaki, Mitsuhiro Ishida. Unfortunately, if you haven't been following Pride Bushido events, the later events and tournament were all time MMA's best, or K-1's MMA flavor, you may not have even heard about these great fighters. But that's for a later post.

On to Fedor Emelianenko vs Hong Man Choi.

Most MMA fans must have at least heard about Fedor, but probably not much about Hong Man Choi.  Some may have heard his name promoted vs Brock Lesnar for K-1 Dynamite USA, an absolute disaster of an event, but that fight never happened. Choi's fight with Fedor was to be his's second MMA fight. Hong Man Choi has fought in several K-1 kickboxing events mostly because he is an absolute giant of a man at 7 feet 2 inches tall and weighing in at 360 lb. He is very big but very slow.

So why was an inexperienced Choi fighting Fedor, cosidered by many the number one heavyweight fighter in the world? Because sometimes Japanese fans love drama and spectacle with their holiday serving of MMA. After all, not matter the skill and experience difference, fighting a giant like Hong Man Choi can be very dangerous and exciting for the fans. It's the whole David vs Goliath thing.

Why was Fedor fighting Choi? Well, after UFC closed shop for PrideFC, Fedor had a one-time deal for a fight against a middleweight Matt Lindland in Bodog Fight earlier last year (2007). Then after long and unsuccessful negotiations with the UFC  a brand new organization with a lot of investor money, M-1 Global, picked Fedor up and jumped in at the first opportunity to hold an event when an opportunity presented itself in Japan.

So Fedor is fighting because he actually got a chance to fight and because he is no stranger to "spectacle" fights on New Year's Eve against opponents famous in Japan; an inexperienced pro-wrestler, an big inexperienced really fat guy and an inexperienced in MMA kickboxer. Fighting a big inexperienced giant beginner kickboxer must have felt like Deja Vu all over again for Fedor. Kind of like when he fought that bear that one time...

Anyways, on to the fight itself. Fedor once fought an almost as tall a fighter as Hong Man Choi was when he fought another giant Semmy Schilt, who he has taken down numerous times but it required him some effort. Fedor must have though he could try the same on Choi. When he tried his first takedown after easily closing the distance, it was like he hit a wall and that wall started falling on him. Choi dragged Fedor down and ended up in Fedor's half guard where Choil just held on. Fedor soon worked to get full guard and as soon as Choi started to move to punch from the top, Fedor quickly locked up an armbar. He was unable to go to his stomach to finish the armbar because of Choi's long knees blocking Fedor's head from moving. Choi then picked Fedor with his one arm and was able to shake him off. They scrambled back to their feet. Fedor then lunged in with a nice left hook that landed but again was unable to even move Choi with his takedown attempt. Choi just went down on top of Fedor who again got full guard and quickly went for an armbar as soon as Choi tried to punch. This time Fedor was able to turn to his stomach and finish the armbar. All under 2 minutes for his 6th submission win by armbar, his most used submission to date. Decent fight for what it was, a "spectacle" fight for Japanese MMA fans.

Fedor won as expected. Choi goes back to K-1 to entertain and may be win some fights, but mostly to entertain fans with his giantness. What about Fedor? I'm sure he is glad to beat such a big giant guy. I don't care who you are, it's a personal achievement to defeat someone like that.

Now what? I hope M-1 finds some decent competition for Fedor soon so Fedor can continue his reign by being actually seriously challenged by some top fighters, otherwise, he will fade into history books as a once the most dominant heavyweight fighter.  Then there is also a remote chance that Randy Couture can get out of UFC's tentacles and have a chance to fight Fedor. I, personally, really hope they both get the chance to fight each other.

Also, how cool was it of HDNet Fights to show Yarenokka and Fedor for the MMA fans in US? I now they're involved in some way with M-1 Global, but it's nice that they don't have any issues, yet, about working with other organizations. For 2008, I hope more MMA organizations start collaborating to make dream fights a reality for the fans. A Ninja can dream, right?