Great Fight Journal documenting the journey of one King Mo as he gets ready to fight Mark Kerr at M-1 Breakthrough in St. Louis. by All Elbows, Esther Lin

Exhibition match between “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi at M-1 Global “Breakthrough”.

M-1 needs some star power for its ill fated M-1 “Breakthrough” event on August 28, so the promotion has decided to put on an if exhibition match instead. Fedor Emelianenko will take on Gegard Mousasi in a exhibition sparing fight.

The whole event was recently moved from LA to the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, just three weeks before the show.

Headlining the event will be King Mo vs Mark Kerr, Mo was to take on Don Frye, but Frye refused the fight after the change of venue was announced.

Here’s a bit from the M-1 press release,

“We were blown away by just how popular Fedor’s exhibition vs. Aoki in Japan was …. Fedor and Gegard have sparred many times together and the sessions have always been intense. Now fight fans watching on television and those attending live in Kansas City will get a rare glimpse at two of the best fighters in the world sparring each other.”

M-1 exec Joost Raimond on the change of venue, “The change in venues is unfortunate, however, the change was necessitated due to circumstances beyond our control,” said M-1 Global Chief Operating Officer Joost Raimond. “We had a partner in Los Angeles that backed out of certain commitments. However, instead of letting fighters and fans down by cancelling the event, we worked diligently to find a new location in Kansas City. At no point in time did we entertain the idea of canceling our first ‘Breakthrough’ event.”

M-1 Global exec Jerry Millen responds to the allegation that Fedor Emelianenko is dodging UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar,

“Is the best competition in the UFC? …. I don’t know. Any given day, anyone can be the best competition. Do I think Brock Lesnar is the best competition for Fedor right now? I don’t know. Is he? He’s only had five MMA fights.”

“There might be another guy out there that deserves to fight Fedor – maybe a guy that’s been fighting 10 years that has 20 fights, 30 fights under his belt. Maybe he deserves a shot. Why does Brock Lesnar deserve that shot just because he’s champion of the UFC?”

“I can’t speak for Fedor, but I can tell you what I think. I think Fedor’s already proven his legacy. I was at all of his fights in PRIDE, and I no-doubt saw the best fighter in the world perform.” [MMAJunkie]

Millen and the crew over at M-1 have been drinking to much Kool-Aid, if they don’t think Lesnar vs Fedor isn’t the best fight out their for Fedor.

MAIN CARD

• Trevor Prangley defeats Emanuel Newton via Unanimous Decision
• Bobby Lashley defeats Mike Cook via Submission (Front Rear Naked Choke) at 0:24 in R1
• Travis Galbraith defeats David Heath via Split Decision
• John Alessio defeats Andrew Buckland via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:53 of R1
• Ryan Jimmo defeats Mychal Clark via Unanimous Decision
• Marvin Eastman defeats Aron Lofton via TKO (Strikes) at 0:59 of R2

PRELIMINARY CARD

• William Richey defeats Ryan Fortin via Split Decision.
• Jason Heit defeats Jeremy Combrink via TKO (Strikes) in R1
• Dwayne Lewis defeats Jay Whitford via TKO (Strikes) in R1
• George Belanger defeats Nolan Clarke via TKO (Strikes) in R1

Watch the 29 sec Bobby Lashley vs. Mike Cook fight video here.

April 29th, Fedor Emelianenko took on Shinya Aoki in a exhibition grappling match in Japan.

M-1 released this official statement making the case for what could become the biggest heavyweight fight in the history of MMA.

The Statement:

M-1 would like to congratulate Brock Lesnar on his UFC heavyweight title victory as well as acknowledge Randy Couture’s return to active competition after a layoff that lasted over a year.

Couture and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko had publicly acknowledged a desire to fight each other multiple times over the course of the past year. While M-1 and Fedor remain interested in a match against Couture, we would also like to publicly state for the record that we would welcome a superfight between Fedor and Lesnar that would be held as a co-promoted event between the UFC, M-1, and Affliction Entertainment.

We’ve invited the media to speak with us today to not only make it clear we would welcome a Fedor vs. Lesnar matchup but to act in a preemptive fashion to address the possibility that UFC officials will try and position Lesnar as the No. 1 heavyweight in the world, much like they have tried to use a marketing ploy to brand Anderson Silfva as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

In the past, UFC president Dana White and Zuffa, LLC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have tried to claim that Fedor was “overrated” and that his “record was irrelevant.” They make these claims in spite of the fact that Fedor holds career victories over UFC champions past and present. While we have tremendous respect for the contributions Mr. Fertitta and Dana have made to this sport, we do not believe they are sincere in their statements.

It is the position of M-1 that the UFC has adopted an anti-Fedor policy because multiple attempts to sign him have not been fruitful. For a company that has tried to market itself as the number one promotion in the world, they are unable to accept the fact that the number one fighter in the world does not reside on its roster of contracted fighters.

We believe that the UFC has determined that it’s much more inexpensive for them to use their marketing resources to use smoke and mirrors to brand a fighter as the pound-for-pound best as opposed to actually paying the pound-for-pound best what he is truly worth on the open market.

While Brock Lesnar is an accomplished athlete and a talented fighter, we do not consider him to be the number one heavyweight in the world. Until someone beats him, we strongly believe that Fedor should continue to be recognized as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. In a match between Fedor and Lesnar, we do not feel that at this stage Lesnar would be able to make it out of the first round.

For those who feel our statements in regards to Fedor are self-serving, we’d like to refer you to a video interview on the website RawVegas.tv in which at his UFC 91 after-party Couture himself acknowledges that “Fedor would probably tear Brock up at this point.”

Jerry Millen, M-1 Vice President

Fedor Emelianenko’s brother Aleksander takes on Silvio Santos.

According to former M-1 Global CEO Monty Cox in a recent interview Sherdog,

“The group that formed M-1 Global is still together and we’re going to remain together and put on an MMA event….It won’t be under the name M-1 Global because that is definitely associated with Emelianenko Fedor and the Russians, and we’ve come to an agreement that we’re going to part ways.”

“We have different philosophies….It’s just the way that it is. For me, I’m not as concerned about all the glitz and the glamour of the show; I just want to have good fights and I want to make money. That was my goal.”

“We spent well into six-figures of attorney fees trying to get the contract written, let alone signed….In the end, we could have went ahead and signed the contract and went off with Fedor, but I don’t think we would have been successful.”

“I am looking at June 14 to do our first show in Chicago….This will be a show, well, bigger than I am used to doing, somewhere along the lines of an [EliteXC] show or a WEC with a bigger headliner….It won’t be the UFC…..We don’t have that kind of money to throw away. Now, without Fedor, I expect the show in Chicago to turn a profit.”

Sherdog is reporting that the deal between M-1 Global and Top Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko was a joke and lacked a real fight contract.

Despite the announcement of an agreement last October between Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) and M-1 Global, the deal was never signed, a source close to both camps told Sherdog.com.

The Russian heavyweight’s only agreement with the company — according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity — came in the form of a letter of intent.

The return of a $1.5 million signing bonus paid by M-1 Global to Emelianenko is the only hurdle to the former Pride champion’s potential free agency. That should be remedied this week, the source said.

M-1 Global CEO Monte Cox declined to comment.

We reported last week that Fedors manager was claiming that the disputed pound for pound top heavyweight in the world, would likely be a free agent.