M-1 Global

(Dana White and the UFC's Chief Financial Officer, Bobo, share a laugh over M-1's contract demands.)

One of the things you have to like about Dana White is that when he gets in front of a national audience, he really steps up his trash talk game.  When it's just the MMA media, sure, he might recycle the same tired phrases and well-worn burns, but talking to ESPN's Jim Rome today, he brought out some new material with regards to those M-1 Global jokers and their absurd demands during the UFC's Fedor negotiations:

"Fedor's not afraid to come over and fight or do any of that stuff.  He's got nutty managers.  These guys are from Russia, coming to America trying to strong-arm us into some deal we won't want to do.  Go do that to the butcher down the street in Russia.  It won't work over here in the United States."

Please, tell me I'm not the only one who feels like launching into a U.S.A chant right now. So let's see, instead of calling Fedor's management a bunch of greedy, crazy Russians, they've now become "nutty" Russians who are trying to run some sort of MMA-themed protection racket.  Nice little paradigm shift, DW.  Just one more reason why it really sucks to be a Russian butcher.

(Props: all elbows)

AllElbows.com's latest bit of King Mo-related video hype focuses on Mo's last fight against Ryo Kawamura at Sengoku 7. It was the first time that Lawal wasn't able to finish an opponent, and he explains that was because his knee was injured during the fight, not because he couldn't destroy Kawamura if he wanted to. Blame Dean Lister. Now that Mo has gone through knee surgery and rehab, he's ready to start knocking fools out again.

As you may recall, his next opponent will be Mark Kerr, the waaaaaaay-past-his-prime UFC/PRIDE old-schooler, who's currently riding a four-fight losing streak. Kerr is a replacement for Don Frye, who disgraced himself by pulling out of the fight. The ridiculous squash match will headline M-1 Global's "Breakthrough" event in Kansas City next Friday, which will be broadcast live on HDNet beginning at 9 p.m. CT. Other fights on the card include Karl Amoussou vs. John Doyle, and that weird sparring exhibition between Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi. If you can find the motivation to DVR this thing at some point in the next week, congratulations — you are a hardcore MMA fan.

After the jump: A classic-rock soundtracked tribute to heavyweight fighters and the interconnectedness of all humanity.

Hey, who wants a "vintage" CagePotato Hall of Fame t-shirt? Well too bad, dickface — unless you're one of the similarly-surnamed commenters who made us LOL with their comments this week:

asswipe jones on "Holy Shit! Alert: Fedor Emelianenko Signs With Strikeforce, Will Debut This Fall": they're called M-1 for a reason, they have Motherfucking 1 fighter.

Levi Jones on "This Is What a Fix Looks Like": Mark Coleman, the night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's PRIDE fucking with you. Fuck PRIDE. PRIDE only hurts, it never helps.

Well done, gents. Please send your real names, addresses, and shirt-sizes to feedback@cagepotato.com in order to claim your tees.

Addendum 1: While searching for the above image, I came across this. Figured I'd share.

Addendum 2: "Ben vs. Ben" returns to SIRIUS Fight Club today at 6 p.m. ET; channel 127 for SIRIUS subscribers, channel 104 for XM peeps. Show your support and tune in!

Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce's Scott Coker, M-1 Global's Vadim Finkelchtein, and Showtime's Ken Hershman held a press conference this afternoon to discuss Strikeforce's plan for Fedor, and refute some of the alleged misinformation that the UFC released about their negotiations with the Russian heavyweight king. You can read recaps here and here. Though Fedor's next opponent doesn't appear to be finalized yet, there were still some eyebrow-raising bits:

— Emelianenko called the offer he got from the UFC “miserable,” and nowhere near the six-fight, $30 million reports that circulated on the internet. Finkelchtein said that if those rumored numbers about Fedor’s contract offer were true, they would have signed with the UFC.

— Finkelchtein claimed that the idea of Anderson Silva as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is a product of the UFC media machine, and Brock Lesnar is also just a product of the UFC's hype. He said that Brett Rogers is better than Brock Lesnar.

(Props: Sherdog via MMA Mania)

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker can't even take one goddamned vacation to Italy without the world falling apart back home. In this video interview, Coker responds to all the recent speculation about Fedor Emelianenko's possible signing to Strikeforce (it's not happening yet, at least), and a reported last-minute attempt to merge Strikeforce with Affliction (not even close). Coker explains that Fedor's current crop of suitors include boxing promoters and network television, and discusses why he didn't want to "sell out" Brett Rogers for the Fedor fight.

On the actual reason for Affliction's demise, Coker says "escalating the fighter purses way beyond the true value, I think sooner or later the natural laws of economics apply to all businesses, and it finally applied to Affliction." How true. And if Fedor ever did sign with Strikeforce? "I feel pretty confident that we could give him four or five different opponents that would make sense for him."