M-1 Global Says Fedor’s Contract With Showtime, Zuffa Buyout Has No Effect

Wont it be funny if M1-Global picked up the Showtime deal (thats soon to be vacated by Strikeforce) and replaced Strikeforce as the second prominent promotion in North America and the main promotion in Europe? M1 should take this as an opportunity and bolster its ranks by including other regional promotions.

 

Agree'd. But the main point Id like to bring up is brand recognition. Id like to see M1 make a go of it in Europe but by & large the UFC is still seen as MMA. It's a big obstacle to overcome.

As far as M1 being a force in the US. Not a hope in hell now. Zuffa will go out of their way to protect that territory. M1 needs to establish a strong base in Europe & Asia to succeed

 

M-1 is the main group in Europe?

 

Only in Morono's mind. The UFC is the be all and end all. And Im including various smaller promotions in that. But to create a niche for itself it should focus on The countries where the UFC isnt already established. And you can see the downfall in that.
M1 will never be a serious contender to UFC. As Scurla said, their trump card is Fedor

 

Fedor will now stay retired and in a way, this is a perfect time to call it quits for a great fighter like him.

 

They are by far the largest and most dominant MMA promotion in Europe. Ultimate Glory and Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW) is the other notables but nowhere near that in terms of funding, popularity, broadcast, and list of fighters as M1-Global.

KSW and UG are more or less just country based promotions whereas M1-Global has a more global reach with Asian, South American, North American, Eastern and Western European try outs as well as events. Of course their main base is in Russia.

In many regions especially Eastern European countries MMA isnt even regarded as MMA but Mixfight. The UFC has been hiring Russian’s to promote its brand for ages now but this has been a dismal failure. Zuffa’s structure simply doesn’t allow for it to spread its wings too far from America. They might show a handful of fights overseas but they will never have a whole Yearly Championship taking place in foreign soil or have too many unknown foreign fighters fight in the one card.

Well Showtime seems to be very keen in having M1-Global, afterall Showtime wont want rival promotions having all the important young viewers. Mark my words M1-Global will take over Strikeforce’s role in the eyes of Showtime. The good thing is that M1-Global has a wider pool of fighters (although they arent known to American audience at the moment) they also have several current and past reality shows that Showtime can utilise.

Yeah that’s what all the haters say. However look at their website and most of their news and fighter profiles is with their other fighters

http://www.m-1global.com/

Fedor plays very little role in the actual M1-Global promotion, if your lucky he might pop up and sit ringside on the finals but that’s pretty much it and even then its JCVD that gets the attention and the hot female boxer that’s always with Fedor.

Showtime’s interest in M1-global was mainly with its ability to provide MMA content to Showtime. The M1-Challenge that showtime will be showing is a totally separate contract to the fedor contract.

 

Just the beginning.

SHOWTIME SPORTS® AND M-1 GLOBAL ANNOUNCE M-1 CHALLENGE EVENT TO AIR LIVE ON SHOWTIME

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NEW YORK (Feb. 24, 2011) – SHOWTIME Sports and M-1 GLOBAL announced today an upcoming mixed martial arts (MMA) event entitled M-1 Challenge: Damkovsky vs. Figueroa featuring two M-1 GLOBAL title fights. The bouts will air LIVE on SHOWTIME on Friday, March 25 at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

 

I hope they make a real go of it Morono and Im glad they are the biggest org in Eastern Europe, but that's a bit like being the tallest midget in Munchkinland. And to further this Wizard of Oz analogy (Dont ask Im just running with it) the UFC is Dorothy with the Ruby Slippers.

The UFC already established themselves in the richer countries like here in the UK and in Germany, so I think your statement that M1 is the most dominant in Europe is at best naive and at worst woefully laughable

They could constantly pack their stadiums full of the Borat inhabitants of the Eastern block countries spending their hard earned ruples every week for a year and I doubt they will make as much money as the UFC will do with one show in the 02 in the middle of one of the world riches cities (London in case you havent worked it out) with tickets sales at £200 a pop and not even considering the merchandise sales from the expos and such

This relates back to my original post about brands

 

Wow you 2 guys are creepy.....you guys are almost like 1 person.:good

 

And your like the fat girl at the Prom glowering at all the couples and being bitchy because you havent got a date