Press Release – NEW YORK (September 16, 2011) – Mixed martial arts (MMA) heavyweight legends Fedor ‘The Last Emperor’ Emelianenko (31-4, 1 NC) and Jeff ‘The Snowman’ Monson (42-12) will meet as the headline bout at M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson. The event will take place Sunday November 20th from the Olympic Arena in Moscow, Russia with details on broadcast availability announced soon.
“Fedor has been very vocal about wanting to continue his fighting career,” said Evgeni Kogan, Director of Operations for Europe’s leading MMA promotion M-1 GLOBAL. “Fedor vs. Monson is a classic fight that had been in crosshairs for year. All parties have come together to make this fight a reality.”
Regarded as one of MMA’s greatest heavyweight fighters of all time, Emelianenko has been challenged as late, losing his last three bouts after going undefeated for nearly a decade. The losses came at the hands of Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson. Hungry to compete, ‘The Last Emperor’ still has the drive to battle top competitors. “I cannot wait to compete again. Monson is a great athlete who is skilled in many areas. He is a very worthy opponent,” said Fedor.
Coming of a loss to Daniel Cormier, the 40-year-old Monson is a two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist and considered extremely dangerous on the ground with more than half of his 42 career wins coming by way of submission.
Even though Emelianenko is coming off three straight losses, Monson holds Fedor in high regard; “Fedor is the best heavyweight of all time… It’s an honor to be fighting him.” Asked about what a win would mean, Monson didn’t mince words; “A win would be a highlight to my career. My trainers at American Top Team will prepare me for all possibilities. I’ll be prepared.”
As the hype builds towards the legendary matchup between Fedor and Monson, M-1 Global is already well underway preparations for its October 14th event in Phoenix, Arizona, M-1 Challenge: Guram vs. Garner 2.
The event from the new 5,500 seat Grand Canyon University Arena marks the promotion’s third outing on premium US network SHOWTIME and is headlined with two title fights; Reigning Heavyweight (265 Lbs.) Champion Guram Gugenishvili (11-0) will face relentless power-puncher Kenny ‘Deuce’ Garner (7-3) while BBJ Ace Vinny Magalhaes (8-5) makes his inaugural light heavyweight (205 Lbs.) defense against Mikhail Zayats (14-5).
For information on M-1 Global, go to the official M-1 website, www.M-1Global.com and M-1 Global facebook fan page.
About M-1 Global:
Founded in 1998, M-1 Global (www.M-1Global.com) has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand has staged over 100 events worldwide including the M-1 Selection and M-1 Challenge events and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States. Captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups, M-1 events boast some of the sport’s top names including Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Aleksander Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem, Ben Rothwell, Melvin Manhoef, Roman Zentsov, Stephan Struve and rising stars Shamil Zavurov, Guram Gugenishvili, Alexander Sarnavskiy and Vinny Magalhaes. 2011 marks a breakthrough year with two Selections tournaments across Eastern & Western Europe, North America and Asia and a full calendar of Challenge events fuelled by a talent-rich contention system ranking M-1 Global’s Champions amongst the greatest in the sport.