The sneaky marketing team over at M-1 Global decided to use an image of Arianny Celeste in their official poster for their upcoming Ukranian event. As word spread over the internet, Miss Celeste was none-too-pleased and immediately ratted out M-1 to the UFC. Celeste tweeted:
They’re Russian! Couldn’t they have made Celeste an offer she couldn’t refuse? Or is that the Italians? I hate when I mix up my stereotypes. At any rate, maybe this was M-1 Global’s Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan‘s way of trying to make Dana White laugh since he recently told Sports Illustrated how much he enjoys White’s humor: “I look at his interviews and it just makes me laugh, it’s just funny… It’s laughable that those things are said….all the stuff that happens behind the scenes, it changes the picture very significantly.”
Let’s see if White gets a good chuckle from this poster incident.
Meanwhile, M-1′s main attraction, Fedor Emelianenko finally gave an interview and reaffirmed his belief that his bout against Dan Henderson was stopped prematurely. Fedor also says he didn’t have a contract with Strikeforce [or Zuffa] and that he is under contract with Showtime Network. Highlight’s from Fedor’s interview via Low Kick below:
A lot of people are arguing about the stoppage in your last fight with Dan Henderson. Do you think the referee made the right call to stop the fight?
I think the fight was stopped early. But that’s my opinion. We all know that the referees are trying to protect fighters from serious injuries. I don’t want to judge anyone. The refereeing was fair, and if there was some sort of mistake, I don’t think it was intentional.According to Dana White, you were fired from Strikeforce. Is there any truth in this statement?
That’s Dana White’s style to make comments. I didn’t have a contract with Strikeforce. My current contract is with Showtime. So I think people shouldn’t pay attention to these “loud” comments.I don’t have any obligations for UFC or Strikeforce. Our new contract ensures we don’t have to work directly with these organizations. We have already experienced certain difficulties while working with PRIDE and Affliction. We are trying to avoid any unpleasant consequences.