The following is a recap of the press conference featuring Fedor Emelianenko, M-1 promoters and staff, and company president/CEO Monte Cox.
Chris Howie reporting….
-Monte COx talks about how big this could be for the world of MMA.
-M-1 has had many offers to work with other organizations.
-M-1 is as popular in Europe as the UFC is here in North America.
-Fedor thanks everyone for coming out.
-He is very happy to be part of the M-1 organization.
-Fedor is asked why he made the decicsion not to sign with the UFC. He said that M-1 is going to be an open company and not closed which means he can compete with all champions.
-Does not feel like the UFC is open.
-M-1 is looking for television partners. Depending on what happens that would determine a lot more things.
-First show should be in February.
-Fedor was asked about the possibility of a fight with Randy Couture. He said that he was pleased to hear how highly Randy thought of him. He has great repsect for Randy and has admired him for a long time. Said it would be an honor to fight Couture.
-A stable of fighters should be announced within the week.
-M-1 wants to work with other organizations. If Fedor is M-1's champion it doesn't mean he cant fight for someone else. They want to make the best fights between every organization.
-There will be events all over the world.
-Fedor talks about how there was a proposol to fight Tim Sylvia but one of the parties refused and he does not know if it was the UFC or Tim himself.
-Im not sure who this guy was but he was talking about how Europe has a lot of great fighters that are unknown to the U.S. fans. What M-1 wants to do is bring in fighters from all over the world to showcase everyone.
-Cox talks about how they want everyone in the USA to know who Fedor is.
-They believe that when a lot of the UFC fighters contracts run out, they will be looking for an organization that will treat them better as fighters.
-The current M-1 rules are basically Pride rules. They will be trying to establish a set of rules to take everywhere in the world.
-They would love to do an MMA event in Madison Square Garden.
-Line gets really hard to hear at this point.
DISCUSS THIS NEWS IN THE MMANEWS.COM FORUMS >>