http://www.fightline.com/fl/news/2010/0415/487104/alistair-overeem/index.shtml Alistair Overeem Thinks M-1 Global Is Bad For Fedor Emelianenko Email Add To Favorites Print More This content is protected Related Articles This content is protected 03.28.10 This content is protected 03.19.10 This content is protected 03.02.10 This content is protected 03.01.10 This content is protected 02.28.10 This content is protected By This content is protected | April 15, 2010 This content is protected Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is staring down the barrel of a title defense against Brett Rogers in May. However, many believe that the rightful contender to Overeem's throne is pound for pound great This content is protected . Emelianenko knocked Rogers out in November but will not be fighting Overeem because of his entanglement in a contract dispute with Strikeforce that many believe can be attributed to his management team, M-1 Global. Overeem spoke with MMAMania.com about why he thinks he is fighting Rogers and not Emelianenko. "I wanted to fight Fedor but my management knows the management of Fedor very well," said Overeem. "There is too much risk business-wise to make that fight happen for M-1. If they lose they cannot play their co-promotion card anymore and M-1 will be over. [Strikeforce CEO] Scott [Coker] will terminate all bindings with M-1 and continue with me and Golden Glory as he knows we are reasonable and we have been around for 10 plus years. I think he got gray hairs from them already [laughs]." Overeem is referring to the somewhat dubious co-promotion agreement that M-1 Global has with Strikeforce. It is believed that that same co-promotion clause that M-1 Global mandates of anyone looking to sign Emelianenko to their roster is the main reason that Fedor is not currently fighting for the UFC This content is protected . There have been many negative reports made surrounding M-1 Global and most of them see M-1 as using the leverage that their star fighter, Fedor Emelianenko This content is protected , brings to the table to force fight promotions into parasitic co-promotion agreements that net M-1 Global large profit. Since Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi left M-1 Global in February their business relies primarily on Fedor Emelianenko; were "The Last Emperor" to desert the management company it would likely be the death knell for M-1 Global. Overeem feels that Fedor is still a top heavyweight and would like nothing more than to test himself in the ring with the enigmatic Russian. That is why he issued this direct statement to Emelianenko pleading for the pound for pound great to leave M-1 Global and to fight the best. "Fedor, you are a great fighter and like many other great Russian fighters in history you do your talking in a ring or cage," said Overeem. "Leave this M-1 circus and start fighting the best. It's okay to lose sometimes but hiding makes you look like a coward, which Fedor is not, [M-1 Global President] Vadim [Finkelchtein] is!" Overeem will defend his title against Brett Rogers at This content is protected on May 15th. It is unclear when Emelianenko will return to action
Its an old rivalry beteen Overeems manager and M1's owners. Overeems manager was the one that introduced Fedor to M1, he has begrudged M1 ever since and feels that he should have been hugely rewarded for his efforts in introducing Fedor to M1. In fact though, it was Fedor who sought out the Red Devil team (M1) after he had a falling out with his previous management, the "Russian Top Team". Its a very complex story and not something I would want to get into with much detail.
yea they are holding his career back.by the time he goes to the ufc if he goes he will get whooped cause hes fighting 2 a year in ufc they figtht 3 maybe 4 times a year unless you koscheck 8 loil
What? Mir fought once in 07 twice in 08 and twice in 09 Nog fought once in 07 and 09 and twice in 08 Couture hasn't fought more then twice a year since 01 Lesnar fought three times in 08 and thats it.
