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EVGENI KOGAN M-1 Global Keeps Rolling Strong
© Marc Wickert
In the mid sixties, there was a revolutionary underground rock sound that crept across the world, eventually surfacing in mainstream society and reshaping the way we would listen to music forever more. Existing artists like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles quickly adjusted their tunes to the new beat of such acts as The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Today, there is another underground movement rapidly sweeping the planet in much the same way acid rock did all those years ago. Although M-1 Global is already Europe’s leading mixed martial arts promotion, the rest of the world is now being ‘turned on’ to M-1Global’s exciting new brand of MMA. People worldwide are discovering Guram Gugenishvili, Magomed Sultanakhmedov and Pat Bennett, and talking about Yuri Ivlev’s combat sambo combinations the way they talked about Jack Bruce’s bass playing and Ginger Baker’s drum solos. These are ground-breaking times in the sport of fighting and the Pied Piper for a lot of the interest in M-1 Global’s brand of mixed martial arts has been the world’s most successful MMA fighter of all time, Fedor Emelianenko, who will be facing off with Dan Henderson on July 30. Joining Knucklepit to review what has been a huge start to 2011 for M-1 Global and to preview some of its incredible upcoming events is M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan.
Evgeni, one aspect of the M-1Challenges that many fans have said they really like is the way they get to see their favorite fighters competing on a regular basis – not at 12- or 18-month intervals. What are your thoughts? I think for younger fighters it is important for them to fight often, and any organization has to realize that is the case. When people are starting their careers within their first 10 to 15 fights, especially where they are injury free, they should be fighting as much as possible. And within the limits of what we can do, we try to let them do that. Most of our fighters are competing three or four times a year, which is the most we can organize for them. A practice M-1 tends to refrain from is hyping up its competitors like so many other promotions, where every second fighter seems to be introduced as “the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world”. What can I say? Objectively speaking, the number of fighters in the world who are very good is a lot more than the press and the public would believe. One of the most powerful PR methods used by some organizations has been to inform the public and the media – whether the media actually believes the information being issued or whether it’s just where the money has been coming from – that no one in the world can beat their champions. In a sport like ours that is a complete fallacy, but because of the exclusivity of the fighters they have, they use it knowing their premise can never be tested. In science, for example, if you had a theory you would write a hypothesis and test it to see if it held up or not. But in the world of MMA things are a little bit upside down because here we state theories as facts and we create a situation where that theory, on purpose, can never be tested in order to build up one organization or another as having the people who are better than anybody else. My personal opinion: There are actually a lot of really good people who don’t make it on those lists, and the nature of the sport being what it is, any fighter on a certain skill level and a certain experience level has every chance to beat any other fighter. We’ve seen it happen numerous times over a number of years with fighters who were huge favorites competing against virtually unknown opponents, with the unknown fighters winning. We feel we have people who could compete at any level and beat opponents from any organization, anytime. Our fighters actually come to fight… We’re not a wrestling organization, we’re not a club-controlled organization, we’re not an organization that promotes fighters pulling fights and winning by decision. We’re an organization that promotes fighters employing a number of martial arts that are mixed together and fighters who use their skills to finish fights rather than controlling their opponents to get wins. I think more and more people are going to get tired of fighters whose styles are horrible to watch. There are fighters now who I refuse to watch because I don’t want to sit through 15 or 20 minutes of somebody laying on somebody else and doing a bare minimum to stop them from being stood up, and doing nothing to risk the opponent sweeping them or submitting them from the bottom. I believe people will make the choice to watch… and not necessarily us… there are a lot of organizations out there that make a point of presenting interesting fights rather than fights where a guy has a crazy record probably because he lays on top of every opponent and ends up winning every time. People will make the choice and then watch the more interesting fights and organizations that present those fights.
The M-1 Ukraine European Battle just took place. Could you give your thoughts on Yuri Ivlev vs. Artiom Damkovsky, please? I thought it was an important fight for both guys: Artiom coming off the loss to Jose Figueroa, and Yuri lost twice in a row: in October last year to Daniel Weichel, and to Mairbek Taisumov in March this year. Ivlev and Damkovsky had to really show something and both have been in the organization for a while, so it wasn’t like either of them was facing being cut or anything, should they have lost, but nevertheless it was an important fight. I think Artiom Damkovsky, having suffered a broken nose in three places after facing Figueroa, I think he was always going to be a bit tentative. His balls-to-the-wall style that he displayed in other fights was always going to suffer a little bit, given his last fight. I believe Yuri Ivlev entering his last couple of fights probably had issues with his training camps and may not have been taking his opponents as seriously as he should have been. In this fight, once again the results showed how good he could get. I think he had a serious training camp and he was ready for this fight. And I feel he revealed that Artiom needs to work heavily on his ground game, specifically fighting from his back. On a good day, there is nobody better to watch than Damkovsky when fighters are standing up, but as experience shows, there’s not a whole lot he can do if he’s put on his back, either to control his opponents or to keep from taking damage. Both men have provided many exciting moments for us and our fans, so we’re loyal to both of them and we look forward to providing new matches for them.
And Yasubey Enomoto vs. Rafal Moks? I think Yasubey was very lucky to have that decision go in his favor. That fight could have been a draw; it could have gone to Rafal. I feel, had it been in North America, one hundred percent it would have gone to Moks. I have always liked Moks, who is the former middleweight champion and always fought opponents who were significantly bigger than he was. No one is saying that he is the world’s most talented fighter or that he has the broadest skills yet, but he has huge balls. But both fighters showed a lot in that fight. Enomoto will probably have a rematch with Shamil Zavurov in the future and Moks will have a fight probably at the end of summer or early autumn. The 2011 European M-1 Selection tournament second quarterfinal round is being held in St. Petersburg on July 16, as part of the Battle on the Neva River 5 card. Will this event also be shown live on www.m-1global.com? It may be. As an organization we’re continuing to grow with technology and I think we’re slowly heading towards having our events split into two parts: the undercard and the main card, with the main card being presented on pay per view.
What are your views on Guram Gugenishvili vs. Pat Bennett? Unfortunately, Guram is out of that fight due to an injury to his right hand. Pat Bennett is now going to fight Kenny ‘Deuce’ Garner, which is going to be a rematch of their Selection Americas tournament finals from 2010, and it will not be for an interim belt. Kenny knocked Pat out last time, so it’s an opportunity for Bennett to get revenge. Have you been in contact with Fedor Emelianenko regarding his upcoming battle with Dan Henderson? Yes, I’ve had some contact with Fedor about that fight. (Smiles). You’re going to tell me Fedor hasn’t had much to say. Um, yeah… He’s looking forward to the fight. He’s had a couple of really good training camps in Holland – he’s been to Holland twice to prepare for this fight. He’s going to have some Dutch kickboxing trainers, like Peter Teissen, working with him during June and July. And I think he’s feeling good and in better form. I know that he did a lot of BJJ stuff at his last training camp, and I think he’s ready. Hopefully, for the fans all over the world, he’s ready to come back. I’m looking forward to that fight. Evgeni, is there anything you’d like to add? I hope we’re able to put on fights that fans in Australia and everywhere in the world will enjoy, and we look forward to delivering more of the same in the future, so look out for M-1. We have heaps of events coming up throughout the year – lots of good, exciting fights for everyone.
Upcoming Events July 8: M-1 Challenge: Bennett vs. Garner. July 16: European M-1 Selection tournament second quarterfinal round in St. Petersburg as part of the Battle on the Neva River 5 card. July 30: Strikeforce/ M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Henderson. For more on Evgeni Kogan and M-1 Global: www.m-1global.com For more on Fedor Emelianenko: www.fedoremelianenko.tv And http://www.knucklepit.com/mixed-martial-arts-fedor_emelianenko.htm.
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