As reported on MixFight.ru and Fight Opinion, a press conference was held in Japan today to shed more light on the MMA show headlined by Fedor Emelianenko on New Year’s Eve. The event will be “supported” by M-1 Global, and will feature Shinya Aoki, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Hayato Mach Sakurai, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Ricardo Arona, Kazuo Misaki, Joachim Hansen and Luis Azeredo. The specific match-ups don’t seem to be announced yet, and as you’ve probably noticed, Hong Man Choi is suspiciously absent from the list. As the MixFight story says, “There are negotiations going on with other famous ex-Pride fighters who would contribute to the event,” and the show will be broadcast by SkyPerfecTV PPV. For another brilliant example of MMAFightline declaring things in headlines that are sourced nowhere in the article, go here.

The rumors are true — Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve, according to an announcement on Greg Savage’s Savage Radio Show. And now for the truly bizarre details…

— The fight will not be M-1 Global’s first event. Instead, the event is being organized by a Japanese outfit called Hustle Pro Wrestling. It looks like Fedor’s already taking advantage of the wiggle-room in his M-1 contract.

— His opponent will be Hong Man Choi. Choi is a 7’2″, 352-pound behemoth, who, according to MMA Junkie, “suffers from a rare disease that causes him to continue growing throughout his life.” Which must be really frustrating during weigh-ins.

— Choi built up a 12-3 record in the K-1 kickboxing league, but has only one MMA fight to his credit, a 16-second TKO victory over Bobby Ologun, who weighed nearly 150 pounds less than him.

— Choi was supposed to be Brock Lesnar’s first MMA opponent, at the K-1 Dynamite!! USA show in June, but the California State Athletic Commission wouldn’t clear him to fight, reportedly because of a benign tumor on his pituitary gland. Lesnar went on to cream replacement Min Soo Kim in 69 seconds, and we’re left to dream of what could have been…

It’s not the first time that this rumor has been brought up — so take it with every grain of salt you can get your hands on — but M-1 Mix Fight (the Russian precursor to M-1 Global) has reported that the first M-1 Global event will take place in Japan’s Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve, and that more details will be posted on the site later.

Whoa, fingers crossed! But there’s one thing that concerns me. When they say “No one other than four times Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko will fight in the main event,” could that possibly mean that Fedor will be in the ring by himself? People, I wouldn’t rule out any possibility at this point…

From time to time, I like to check out the M-1 Global website to see what’s new with the fledgling, Fedor Emelianenko-mascoted organization. You’d think they’d be hustlin’ non-stop to build buzz, and making regular announcements to maintain the heat created by their first press conference last month. But the website has only posted one piece of “news” since then — a rundown of M-1′s global management team. It’s encouraging to know that while they still haven’t formally announced the signing of any fighters besides Fedor, Joost Raimond will be responsible for directing day-to-day operations in Eurasia.

But at least their franchise player is keeping somewhat busy.

Iditotic? Yes. But you gotta love those crude-yet-somehow-dead-on caricatures of Kimbo and Fedor.

[Kimbo Slice vs. Mark Hunt]

[Fedor Emelianenko vs. Gabriel Gonzaga]

Come on, that’s absolutely charming!

The word on the street is that Fedor Emelianenko’s first fight in the M-1 Global organization will be against former UFC heavyweight contender and self-proclaimed anarchist Jeff “The Snowman” Monson. MMA fans are discussing this matchup as if it’s a foregone conclusion due to this Rogue Magazine article in which Monson is quoted as saying “Yeah, it looks a go — and I can’t wait to have a shot at what most call the best guy out there. It’s a good possibility at the moment.” Could be a lot of fun to watch, but any fight Fedor takes that isn’t Randy Couture is going to seem like a mismatch at this point. M-1 has yet to make a formal announcement on the subject, but according to this unsourced, unreliable interview on the Sherdog forums, Fedor’s (and M-1 Global’s) first match will be in Chicago in February.

In other news, the rumors that Brad “The Hillbilly Heartthrob” Imes will be Brock Lesnar’s first UFC opponent are probably bullshit. Still, even if they were true, Imes wouldn’t be able to comment on a fight with Lesnar before the UFC did. So we’ll file this under “As good a guess as any.” It wouldn’t be a bad match-up, though — the 6’7″ Imes just scored his second-consecutive win by gogoplata, a feat as rare as winning your second-consecutive baseball game by inside-the-park grand-slam — and he’s been known to give inexperienced fighters a seriously bad time…

I forgot to mention one very important aspect of last night’s M-1 press conference — the gift bag, which contained an M-1 Global promo t-shirt (they had mediums!) and a French-language highlight DVD called Absolute Fedor. I’ve spent the majority of the afternoon watching this DVD while eating leftover pizza. (Condolences to those readers who have to work in an office every day, and deal with inept bosses and co-workers, and who have to actually get dressed in the morning. Maybe you should try developing specialized skills?)

Anyway, it’s pretty stunning to watch all of Emelianenko’s victories one after the other, and I wanted to post a couple of them since today is all about Fedor. The first is his meeting with Mark Coleman at PRIDE GP 2004, and the second is against Kazuyuki Fujita at PRIDE 26 in June 2003 (with appropriately off-the-wall introduction and commentary by my personal hero, Bas Rutten). Both of these fights illustrate what I think is the key to Emelianenko’s dominant success in MMA. It’s not just that his power punches are stronger than everyone else’s and his ground game is technically perfect. It’s that even when he’s nearly asleep from a choke-hold or a hard shot to the face (as you’ll see in these videos), he manages to remain calm and stick to his game plan until he figures out a way to win. You’ll also notice that when a guy loses to Fedor, he tends to stay on the mat for a while…

So, it turns out that Marc Ecko’s only role in last night’s press conference at the Complex Media offices was donating the space. He hasn’t invested in a piece of M-1, and he won’t be branding anything else with an asterisk, as far as I know. You can all exhale.

Here’s what actually went down: Sibling Entertainment Group CEO Mitchell Maxwell, veteran MMA fight manager Monte Cox, Fedor Emelianenko and his manager Vadim Finkelchtein gathered to announce the formation of Sibling Sports LLC for the purpose of creating M-1 Global, a new worldwide MMA organization. Cox will act as the CEO, and Fedor will be its first marquee fighter, signed to a two-year/six-fight contract. I was there with my trusty Canon Digital Elph — easily the smallest camera in the room, and the only one without a telephoto lens. Regardless…

This guy walked out about 15 minutes after the press conference was originally slated to begin. For a brief moment, I thought that Fedor was going to announce that he’s grown out his hair and will be dropping down to the lightweight division.

Here’s Vadim and Fedor, seated with their interpreters. Matt Kaplan at FiveOuncesofPain.com described these women as “stunningly beautiful,” but I don’t know…to me, they seemed more like the “good from afar, but far from good” type. Still, having female interpreters is apparently a huge status symbol in Russia.

Everything you need to know to start planning your week…

Monday, 10/22
Fedor Emelianenko will formally announce the details of his new fight contract today at 5:30 p.m. ET, from Marc Ecko’s offices in New York City. Could this mean that Ecko has bought a controlling stake in the M-1 Mix Fight organization? Or will he announce his intention to brand Randy Couture’s UFC Hall of Fame plaque with an asterisk? Tune in tomorrow morning for my full report on the press conference (yes, I’ll be there).

Tuesday, 10/23
Speaking of the world’s greatest heavyweight, the ION network will be televising Emelianenko’s April 14th BodogFight match against Matt Lindland at 11 p.m. (10 p.m. Central). Get pumped for the bout by watching the 25 Tuffest Moments of All Time highlight special on Spike at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, 10/24
If you want to make some easy money, bet a friend that Team Hughes will drop another match this week on The Ultimate Fighter, putting Team Serra up 5-1. Let’s just call it a hunch (and not inside info from someone who isn’t allowed to comment on these things).

Thursday, 10/25
How can you think about MMA when MTV’s Making Menudo is premiering tonight? Priorities, people…

Friday, 10/26
Undefeated 205-pounders Aaron Rosa and Jared Hamman clash at ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series, which will be broadcast on Showtime at 11 p.m., while former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Marcus Jones makes his professional MMA debut at WFC’s Cage Wars V in North Tampa, Florida.

Saturday, 10/27
Founded by Randy Couture and Matt Lindland, Sportfight will showcase Oregon’s best fighters at “Homecoming”, held at the Rose Garden in Portland and presented by BodogFight. King of the Cage welterweight champion Aaron Wetherspoon defends his title against James Fanshier at “Arch Rivals” in Reno, Nevada.

Sunday, 10/28
Controversial lotion-user Yoshihiro Akiyama and PRIDE veteran Denis Kang headline the 12-fight card at Olympia HERO’s Korea 2007 in Seoul, Korea. So, if you’re in the area…